Apple/Screenshot by James Martin/CNETApple gave iPhone owners plenty to be excited about with the iPhone 13. From its new cinematic video recording modality to its longer battery liveliness and extra storage quad, the iPhone 13 is a welcome improvement over its harbinger. But there are still a few utilitarian features Apple ‘s phones are missing compared to Android competitors such as Samsung ‘s Galaxy S21. For example, many Android phones have a borderless screen door with a notch-free invention and a fingerprint detector built into the display. These features are n’t new, either, and have been available on some Android phones for years. That being said, the iPhone has come a farseeing direction over the by two years. Before the iPhone 13 debuted, the iPhone 11 and iPhone 12 gained capabilities that were previously only available on Android devices, such as 5G support, OLED display technology on entry-level phones and Night mode for the television camera.
Read CNET ‘s reviews of the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro .
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What the iPhone 13 is placid missing
Your earphone predilection will probably come down to whether you prefer io or Android, rather than specific features. careless, there are placid a few ways I ‘d like to see the iPhone catch up to Android .
A notch-free design
Andrew Hoyle/CNET The iPhone 13 ‘s notch is n’t quite vitamin a wide as the iPhone 12 ‘s, but it ‘s decidedly portray. many Android device makers, on the other hand, have managed to design screens with television camera cutouts that are scantily visible, making the telephone ‘s front feel more like a seamless sheet of field glass. Samsung ‘s Galaxy S21 smartphones, for example, have a bantam trap for the camera located near the top of the display and it ‘s been implementing like designs on its flagship devices since the Galaxy S10 launched in 2019. The lapp can be said for Google ‘s Pixel 5a and the OnePlus 9. however, there might be a full reason why the iPhone ‘s notch is larger than the cutout on Samsung ‘s call and other Android devices. The iPhone ‘s notch includes more than merely the selfie television camera ; it ‘s besides where the sensors that baron Apple ‘s Face ID facial recognition feature are located. Face ID has broadly been considered to be ahead of the contest and more secure .
A screen that can show the time and calendar events even when it’s asleep
Sareena Dayaram/CNET When your iPhone ‘s display is turned off, your telephone turns into an idle black rectangle. But many modern Android phones can show information like the time and calendar events even when the screen door is asleep. device makers including Samsung, Google and Xiaomi have all released phones with always-on displays. I ‘ve found this useful when I barely want to cursorily check the time or scene my future meeting without getting distracted by picking up my call .
The ability to charge other devices when you’re not near an outlet
Sarah Tew/CNET many people are in the habit of charging their phones overnight. But if you own a smartwatch or radio earbuds, there ‘s a dependable find you ‘ve forgotten to plug them in at least once.
Read more: Your iPhone 13’s 5G signal may not be fast enough yet. How to turn it off and use 4G instead
Android phones like Samsung ‘s Galaxy S21, Google ‘s Pixel 5 and older Galaxy phones like the S20 and S10, have a sport that can be helpful in situations like this. Samsung calls it Wireless Power Share and Google calls it Battery Share, but they basically do the lapp thing. The backs of these devices can serve as radio charging pads for products that are compatible with the Qi radio charging standard, which is found on most modern phones and accessories. The iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 lineup can charge Apple ‘s MagSafe Battery Pack when plugged in with the accessory connected. But arsenic far as we know, that ‘s the extent of the iPhone ‘s reverse radio charging capabilities. Hopefully Apple will expand this functionality in the future so that you can power up your AirPods or Apple Watch in a touch .
An in-screen fingerprint sensor for unlocking your phone
CNET Face ID works well most of the prison term, but not while you ‘re wearing a mask. If you ‘re an iPhone owner without an Apple Watch, you probably miss the erstwhile days when you could equitable rest your ovolo on the home button to unlock your iPhone. sadly, that ‘s not changing with the iPhone 13. Android earphone makers like Samsung and OnePlus, on the other hand, are taking a different approach. Samsung has been building fingerprint scanners into the displays on its Galaxy S phones since the Galaxy S10 launched in 2019. You ‘ll besides find a fingerprint reader integrated into the screens of the OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro .
A charger that also works with Macs and non-Apple devices
Sarah Tew/CNET Would n’t it be nice if you could use the like charger to might your iPhone and Mac ? Do n’t get your hopes up. The iPhone 13, like every iPhone model since the iPhone 5, includes Apple ‘s proprietorship Lightning interface for charging. You can besides charge the iPhone 13 through Apple ‘s MagSafe charger or a standard Qi wireless charger, but if you want to plug it in you ‘ll have to use Lightning. It ‘s a shame there ‘s no USB-C support on the iPhone, despite it being the charging standard on Apple ‘s iPad Air, iPad Pro, MacBook laptops and the trade name newly iPad Mini. Using one type of charger to power all of your devices is precisely the type of simplicity I ‘d like to see from Apple. USB-C is the established charging standard on Android devices, whether you ‘re buying a telephone from Samsung, OnePlus, Google, or Motorola. gratuitous to say, these included USB-C cables are much more omnipresent and utilitarian than the iPhone ‘s since you can besides use them with other devices and accessories. It ‘s indecipherable if we ‘ll ever see USB-C coming to the iPhone. Apple is said to be working on a port-free iPhone and its MagSafe charge system surely seems like a footfall in that direction .
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Read more: Your iPhone 13’s 5G signal may not be fast enough yet. How to turn it off and use 4G instead
iPhone 13 Pro Max vs. Galaxy S21 Ultra : Spec dislocation
