iOS 15 is packed with extensive features, many of which Apple covered in a preview at its Worldwide Developer Conference in June Other hidden iOS 15 features have been hidden under the radar, but you can still learn about them by examining Apple's public documentation of iOS updates and talking to people who used early developer betas

While Apple is telling us all about features like Focus to manage notifications and eliminate distractions, and updates to existing applications like Maps, other aspects of iOS 15, namely software that specifically benefits the iPhone 13 has been tight-lipped about the features of the update However, some of the features Apple has announced indicate some potential functionality for future phones Apple may not have officially announced anything about the iPhone 13, but in a way, what it has shown us with iOS 15 tells us a lot

Based on what we have seen so far from iOS 15, here are some predictions about the iPhone 13

It's no secret that Apple sees great potential in augmented reality For years, it has been rolling out developer tools aimed at helping app makers And Apple has added AR-based immersive walking directions to the iOS 15 version of Maps, and even sings its own song; RealityKit 2 is another set of developer tools that allow app makers to create more immersive AR experiences

If there is no hardware to support AR, then there is a lot of interest in AR For example, Maps' immersive walking feature requires a phone with at least an A12 Bionic chip or later (basically the iPhone XR and later devices) But there is more to AR than processing power

In the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max, Apple added a LiDAR sensor to the rear camera array This sensor primarily helps improve portrait photography by improving depth scanning, but it can also support AR features such as accurately overlaying virtual objects in real space The more phones that can support such features, the more developers will be willing to put in the effort to add AR capabilities to their software, so it is quite possible that Apple will add LiDAR to the entry-level iPhone

Indeed, this is a popular rumor for the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini, and both rumored models are said to adapt the LiDAR sensor that Apple introduced in the recent Pro models; the presence of RealityKit 2 does not support this but underscores Apple's desire to get AR capabilities into the hands of more iPhone users

Unless you unlock your iPhone with Face ID, you probably don't think much about the TrueDepth camera on the front of your iPhone However, given the massive changes Apple is introducing to FaceTime in iOS 15, it is easy to predict that Apple will improve the iPhone 13's front camera in some way

But the improvements to FaceTime in iOS 15 are as much about sound as they are about video: FaceTime will add spatial audio capabilities, allowing a person's voice to be heard from the location of their face on the iPhone screen; FaceTime's new microphone mode will have a "voice" feature, which will allow a person's voice to be heard from the location of their face on the iPhone screen; and FaceTime's new microphone mode will have a "voice" feature that will allow a person's voice to be heard from the location of their face on the iPhone screen, Voice Isolation, which minimizes background noise, and Wide Spectrum, which captures more of the surrounding audio It would not be a leap of logic to imagine that the microphone on the iPhone 13 will be tuned to optimize these improvements

That said, so far iPhone 13 rumors have said little about the new microphones or TrueDepth camera, other than speculation that the notch that houses the front-facing camera will likely be reduced in all models We would not be surprised to see more announcements from Apple in the fall

Based on the iOS 15 features Apple has talked about so far, we'll be spending a lot of time looking at iPhone screens this fall In addition to all the FaceTime calls with SharePlay sessions for watching videos, Maps has a new Guides Home that stores all your travel guides, Safari has a new design that is better suited for one-handed web surfing, and the photo memories feature is more interactive and can play, jump ahead, and adjust music

Many of these activities will benefit from screens with faster refresh rates than the 60Hz currently supported by existing iPhones That said, we believe that the feature in iOS 15 is just more evidence that Apple will add the ability to dynamically adjust refresh rates, as rumored for the iPhone 13 Pro model

A faster refresh rate, such as the 120 Hz that the iPhone 13 Pro is expected to feature, would make scrolling smoother and the video experience more immersive This is something that many major Android phones like the Galaxy S21 lineup and the OnePlus 9 Pro offer, and it is important for Apple to catch up It would also allow the refresh rate to be adjusted to match on-screen activity, so that when engaged in more static activity, the refresh rate would be reduced to maintain battery life

The faster refresh rate of the iPhone 13 Pro will not be confirmed until Apple announces it, but iOS 15 should make us fairly certain that this rumor will come true

iOS 15 takes a page out of Google's book by utilizing artificial intelligence to identify text in photos with Live Text, you can tap text in a photo to copy it to a note or look it up if it is an address or phone number Similarly, the new Visual Look Up feature allows users to swipe up on a photo to look up more information about the subject

Live Text and Visual Look Up are also iOS 15 features that require an A12 Bionic or later processor, as this type of functionality requires a lot of processing power One would imagine that Apple will spend as much time on the AI capabilities it enables as it does focusing on the chip's performance improvements and graphic rendering capabilities

Sometimes, what a company does not say says as much as what it does say And so far, Apple has said almost nothing about improvements to the camera app in iOS 15 Apple's iOS 15 documentation mentions two features, like improved panorama capture and the ability to zoom in and out by swiping up and down during QuickTake video capture Neither of these features made much of an appearance in the iOS 15 preview at WWDC

Rumors have already suggested that the iPhone 13 camera will change significantly, especially with the iPhone 13 Pro The ultra-wide camera on the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max is expected to feature a new six-element lens for improved image quality The sensor-shift image stabilization introduced in the iPhone 12 Pro Max is expected to be included in other Apple models, resulting in more stable video and reduced camera shake

When talking about iOS 15, Apple's lack of focus on camera features is not a sign that iPhone 13 will not make photography a primary focus Rather, we believe it is because Apple will talk a lot about camera improvements when the iPhone 13 arrives in the fall

iOS 15 promises some improvements for 5G-capable iPhones - basically the four iPhone 12 models at the moment - and we can expect the iPhone 13 to join them According to Apple, 5G-enabled iPhones with iOS 15 will back up to iCloud and restore backups, stream audio and video, download Apple TV Plus shows, sync photos, and Apple News Plus articles for offline reading will be able to use the faster 5G connection when updating their These phones will also be able to prioritize 5G if the Wi-Fi connection on the network slows down

The iPhone 13's 5G improvements will not stop there Allegedly, the iPhone 13 will use Qualcomm's Snapdragon X60 modem, a smaller and more efficient 5-nanometer modem than the iPhone 12's 7-nanometer modem data from both at the same time, which should improve speeds

This rumored hardware upgrade, combined with the software improvements that iOS 15 offers for 5G phones, should make for a better 5G experience when upgrading to the iPhone 13