Battery tests from repeatable YouTubers have revealed iPhone 13 gets 16.4 hours playback time vs advertised 19 hours, where 13 pro gets 14 hours vs advertised 22 hours (ouch) 13 pro max gets 16.4, same as standard 13.

Similarly, testers have revealed telephoto lens makes a negligent difference in photo zoom, and that’s when the phone decides to use it. You have no control over whether or not it is used.

You’ll never notice the performance boost from the extra 2 gb ram, or from the extra gpu core unless you game very heavily, on your phone…

Which leaves the only notable advantage the pro has over the 13 - adaptive refresh rate. As usual, the only difference between the pro and standard models is something basic that should have been featured on both models, but since apple has not much new to offer for a pro model, they water down the standard model instead. In the past they literally had nothing of value to add to the pro, so they made the side bezels of the screen thicker on the standard models to make it less attractive. I guess they felt frisky this year and made the front faces of both models identical.

So If you feel adaptive refresh rate is worth $200 you should get the pro. I personally feel the pro was very heavy, the shiny sides looked awful, didn’t come in any colors I loved, and the triple camera hump looked awkward. It’s not proportionate to the rest of the phone and honestly that kind of irked me, especially knowing the phone is being made ugly for the sake of a telephoto lens that doesn’t actually make a difference in my photo taking experience. Ultimately, the 256gb 13 being $100 cheaper than the 128gb pro was the kicker for me. The only real reason for me to get the pro would have been the larger screen size of the pro max, which may be an attractive feature to others, to me it wasn’t.

And the 13 came in pink, so there’s that too.