The 13 mini, and the storage floor that helps you
One thing works in your favour across this generation. Apple started the 13 at 128GB, so there is no 64GB version dragging the bottom of the range down the way there is on the iPhone 12 and 11. Even the weakest configuration here is a usable phone, and prices like one.
The 13 mini is the exception that pulls the other way. It was the last small iPhone Apple built, and no successor ever arrived to keep interest in the format alive. The people who want one really want one, but there are not many of them, so it prices below the standard 13 despite sharing the same A15 chip.
Replaced screens and the Face ID repair window
The iPhone 13 was the generation where a swapped display could knock Face ID out entirely. Apple later issued a software fix, but plenty of units were repaired in that window and never went back, and some third-party panels still break Face ID today.
Check yours before you message us. Settings, General, About lists an unknown or non-genuine display if one is fitted, and Face ID either works or it does not. Try it twice — an intermittent failure is a different repair from a dead module.
Neither stops us buying the phone. Both change the number, and it is better we know from the first message than find it at the counter.
Battery health on a phone this old
Most original iPhone 13 batteries are now well under 85%, and a fair share show the Service Recommended message. That is expected at this age, not a reason to leave the phone in a drawer.
What matters is the size of the deduction relative to the phone. A genuine battery service is a fixed cost, and on a handset this age it is a far larger slice of the total value than it would be on a 16 or a 17. That is why a tired battery bites harder here. Fitting a cheap cell yourself first makes it worse.
If Apple or an authorised service centre replaced the battery, say so. That reads as a genuine part and it works in your favour.
Why the 13 Pro still holds a premium
ProMotion is the reason. Apple kept the 120Hz display exclusive to Pro models through the 13, 14 and 15 generations, which makes a used 13 Pro the cheapest route into a high-refresh iPhone. That puts a floor under it the standard 13 does not have.
The telephoto lens, macro photography and the stainless steel frame are the next layers. Together they explain a gap that widens rather than narrows at the higher storage tiers, because Pro units sold here in far smaller numbers at 512GB and 1TB.
The 13 Pro Max adds the largest battery Apple had put in an iPhone up to that point. Where every original cell has degraded, starting from a bigger number is worth real money.