iOS 16 Brings New iPhone 13 Camera Features for Portraits and Cinematic Mode - MacRumors
Skip to Content

iOS 16 Brings New iPhone 13 Camera Features for Portraits and Cinematic Mode

For iPhone 13, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 13 Pro, and iPhone 13 Pro Max users, iOS 16 adds new Camera app functionality. On its iOS 16 website, Apple says that there are two new iPhone 13-exclusive features for Portrait images and Cinematic mode.

iphone 13 pro max display bleen
When using Portrait mode, iOS 16 lets you blur objects that are in the foreground of a photo for a more realistic depth-of-field effect, rather than just allowing for the adjustment of background blur.

In Cinematic mode, blur quality has also improved. Apple says that when recording videos in Cinematic mode, the depth-of-field effect is now more accurate for profile angles and around the edges of hair and glasses.

These two new camera features are exclusive to Apple's iPhone 13 lineup at the current time, but the iPhone 14 is also likely to support these additions.

Related Forum: iPhone

Popular Stories

iphone 16e usb c feature

Apple Begins Selling a $419 iPhone

Monday July 6, 2026 6:29 am PDT by
Apple recently added the iPhone 16e to its refurbished store, with U.S. pricing starting as low as $419 for a model with 128GB of storage. Originally released in February 2025, the iPhone 16e is a lower-end device with a 6.1-inch OLED display, an A18 chip with 8GB of RAM for Apple Intelligence support, a single 48-megapixel rear camera, a 12-megapixel front camera, a USB-C port, an Action...
iphone 17 ceramic shield

iPhone 18 With 9GB RAM Still Won't Support Two New iOS 27 Features

Friday July 3, 2026 12:10 pm PDT by
The lower-end iPhone 18 and iPhone 18e will be equipped with 9GB of RAM, up from 8GB in the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17e, according to supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. In a social media post, Kuo said the 1GB increase in RAM will ensure that Apple Intelligence features continue to run smoothly on the pair of devices. The higher-end iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and foldable "iPhone Ultra...
iPhone X 2022 Upload

'iPhone Ultra' Likely to 'Repeat the iPhone X Story' With Delayed Launch

Sunday July 5, 2026 10:28 am PDT by
Apple will likely "repeat the iPhone X story" by unveiling its foldable iPhone at the same time as the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, but starting foldable iPhone pre-orders at a later date, according to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Kuo today said manufacturing challenges have limited early production of the foldable iPhone, which will reportedly be named iPhone Ultra. As a result, he...

Top Rated Comments

53 months ago
I'm hoping for an option to disable smart HDR 4 for the 13 series. I have no idea why it was removed or why there's still no option to turn it off months after it's initial release but it needs to come back.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
53 months ago
Good for 13 users. Hoping to see this and new features later this year on iPhone 14.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
53 months ago

I’ll believe it when I see it. Attempts to improve “fokeh” over the last 4 years have been laughable, at best. Apple did improve a tonne of other camera features, it’s legit one of the top phone cameras. But I’m sorry their fake bokeh looks like garbage.
Your expectations on a digital camera is too high. The real bokeh requires physical depth on a lens only available on the dslr or mirrorless.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jprmercado Avatar
53 months ago

I'm hoping for an option to disable smart HDR 4 for the 13 series. I have no idea why it was removed or why there's still no option to turn it off months after it's initial release but it needs to come back.
Yeah, me too. We have a whole thread here in the forums on how aggressive Smart HDR is on the iPhone 13 (aka the “watercolor effect”). Weird how it affects mainly only the iPhone 13 series.

If Apple doesn’t add the option to turn off Smart HDR, I’m hoping they at least adjusted Smart HDR to be, uh, smarter.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
GraXXoR Avatar
53 months ago
Hair looks like ***** in portrait mode. In fact the only things that looks good in portrait mode are bottles, glasses and things without ”holes” like cubes, balls and Plates of food on simple backgrounds.

Given that they have three cameras to work with, with over 2cm^2 of “area” between them to play with means surely they can do better.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
adamw Avatar
53 months ago
More Camera options for iPhone 13 models is great news.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)