Back in September, I managed to talk myself into buying an iPhone 13 Pro. I decided I’d hold on to my trusty iPhone XS for another year. After offloading apps and deleting photos (I had less than 1GB of storage left), I bit the bullet and bought an iPhone 13 Pro this week.
I’m a Verizon customer and I had no plans to jump ship to another carrier. This meant that most of the iPhone 13 deals were out of bounds for me. But there is a deal that persuaded me to upgrade.
Apple’s trade-in policy can give you a discount of $30 to $650 on your iPhone 13 Pro purchase. Naturally, the big trade-ins are reserved for newer phones. What surprised me, however, was that Apple was offering me a full $200 trade-in credit for my iPhone XS, which, despite being in good condition, couldn’t be charged via cable. Over time, the trade-in value of my iPhone XS would only downgrade, so I decided it was time to go pro.
I post dozens of iPhone deals every month, but at the end of the day I went to Apple for a few reasons. At first, I wanted an unlocked model and all iPhones sold at the Apple Store are unlocked. This means I can avoid Verizon charges and pop in a SIM card, should I travel anywhere.
Additionally, I didn’t want to switch to an unlimited 5G data plan. There are a lot of great Verizon phone deals out there for existing customers, but many of them – if not all – require you to switch to an unlimited data plan, making my monthly phone plan around $50/month ($600 per year). Increases. ,
In our iPhone 13 Pro reviewOf course, we praise the phone for its 120Hz display, performance, and cameras. In truth, I didn’t notice any speed performance from my iPhone XS’s A12 Bionic chipset. (To be fair, I have yet to outdo my new iPhone with Netflix, Apple Music, and the occasional Mario Kart game).
What I immediately noticed is its amazingly bright display. For example, Netflix’s crime-noir drama My Name looked amazing on the iPhone 13 Pro’s display. Despite featuring lots of dark, shadowy scenes, the action-packed thriller was clear and very detailed on my iPhone.
The iPhone 13 Pro’s camera system is also a major upgrade from the iPhone XS, especially in low-light conditions. Overall, the iPhone 13 Pro has been one of my favorite tech purchases of the past 12 months.
If you’re shopping for an iPhone 13 Pro, I’ve rounded up the best deals you can get right now: