iOS 16 Brings New iPhone 13 Camera Features for Portraits and Cinematic Mode - MacRumorsOpen MenuShow RoundupsShow Forums menuVisit ForumsOpen Sidebar
Skip to Content

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

by

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

iOS 27 Next to iPhone

Here's When iOS 27 Rolls Out Today in Every Time Zone [Update: It's Out]

Sunday September 13, 2026 3:00 am PDT by
Update 10:04 a.m.: iOS 27 is rolling out now, though it may take a bit for all users to see it, so keep checking! Apple is about to release iOS 27, which will finally deliver more advanced Siri AI capabilities as well as a variety of other refinements, improvements, and new features to iPhones. It's Apple's biggest software update of the year, and Apple announced at Wednesday's iPhone event...
Read Full Article • 151 comments
iOS 27 Icon iPhone

iOS 27 Available Now With These 8 New Features

Monday September 14, 2026 9:00 am PDT by
Update — 10 a.m. Pacific Time: Apple has released iOS 27. During its iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Duo event last week, Apple announced that iOS 27 will be released widely on Monday, September 14. iOS 27 should be available around 10 a.m. Pacific Time / 1 p.m. Eastern Time today via the Settings app, under General → Software Update. Below, we have highlighted eight new features and...
Read Full Article • 111 comments
deep black iphone 18 pro

Apple Says iPhone 18 Pro Max Sold in U.S. Differs in One Way

Saturday September 12, 2026 3:27 pm PDT by
As noted by Nicolas Lellouche, who writes for the French tech website Numerama, Apple has updated its tech specs pages for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max to clarify which models are equipped with its new C2 cellular modem and where. Apple now says the iPhone 18 Pro has a C2 modem worldwide, while the iPhone 18 Pro Max uses the chip in every country except for the U.S. According...
Read Full Article • 142 comments

Top Rated Comments

T
that be me
56 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)
S
svish
56 months ago
Good for 13 users. Hoping to see this and new features later this year on iPhone 14.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
S
syklee26
56 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
jprmercado
56 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
GraXXoR
56 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
adamw
56 months ago
More Camera options for iPhone 13 models is great news.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments