iPhone 13 announced with redesigned camera array and smaller notch | Hacker News Reader

iPhone 13 announced with redesigned camera array and smaller notch

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39 pointsemdashcomma40 comments

Watching the stream this morning juxtaposed uncomfortably against the discussion earlier this morning about how Facebook knows that Instragram is damaging to teen psyches. So much of this update is focused on the cameras and the ability for the phone to almost automatically make people look good. I can't help but see this as a way of capitalizing on the insecurity that's being generated by the social media platforms. I get that Apple has to try to keep up with the camera arms race or other phones will win over the market of people who post to social media. But it's also saddening to see how much effort and dev work goes into feeding this cycle of insecurity. The more Apple can make people look "better than any filter", the more people are going to feel crushed when they look in the mirror.

> I can't help but see this as a way of capitalizing on the insecurity that's being generated by the social media platforms.

I understand your concern, but i can't help but feel the exact opposite when viewing it. Also, have you met teens? They felt insecure long before smartphones.

Cameras help us capture and store the world around us and high-end cameras are amazing. Bringing lots of that tech to phones means we all can capture it better.

Maybe you don't, but many people photograph every moment of their life. And every family reunion and wedding and social gathering is full of people taking pictures to remember what grandma looks like today, and how happy she is with grandchild. Capturing that in vivid detail and with great images is crucial to re-living those moments, and really improves the experience of viewing photos for lots of peoples.

Am I the only one who doesn't re-live these moments? I see people constantly interrupting special moments to capture them in photos and videos, but I have trouble finding anyone who derives a meaningful amount of satisfaction from them later on. I have lots of photos that I've spent way more time managing, transferring between providers, and worrying about than I've ever actually spent time browsing through. Am I an outlier? Are there people out there who really go through their old photos frequently for fun trips down memory lane, or are we optimizing for a situation that doesn't exist?

I know its anecdotal, but i do revisit these photos. Not all of them, not crazy often, but occasionally. Maybe its because my parents did this that i do it.

I can't find them now, but ive seen research that says taking a picture helps you remember an event. Idk if its true, but if true, maybe forgive the people for accidentally interrupting trying to take a picture - its how they remember.

I'd assume that for some of the major players to spend time developing a canned nostalgia feature, you are probably right. For example, my father only shares old photos because Google told him to look at them. I find it kind of depressing.

I do. And our kids love to look at pictures of when they were younger.

I review old photos constantly. But I feel as though I am more prone to feelings of nostalgia than most people.

Apple’s continued promotion of TikTok is bizarre to me considering all their problems with Facebook. Craig Federighi promoted it last WWDC too.

Here Apple says look at what this new iPad camera can do on TikTok and then they move on to look at how much we care about your privacy in the same event.

13 Pro looks like a great phone on its own but not compelling enough to upgrade from 12 Pro.

Thank you. I've been saying this every year since 2007.

Yearly deltas sure, but if you upgrade your phone every 3 or 4 years, it can feel like an improvement.

IMO TouchID, Multitasking, Front Camera, LTE, Video, and the Touch Bar all fundamentally changed the smartphone experience and were worth upgrading over.

If the iPhone 13 had TouchID, I would buy it in a heartbeat.

I look for two things in every phone: fingerprint reader and headphone jack. I had to switch to android after my iPhone SE (original) died.

Honest question: why are people keen on fingerprint sensors? I see this regularly. Is it privacy concerns with FaceID or convenience with a mask on, or...?

It’s faster. You don’t have to be looking at it. You don’t have to long-swipe up the screen. It works while it’s lying on the desk/bed/couch.

The SE is already unlocked by the time it’s out of my pocket, so I just see HN right away instead of holding it in front of me, looking at it, swiping up to authenticate and then seeing HN.

Bonus that it works in stores with a mask on so I don’t have to type my passcode in public as a result of a FaceID phone seeing the mask and popping up the passcode prompt, or pulling down my mask temporarily.

The TouchID worked for me every time. I never had to think about the fact that it existed.

I’m constantly trying to accommodate FaceID.

Like 75% of the time when I’m unlocking my phone it’s either laying on my desk or I’m laying in bed. FaceID rarely works for me in these situations.

My wife eventually just turned it off on her phone and went to purely using a passcode because it failed to work so often it was less annoying to go straight to the passcode prompt rather than wait for FaceID to timeout first.

You can tap “FaceID” in the center to open the keypad instantly.

TouchID failed constantly when I had recently showered or washed my hands.

Because the police can just point your phone at your face and it will unlock

https://mashable.com/article/police-try-to-unlock-handcuffed...

Like they can just put your finger on it and unlock it? At least face ID won’t unlock if you’re looking away from the screen. The police can’t control where your looking as easily as they can control your finger.

Face masks. It is also faster even when I’m not wearing a mask. I wouldn’t mind both.

I just like having less biometric data in my phone, being able to unlock it without looking at it, and being able to tape my front camera if I want.

Yup, I have the 12Pro and don't feel like all the improvements to camera and apparently battery life are worth shelling out $250 (after trade in credit) is worth it, without also getting touchID which seems to be perpetually in next year's phone for the last 3 years.

That is generally true. Any one year model change does not offer enough to justify an upgrade unless you happen to need a specific feature or if you just don’t mind spending a lot of money just to have the latest.

At one time, when smartphones were a new thing, there were a lot of big improvements in each year, but as the lines have matured, there is less opportunity for dramatic changes. More and more people are waiting 2, 3, 4, or more years between purchases. In doing so, they benefit from the cumulative improvements all at once.

Agreed. Additionally, sometimes even an update to the physical form factor is sufficient to warrant an upgrade.

As an asian, FaceID only (lack of TouchID) is a still huge deal breaker, especially because we noticed that covid situation lasts for a few years. I wish they change mind seriously. I wish I could buy mini + TouchID.

These battery life claims are impressive. I'd like to see how they hold up in the real world.

Every year they make the same claims, but in recent year that I've had an iPhone (8 Plus -> 11 -> 12) it will last all-day for 4-5 months before needing charging in the car (especially while doing multiple things like Music, Maps, and perhaps mobile food ordering [without CarPlay]). The chemical properties of li-ion seemingly can't be overcome without making the battery module physically bigger, which is why my next iPhone (14 or 15) will have to be the Pro Max version.

From my anecdotal evidence (+ research on the web), charging in car is the worse thing you could do to any phone.

* charging in hot environment

* charging in GPS mode with sunlight on the phone (very bad)

* unstable current due to the way car alternator work

* power charging with QC or USB-PD

As a result, I have avoided all this and only charge with a genuine "low" current standard 2A Apple charger at night. Only exceptionally I will use a QC charger. I also avoid wireless charging with the excess heat.

It has been 6 months and my battery health is still at 99%.

Totally agree with all of this except "unstable current due to the way car alternator work"... as an electronics designer, if this is an issue then it's a really poorly designed car charger.

CarPlay alleviates a lot of these issues fortunately.

Could you provide any advice on brands for a good car charger? Thank you.

I'm still using one I bought probably 10 years ago; it's a Belkin with 2x2.1A outputs.

But I'd look at Anker too (have been happy with their wall chargers and headphones).

If I were buying new I'd probably get USB-C now.

I think this is the only time besides the A12X to A12Z bin and rebadge in iPad Pro that Apple hasn’t compared last year’s model directly to the new one. A15’s main processors don’t sound like a big improvement over A14. Maybe Apple didn’t think a 5% to 10% bump was enough to brag about in the keynote, even though that’s roughly what AMD and Intel regularly pull off between generations.

I’m eager to see what really changed, and if it will hint at what’s coming with M1X/M2.

Seems there's an extra GPU core only enabled in some models and new video encoder/decoder (to support ProRes?), but beside that most of the work this year went into lowering power consumption. They made a big deal of the additional battery life (particularly useful for the Mini buyers).

Which is fine, I don't ever feel like raw CPU speed is an issue these days: I can't really tell any the difference between my A12Z iPad and the A14 phone in day-to-day tasks.

News of the mini's demise seems to have been exaggerated. Again.

All the rumors seem to point to them discontinuing the Mini line after the 13 Mini because of very poor sales of the 12 Mini(I heard they even stopped production of the 12 Mini for a while due to excessive stock). We won't know for sure until next year. I was planning to pick up the 13 Mini and selling off my 12 Mini so that I can lock in at least 5 years of support while I wait for Apple to come around again with another Mini in a couple years. I really hate large phones so the Mini has been wonderful.

The colors this year are lousy though. Seems like maybe they had some supply issues. :/

iPhone 12 had a bright watermelon red. Combine that with a bright blue silicone case and you got colors you'd see on LEGO! :)

And the boosted battery life is a big deal for you Mini owners yeah?

(I'm a Max guy myself, but totally get ppl who want the smallest phone.)

As it happens, the 12 Mini’s battery life was 1 hour less than the 12 Normal, so the 13 Mini offsets that and adds 1/2 hour. All in all, the battery life of the 12 Mini was not terrible, just not quite up to the same level as the rest of the 12 line.

The Mini will likely replace the SE after the Mini 13.

They will probably keep the Mini 13 around as their low tier model. However support will likely not be extended and will stay static.

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