Apple took some heat for not including a charger in the box with the iPhone 12. But what if the iPhone 13 doesn’t include a charging cable either? That could very well happen, as several leaks have pointed to at least one portless iPhone 13 Pro model for this year.
Presumably, the port-free iPhone 13 Pro would charge via MagSafe, killing any dreams of USB-C support for Apple’s flagship. We’ve also seen some reports that Apple could add a Touch ID sensor to the display for the iPhone 13. And now a new concept video is bringing these and other rumors to life.
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Made by the Hacker 34, the intriguing but somewhat crude-looking YouTube video is only 1 minute long, but it crams in a lot of alleged upgrades. The video starts with the iPhone 13 Pro’s expected jump to a higher refresh rate of 120Hz for the display. Apple has been behind on this feature — phones from Samsung, Google and OnePlus already offer fast-refreshing screens — so it will good to see the iPhone 13 catch up to the competition.
On the camera front, the video promises a faster f/1.5 main wide camera, 12MP ultra-wide camera with autofocus and a 7-element telephoto lens with the same 12MP resolution.
But the bigger upgrade for this iPhone 13 concept is the addition of a Touch ID sensor, which would be embedded toward the bottom of the display. Face ID would still be on board, but now you would be able to unlock your iPhone easily with a mask on, without the iOS 14.5 trick of having to wear your Apple Watch.
Alas, the notch is still present in this iPhone 13 design, but it shrinks by becoming shorter. So you would still have all the ingredients you need for Face ID — including an infrared camera, flood illuminator and dot projector — but in a smaller space.
Powering all of this would be Apple’s A15 Bionic chip, packing 15 billion transistors and boast a “50% faster neural engine,” but this is sheer speculation.
While the back of the iPhone 13 Pro in this video looks similar to the current iPhone 12 Pro, the video shows a new feature called PowerDrop, which would allow you to charge other devices by placing them on the rear of the phone. So, you could conceivably charge your AirPods Pro with the iPhone 13. However, a recent report says that Apple has backed away from adding reverse wireless charging to this year’s iPhones.
The “one more thing” in this iPhone 13 Pro video is that there’s no port on the bottom. You simply see two sets of holes for the speakers. I’m not sure if consumers are ready to switch over to MagSafe and other wireless chargers completely. For example, it’s nice that you can plug in to your laptop with a USB-to-Lightning cable if you’re low on juice.
Regardless, if any company is willing to leave more features on the cutting room floor it’s Apple, just as it did with the headphone jack. We’ll just have to see how shoppers respond should the portless iPhone 13 Pro becomes a reality.
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