Tech Support: What you need to know before buying Apple's iphone 13

Yahoo Finance’s Dan Howley joins the Yahoo Finance Live panel with the latest Tech Support

Video transcript

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- Well, in this week's Tech Support, you got a lot of decisions to make in your life, but one of the more important ones, at least if you ask me or Dan Howley, is what phone you're going to have for the rest of the few years you're going to have it? And of course, Apple made that decision maybe a little bit more complicated with the unveiling of their iPhone 13. And our tech editor Dan Howley, joining us here in tech support to walk us through whether or not it makes sense to buy one of these and which one if you're going to, Dan.

DAN HOWLEY: Yeah, so right out of the gate, let me just say if you have an iPhone 12, you can hold on to it for a little bit. You don't have to worry about upgrading to an iPhone 13. We talked about that during last week's Tech Support, but for everybody else who doesn't have an iPhone 12, let's look at the ones that are available. These new iPhone 13's and who might fit best with what. So start off with the iPhone 13 mini, that one's going to run you 699.

It's going to be a kind of phone for someone who doesn't want to have a pocket busting, purse exploding kind of smartphone, 5.4-inch display. It does have the Super retina XDR display that you find on the regular iPhone 13. It's basically, you know, the same right across the board for both phones. It's just that price tag and that smaller size.

So I think for most people who are looking for a small-sized phone, that's really the way to go. There's also the iPhone SE with a familiar fingerprint sensor, that's going to be a little bit cheaper, but it's also going to be a little bit slower. So if you want the newest version, go with this. If you want a bigger phone than that, don't want the pint-sized model, and according to reports, the pint-sized model is not anyone's favorite because it's been selling poorly as far as the iPhone 12 Mini goes.

Then there's the iPhone 13, that's going to run you 799. Larger screen, 6.1 inches. Now, that's kind of the sweet spot. I've been using the iPhone 12 Pro, and that's also six 6.1 inches, and it really is perfect. I watch video on it, I read articles. It's a fantastic sized display. And then you also have those two cameras, the wide-angle and the ultra-wide angle, both of those have been upgraded. You have the new cinematic video view, the A15 Bionic chip, and then obviously you have down below those storage capacities, starting at 128 now.

So the 64 gigabyte is now kicked the bucket, thankfully, because we all store way too much nonsense on our phones. Now, if you want to go the extra step, a little boogie, like yours truly, then you would go for the Pro models. And those are the iPhone 12-- sorry, iPhone 13 Pro, and iPhone 13 Pro Max. Now, what's the difference here? Well, screen size. The 6.1 inches is still the same on the base Pro, but it's going to run you $200 more at 999. The difference there is that it gets a better display, It's the same super XDR, but it has ProMotion.

So that means that the screen refresh rate can go up to 120 times per second or as low as 10 times per second. That means the screen will refresh as little as 10 times per second. And that's important because that saves battery life, but 120 times per second is important because it makes everything look nice and smooth when you're sprawling. And there is a visible difference with 120 Hertz. Then we have those cameras, three cameras on this model, that's the wide-angle, the ultra-wide angle, and telephoto, and these have all been upgraded from the iPhone 12 Pro.

That's really why I kind of want this one personally, because of the better low light. You can do macro-photography with that new wide-angle lens. The telephoto lens now goes 3x. I mean, it's really great across the board. Now, you also have the option of up to a terabyte of storage, which is just wild. I mean, you know, I don't know why you would need that, but why not? And then there's the iPhone 13 Pro Max. Sorry, I'm still stuck on the 12. But the Pro Max has a 6.7-inch display.

So that's if you have no limits for your pockets. If you're rocking cargo shorts, like Adam Sandler, or you're still wearing gencos. I don't know if anyone out there remembers them, but I certainly used to wear them to my parents disappointment. Anyway, this also has the three cameras upgraded across the board the same way. The A15 Bionic chip on this version and the smaller Pro is actually better than the one in the iPhone 13. So if you're really looking to go all out with graphics, this is the phone to go with, also a terabyte of storage.

I think the main thing for this one is if you really want to watch a lot of video on your phone, and you're not afraid of price, because it can be priced up to 1599, then this is definitely the one to go with. For the average person, I'm going to say the iPhone 13 is pretty much the sweet spot. I like the Pro just for that telephoto lens and the ability to do macro photography. I think the ultra-wide angle is fantastic, but that telephoto, believe it or not, is excellent when you're trying to get photos of people, and you don't want to get way too close, especially during COVIDY times.

I think it's an excellent option. For me, I would like the iPhone 13 Pro Max just because I'm bougie and I want everything gigantic, so-- and I still wear gencos. So that's pretty much where it's at and, you know, again, if you're the type of person that just wants the smaller one, the 13 mini is a great way to go too.

- Yeah, the 13 mini, you know, I still have a 10, as we talked about Dan, and I still don't know if I really need to upgrade just because it still works for me. I might be a Luddite here. I was telling Akiko. I mean, maybe it's just not-- maybe I'm not tech-savvy anymore. You know, I'm not a tech editor here either, but there is no confidence like having genco jeans. And still, remember the days when you can walk around with genco jeans and are raised in your pocket?

DAN HOWLEY: Oh, yeah.

- Motorola razor?

DAN HOWLEY: I used to flip that bad boy out. My wife had a juke. I don't know if you remember what a juke was? But it looked like a comb, and you would like switch it out, and it was an absolutely ridiculous phone. So none of these obviously are as cool as those. That was really when smartphones were awesome, were dumbphones were awesome, but you know, I still think that the 13 is probably a good upgrade for you at this point, especially if you're rocking the 10. Go for the 13. The camera will blow you away, and it'll be much, much faster.

- Yeah, especially if you're still rocking a juke or a razor or a chocolate, for that matter. It's throwback Thursday. So I'm just running through. Dan Howley bringing us the latest on the iPhone front. Appreciate that.