Last month, DXOMark published the iPhone 13 Pro camera review, saying it ranked better than last year’s iPhone 12 Pro. Now, the company published the iPhone 13 camera review as well, and it’s also better than the 12 Pro.

DXOMark explains that the score includes a “Photo score of 138,” which is also one point better than the iPhone 12 Pro, and a “Video score of 117,” both of which help the iPhone 13’s case. On the other hand, it received a good Zoom score of only 55 points.

As you can imagine, the iPhone 13 and 13 mini have the same camera modules and DXOMark was able to confirm this, so regardless of which iPhone you get, you’ll have the same camera experience.

In the camera department, the iPhone 13 cannot offer a dedicated tele module but comes with several improvements over last year’s generation. The new primary module uses the same size sensor as last year’s top-of-the-line iPhone 12 Pro Max and there is now Dual-Pixel autofocus instead of PDAF. Light is channeled through an f/1.6-aperture lens and a sensor-shift stabilization system is keeping things steady. The primary module is accompanied by an ultra-wide camera that features the same tech specs as on the iPhone 12 generation.

DXOMark praises this phone’s camera saying it shoots generally with nice colors and white balance, pleasant skin tones in most light conditions, fast, accurate, and repeatable autofocus, and mostly accurate and smooth video autofocus.

On the other hand, the review criticizes the lack of a telephoto lens saying its limits detail when using medium to long-range zoom. DXOMark also highlights noise in videos, especially in low light, and limited dynamic range in challenging high contrast scenes.

The iPhone 13 and 13 mini rank in the tenth position of the global smartphone ranking tied with the iPhone 12 Pro Max.

As always, it’s important to keep in mind that the methodology and reliability of DXOMark’s testing are often questioned and disputed, primarily on the basis that camera quality is subjective and assigning a “score” is challenging. This is especially true when there is no fixed scale and scores push well above 100. 

What do you think of these results? Let us know down in the comments.