As Apple’s only Premium Partner in Africa, iStore is also setting a new standard for trade-in values, offering up to R22 000 cash back when you trade in your current phone. Customers can get their trade-in value as cash back into their bank account up to 30 days after their iPhone purchase, which means the full trade-in benefit will be available for any customer who buys now. Find out your device’s trade-in value here.

iStore has also recognised the growing trend of customers opting to purchase their devices outright rather than through traditional cellular contracts. To support this shift and offer a more affordable way to own the latest iPhone, iStore is offering additional trade-in savings. Customers trading in any iPhone 13 range can receive up to an additional R4 000 in savings, while those trading in an iPhone 14 range can enjoy up to an additional R5 000 in savings. This initiative allows customers to enjoy the freedom of contract-free iPhone ownership.

Customers can easily complete the required paperwork online, avoiding the hassle of in-store queues. Once the contract upgrade is finalised, the device will be delivered directly to the customer’s doorstep free of charge. Pre-order for cash is available here.

The iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max aren’t short on fancy garnish, but the biggest question is whether, at their core, they’re enough to sate your appetite for a not-inexpensive upgrade. I’ve been living with my upgrade for the 2 weeks and this is my first hand experience with it.

Sierra Blue is a must see colour

This year, Apple’s halo colour is Sierra Blue, a rather fetching pale metallic blue with matching tint to the polished metal edge. There’s also Silver and Graphite, plus a slightly different Gold to last year’s finish.

The front gets Ceramic Shield glass, the stainless steel band is surgical-grade, and there’s IP68 water and dust resistance. Even with all that, you’ll almost certainly want to cosset its glass and metal in a case, and since the camera cluster is larger than last year you won’t be able to use your iPhone 12 Pro case again.

Magic display

On the front is one of the iPhone 13 Pro’s big selling points, the new ProMotion display. Apple’s 120Hz panels have been an iPad Pro feature for some time now, but this is the first time we’ve seen the tech arrive on its smartphones. Much as with Android devices with high refresh rate screens, scrolling, games, and fast-moving graphics look silkily smooth and generally pleasing on the new panel. Its first noticeable thing to those using previous gen devices.

Arguably just as important, though, is how slow ProMotion can go. The standard iPhone 13 screen has a 60Hz refresh rate, but while the iPhone 13 Pro Max’s panel can crank up to 120Hz, it can also drop to as low as 10Hz, depending on what’s on-screen. When you’re using apps that don’t need such a rapid rate, then, iOS can save on power.

You don’t notice the change in refresh rate in daily use, just how cleanly lists and such scroll as you whip your finger across the Super Retina XDR OLED display.

Capture picture perfect mementos

Like last year, you get three rear cameras: wide, ultra-wide, and telephoto. Each has been improved for 2021, though. There’s now optical image stabilization on every lens, the zoom is 3x optical, every camera supports Night mode, and the wide and ultra-wide sensors are physically larger and have bigger apertures for a greater appetite for light. Macro support has been added, along with a brace of computational photography features for both stills and video.

The wide camera will probably see the most use, and its f/1.5 aperture, seven-element lens is paired with a significantly larger sensor. Last year, iPhone 12 Pro Max buyers got a bigger sensor than those with an iPhone 12 Pro, but this time around it’s the same regardless of the size of phone you pick. The result is a claimed 49% more light-gathering versus the iPhone 12 Pro Max, and a hefty 2.2x improvement versus the iPhone 12 Pro.

For video, there’s up to 4K/60 Dolby Vision HDR recording, or – after an update – ProRes video recording at up to 4K/30fps. That’s if you have anything but the lowest-capacity iPhone 13 Pro: if you opt for the 128GB model, your ProRes support is capped at 1080p/30. Honestly, ProRes is nice but I suspect most people are never going to take advantage of it.

You must try Cinematic Mode

What people would be much more likely to play with is Cinematic mode. Apple describes it as a far easier to use version of the focus racking that professional videographers rely on expensive camera rigs to achieve; it’s probably easier to think of it as Portrait mode but for video.

Like Portrait stills, the subject is crisp while the background gets a shallow depth of field effect; you can tap different subjects to smoothly switch that blurring, or leave Cinematic mode to intelligently switch by itself depending on what it thinks the most likely subject is.

That intelligence works reasonably well, generally speaking. The nice thing about Cinematic mode is that you can change the focal points later on: since the bokeh is artificially added, you can edit the clip and change the subject.

Battery life is for the books

A full day is no problem with the iPhone 13 Pro Max. I shot masses of video and photos on my Speed Week drive, and used it as a hotspot with my HP Spectre, and still had power left at the end of the day. I’m not going to say you can’t get yourself into a situation where a mid- to late-evening charge could be needed, but you’d really have to be hammering it to make that sort of dent.

There were times when I could’ve plugged in for an outlet, but allowed myself the laziness of not pulling a Lightning cable out of my bag because I was confident enough in how long the iPhone 13 Pro Max would last. That’s the sort of cautionary top-up I’d not have skipped with last year’s handset.

My verdict..

Look, if you have an iPhone 12 Pro or iPhone 12 Pro Max, you should probably sit 2021’s update out. Apple may not have used its “S” branding, but the iPhone 13 Pro Max is the epitome of evolutionary change. Improved, sure, but only those utterly addicted to life on the (expensive) bleeding edge should upgrade from last year’s models.

Anybody with an older iPhone, though, should give the iPhone 13 Pro serious consideration. Even if the fancier camera tech isn’t swaying you, the core hardware improvements in Apple’s sensors makes a noticeable difference. iOS 15 is showcased at its best on the excellent ProMotion display and the punchy A15 Bionic chipset, and the battery improvements mean that experience won’t expire prematurely.

I am using the iPhone 13 Pro Max 256GB R25 899.

Apple revealed the iPhone 13 on Tuesday, changing Apple’s 2021 current collection of iPhone devices from top to (almost) bottom.

According to Apple, the iPhone 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max has the most advanced pro camera system ever on iPhone, Super Retina XDR display with ProMotion and A15 Bionic, the fastest chip in a smartphone.

iPhone 13 and 13 mini features a sleek and durable design, an advanced new dual-camera system for improved photos and videos in low light and the new Cinematic mode.

Today the automaker is looking ahead to an even more ambitious version with BMW Digital Key Plus. According to an announcement released today BMW says the technology willl launch with the iX all-electric SUV and will be based in Ultra-Wideband (UWB).

Currently, the BMW Digital Key allows you to use your iPhone as a virtual key for your car. It also means sharing access to the vehicle is easier, since up to five contacts can be granted their own virtual key too, through iMessage. Digital Keys can be preconfigured with limits for vehicle top speed, total available power, and even how high the audio system volume can be set, and to automatically expire after a certain period of time.

The difference is, however, that the BMW Digital Key Plus will make use of the Apple U1 UWB chip found in the latest generations of the iPhone. The big advantage is UWB’s position-awareness: rather than just knowing you’re near to the car, your BMW will will know exactly whereabouts you’re standing; you’ll also not necessarily need to take your phone out of your pocket or bag. According to BMW, “UWB’s precision also ensures that relay attacks, where the radio signal is jammed or intercepted, are not possible.”

iStore has three different versions of the iPhone SE, each of the three storage sizes included. There’s a 64GB version, a 128GB version, and a version with 256GB internal storage. All versions of the iPhone SE have the same hardware for the most part. It’s just the amount of internal media storage that you’re getting different – and the colour casing on the outside.

Cash pricing was revealed this week as follows:
– iPhone SE with 64GB storage for R9 999
– iPhone SE with 128GB storage for R12 999
– iPhone SE with 256GB storage for R14 999

iStore suggests that users can get to 50% “off” the price of the iPhone SE “when they trade in an eligible iPhone.” Basically this is iStore’s best new bet in getting new customers with a relatively inexpensive phone – so inexpensive that they could potentially give it to users for free.

As of now, you can buy a refurbished Apple iPhone 6 smartphone directly from the company itself rather than a carrier or third party. The devices are available through the Certified Pre-Owned service available at all iStores, which boasts that the phones are rebuilt, refreshed, and covered with the same one-year warranty you get on new smartphones.

The press release also shows five carriers at the moment, MTN, Vodacom, CellC and Telkom Mobile, Verizon Wireless with phones being available for all of them or through the iStore Card. Prices obviously depend on the device’s size, with it starting at R6999 cash or R329pm. 

Bookmark our iPhone September 7 liveblog now! 

Surprisingly, the leak comes from Apple’s own PR team. The French website iGeneration actually received an email from Beats PR that stated new headphone models from the brand would be unveiled on September 7th, alongside the iPhone 7. An image of the email was also published, but the site was asked by Beats to remove it, all but confirming its authenticity.

There’s no word on what new types of headphones we might see from Beats on Wednesday. However, since the company already has wireless Bluetooth versions of several of its higher-end on/over-ear headphone models, it seems likely the in-ear/earbud styles could go wireless, or there will be wired versions with Lightning connectors instead of the standard 3.5mm headphone jacks.

With the iPhone 7 long-expected to drop the traditional headphone port, the most common prediction is that the Apple headphones included in the box will remain wired but with a Lightning connector. Also rumored is a pair of wireless earbuds from Apple featuring the name “AirPods,” but those will be sold separately due to their higher price tag.

This new Beats leak seems to guarantee we’ll at least be seeing a variety of new headphones announced with the iPhone 7, but we’ll have to wait until Wednesday for the full lineup.

Well, iFix, the recommended cell phone and device repair specialist, excitedly announced the launch of their new brand called i2, which started selling pre-loved iPhones online to the public from late last week. In sharing the bounty with the public at large, iFix has begun taking orders for the ‘pre-loved’ R2999 16GB iPhone 5 and R4999 64GB iPhone 5s models online.

If you’ve been on the fence, here’s your chance to get in for about 40% less than retail (and sadly for you early adopters, a whopping R3500 tumble in price). In our experience, it would be great we couldn grab one in person just to see if all is ok, though it looks like you’ll have to sign on the dotted line to have it delivered.

Speculation, thanks to the colourful invite, indicate yet some more colourful devices. Could it be the iPad mini in various colours or maybe – just maybe – macbooks in a range? Whatever the news may be I’ll be tweeting about it on the 22nd, make sure you follow me on Twitter

Image credit: Engadget