The comparison of the iPhone13 and iPhone XR cameras is more appropriate than you think, especially in an era when people hold their phones longer Yes, the iPhone XR debuted in 2018, but given the cost of the phone and the fact that Apple's extensive software support makes it more attractive to continue using the current device, there are far more iPhone XR models than you might think

I know this because my wife is carrying an iPhone XR that I bought in the spring of 2019 And now with two years of monthly installments in our rear view mirror, only now she is really open to upgrading to one of Apple's new iPhone13 models

Most of the benefits of upgrading from iPhone XR to iPhone13 are obvious even if you haven't got Apple's latest phone yet It's a good idea Moving from the A12Bionic chip on the iPhone XR to the A15Bionic will give you performance and power management improvements over 3 generations The IPhone13 is more durable than the iPhone XR, and its IP68 water resistance rating means the phone can withstand up to 6 meters of water for 30 minutesThe iPhone XR can only handle 1 meter The screen is bright and the battery is even bigger on the new iPhone

But it's the 2 phone cameras we're most interested in comparing, and not just a spec showdown Since the iPhone XR first debuted, Apple has had 3 versions of the iPhone to make improvements to the camera's hardware and software I am interested to see how they are converted into finished photos With that in mind, this iPhone13 vs iPhone XR camera face-off attempts to show just how good a photo is when taken on a more recent iPhone

Before diving into the face-to-face of the actual iPhone13 vs iPhone XR camera, we'll look at the camera hardware that iPhone XR users are free to use and how that's what Apple is currently The iPhone13 also offers for this comparison, the standard iPhone13 with a 61-inch display of the same size as the iphone XR and a little higher than the price when the old iPhone debuted (ド799 vs7749) the same settings as the larger iPhone13, so you can compare the same camera with theiPh699 iPhone13mini You can also use the following methods:

The iPhone XR was Apple's last single-camera flagship phone You have only one lens on the back of the phone — a 18MP camera with an f/12 aperture The camera has a portrait mode function and smart HDR function, which provides highlights even when shadows sneak into the shot But I can't find the night mode that didn't show up until Iphone11, and I forget to switch to the ultra wide-angle view

In addition, since the release of the iPhone XR, Apple has steadily improved how much light the camera's lens takes in First, there were calculated photos enabled in night mode, but starting with the iPhone12, Apple switched to a 7-element design and f/16 aperture to improve low-light photos Due to the large sensor of the latest iPhone, the main camera can capture 12% more light than the iPhone47 You can only imagine how it would compare to the iPhone XR 3 years ago The Iphone13's ultra—wide-angle lens also captures 4 times more scenes than its predecessor - which is not a concern for the iPhone XR and its only wide-angle camera

It's also worth noting that the iPhone13 supports photo styles, making the images look more vivid or richer You can manually control whether it looks cooler or warmer This is an option for the iPhone XR, so I put it in standard mode for comparison of the iPhone13 and iPhone XR cameras

So, given the change in aperture and sensor size over the years, even before a single shot is taken, we expect the iPhone13 to produce better indoor shots and low-light photos Outdoor images should be fairly comparable between the two phones, but let's see how three extra years of photographic intelligence compare images

In the lobby of the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, a lot of light flows through a nearby window On a sunny day like my visit, I didn't expect much difference in this T-Rex iPhone13 and iPhone XR photo (which may have a walnut-sized brain

indeed, the iPhone13 and iPhone XR photos are pretty well matched, with no significant difference in color or composition IPhone13 teases more background details The stone panel under this historical museum sign is a little textured in the iPhone13 shot, and the view outside the window at the top left of the shot looks a little sharper But you'll really find it hard to spot the difference in shots like this where the ambient lighting was in your favor

Moving indoors to 1 of the exhibits, this recreation of the Megalodon jaw provides more difficult lighting and the iPhone XR photo looks decent enough because the jaw is focused in the middle of an otherwise darkened room But you start to see the benefits of all these low-light improvements that Apple has made over the years with the iPhone13 images

You can make a lot of blue with the curtain behind the jaw, and the detailed ridge of the jawbone itself is more visible, especially on the left side The text on the museum sign on the right isn't fully readable in either shot, but when zoomed in on the iPhone13 version, it's not as blurry as the one captured by the iPhone XR

The iPhone XR doesn't have a night mode, so it doesn't make sense to take photos at nightiPhone13 wins hands-down Instead, I went into a hut where the lighting was still enough to allow the iphone XR to capture the shots, but dark enough to allow the night mode to automatically boot on the iphone13 to call out the details in the dark

In this shot of some old magazines and holiday decorations, the iPhone XR effort is too dark and not worth it You make some of the magazine covers, but many of the details are too shadowy Strings of colored lights and garlands of multicolored lights are quite muted and blurred, with the help of calculation photos from the available night mode

The photos of the iPhone13 are much brighter You can actually read each of the magazine covers and choose the color of those hanging decorations, especially Christmas lights The overall scene is still a bit too dark, but enough colors and details pop out to show how good a more recent iPhone is in a low-light setting

It was a bright, sunny day when I took this picture in the roof garden of the California Academy of Sciences, so you would imagine that the iPhone XR is on the footing even the iPhone13 Indeed, both shots are of similar quality The ferris wheel jumps out into the blue sky in both photos, and the green tint from the grass in the foreground and the tree in the background looks the same when viewed on the iPhone XR and iPhone13

Still, you can get a better optical sense of the iPhone13 by staring at the sky While this is a fairly consistent blue hue in the iPhone XR shots, the iphone13 can capture the transition from darkness to light as it approaches the horizonIndeed, it's a subtle difference, but it suggests improvements to Apple's camera phones over the years

The iPhone13 can do things that the iPhone XR can't do, and you can switch to an ultra-wide-angle view Using that lens, I was able to show off the roof garden more while expanding the background so that the nearby Tokunaga Museum would appear in my photographs (It's a brown building off to the left with its distorted-looking towersWith the iPhone XR's single camera, you can't pull it back that way

I'm actually surprised at how closely the two portrait shots are compared in this iPhone13 and iPhone XR face-off2 I think it's because of the power of the software Apple uses to add background blurring, and the regular software updates used here for recording older phones going with newer models, the iPhone XR is still running iOS14, while the iPhone13 is running iOS15 public beta

No matter what shot you are looking at, there is little difference in the quality of the background blur, and the iPhone XR, like the iphone13, can separate the daughter from the background If there is 1 distinction, I would say that the iPhone13 will make her face a little brighter, but if not, both shots are worth sharing

We knew toward this fight that the iPhone13 was about to end on — it has better hardware and the two phones are soft, especially in low-light situations, how much a 3-year hardware improvement will make a difference

If you are still an iPhone XR user, you probably know that upgrading to iPhone13 will give a boost to your photos But hopefully this comparison shows just how much boost The improvement of low-light photography is a good reason to jump on a new phone, and the addition of a second rear reason to increase flexibility cli its decision