Apple iPhone 13
Shares rank 20 of 46 smartphones by recommenders
Criticized more than recommended: critics say the keyboard wears out and 4GB of RAM limits apps; those who recommend it cite its long battery life, years of reliable use and a quick feel after updates.
9 people recommended Apple iPhone 13 in Hacker News comments, 8 had mixed feelings and 14 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026.
Summary written by Claude from the comments below.
31 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 9
- mixed feelings
- 8
- warn against or regret it
- 14
The record
Recommended in 7 of 12 months
In 9 different threads.
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 9 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 0.6 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 7 of 12 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
- Recommended in 9 threadsNeeds 5 or more, met.
- The biggest thread supplies 11% of its recommendersNeeds half or less, met.
The same rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. Mixed feelings count toward neither side. How the badge works
What people say about it
Reasons grouped from a sample of 30 of the 32 opinions about it, picked in proportion to how many people recommend it, have mixed feelings and criticize it. Each mark is one comment in the sample. Open a reason to read what they said.
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Keyboard typing degrades or feels poor
“the typing on the keyboard became progressively worse”
Comment from 26 Jan 2026 in “Apple, What Have You Done?” “The keyboard is dumb. But speech recognition is ok.”
Comment from 14 Feb 2026 in “Apple, fix my keyboard before the timer ends or I'm leaving iPhone” Camera bump is awkward
“I don’t like the bump, but I don’t think it’s a scheme to buy covers.”
Comment from 26 Oct 2026 in “New iPad mini” “It was poor design on their part. The cameras bumps were welded over the back glass surface”
Comment from 29 Jul 2026 in “iPhone Upgrade Program” 4GB RAM limits large apps
“I have trouble fitting models into memory on my iPhone 13 before iOS kills the app”
Comment from 6 Apr 2026 in “Gemma 4 on iPhone” “Really hard to fit anything larger on the 4GB of RAM on the iPhone 13”
Comment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Apple Introduces iPhone 17e” Battery health declines, costly repair
“While I have noticed degraded battery performance, the stated health has been stuck at 86%”
Comment from 2 Mar 2026 in “Apple Introduces iPhone 17e” “Apple requires me changing both the back glass and battery which is $500 CAD”
Comment from 27 Oct 2026 in “New iPad mini”
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Long battery life
“I can leave it unplugged all weekend and come back Monday with enough charge to get me through the day.”
Comment from 4 May 2026 in “Removable batteries in smartphones will be mandatory in the EU starting in 2027” “most nights I put it on the charger with over 70% battery remaining”
Comment from 13 Aug 2026 in “Google launches Pixel 11 Pro Fold” “Still an awesome phone with great battery life!”
Comment from 9 Sep 2026 in “iPhone Duo” Lasts years without problems
“it was still running fine after 2 years of that, although the contacts in the lightning port did eventually corrode”
Comment from 29 Jul 2026 in “Una Watch: Garmin watch competitor but repairable, open ecosystem and USB-C” “seems crazy long for it to be perfectly fine from a functionality perspective”
Comment from 9 Sep 2026 in “iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max” Feels quick after updates
“disabling animations really gave a second life to my iphone”
Comment from 29 Jul 2026 in “The motion-sickness cure hidden in iPhone settings” “My iPhone 13 actually feels quicker after the iOS 26 update”
Comment from 2 Mar 2026 in “Motorola announces a partnership with GrapheneOS Foundation”
Other smartphones people recommend
The four most recommended other smartphones, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Mixed | Criticize | Approval | Months | Had for | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple iPhone | 438 | 190 | 789 | 36% | 12 | 7 yrs97 people | — |
| Fairphone | 110 | 42 | 94 | 54% | 12 | 3 yrs14 people | — |
| iPhone 13 mini | 105 | 32 | 44 | 70% | 12 | — | Approved |
| Apple iPhone Pro | 90 | 45 | 138 | 39% | 12 | 4 yrs24 people | — |
| Apple iPhone 13This page | 9 | 8 | 14 | 39% | 7 | — | — |
Also compared with iPhone SE, Jolla Phone, Nokia N900 and Apple iPhone 12 mini.
What people said
30 of the 32 opinions about it, picked in proportion to the three counts, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I had an iphone 13 and av1 playback was pretty bad”
“Apple requires me changing both the back glass and battery which is $500 CAD”
“I don’t like the bump, but I don’t think it’s a scheme to buy covers.”
“Very, very quickly it became easier to justify buying a SBC for the same project”
“Still an awesome phone with great battery life!”
“seems crazy long for it to be perfectly fine from a functionality perspective”
“most nights I put it on the charger with over 70% battery remaining”
“The charging port doesn't work half the time (a problem in the car especially”
“disabling animations really gave a second life to my iphone”
“It was poor design on their part. The cameras bumps were welded over the back glass surface”
“it was still running fine after 2 years of that, although the contacts in the lightning port did eventually corrode”
“become unusable if you turn on any transparency effects.”
“I can leave it unplugged all weekend and come back Monday with enough charge to get me through the day.”
“I have trouble fitting models into memory on my iPhone 13 before iOS kills the app”
“Really hard to fit anything larger on the 4GB of RAM on the iPhone 13”
“While I have noticed degraded battery performance, the stated health has been stuck at 86%”
“My iPhone 13 actually feels quicker after the iOS 26 update”
“used phones are very affordable, and reduce waste”
“The keyboard is dumb. But speech recognition is ok.”
“I will replace it soon with a cheap refurbished iPhone 13 or so”
“Every time I go back to my primary 13 I want to cry.”
“Lockdown Mode isn't just theoretical protection against nation-state spyware”
“still regularly disappointed by the camera”
“most of the "just works" marketing has thus far turned out to be true in my experience”
“the typing on the keyboard became progressively worse”
“That's legacy machine, soon out of support.”
“I have big hands, so I can ise the latter one-handed”
“I personally went back to Android this generation when my iPhone 13 became unusable.”
“So far not felt the need to upgrade.”
“my hands hurt from the big phone”
Counts come from 1,791,911 Hacker News comments labeled by Claude, November 2025 to October 2026, with data through October 31, 2026. Counts updated 2 Nov 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.