We’ve just had the biggest Sony Xperia 1 IV leak yet, as high-quality renders of the upcoming flagship Android phone have now been leaked, showing off the possible design of the phone from all sides.
But looking at these renders (which come from leaker @OnLeaks on behalf of Giznext) you might think you’re looking at the Sony Xperia 1 III, as based on this, the two phones look near identical.
The Sony Xperia 1 IV as shown here has a long narrow design (likely with a 21:9 aspect ratio), a flat screen, a selfie camera housed in the slim top bezel, and a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, just like the current model, and it also has a camera block that appears more or less identical to the one on the Sony Xperia 1 III.
That’s not the end of the similarities either. The top edge houses a 3.5mm headphone port, the right edge has a dedicated shutter button, the screen is apparently 6.5 inches again, and you supposedly get dual front-firing speakers.
So what is different? There’s apparently no dedicated Google Assistant button this year, which is no great loss, and the dimensions seem to differ slightly, with the Sony Xperia 1 IV said to be 164.7 x 70.8 x 8.3mm (rising to 9.5mm at the camera bump). The Xperia 1 III meanwhile is 165 x 71 x 8.2mm, so we’re talking a truly negligible difference.
The biggest visual difference might simply be the colors that the Sony Xperia 1 IV is available in, as these renders show a green shade that wasn’t available for the Sony Xperia 1 III. All that said, this is our first and so far only look at the possible design, so until more sources chime in we’d take this with a pinch of salt.
Opinion: more needs to change
Sony’s smartphone market share isn’t exactly huge, and if the company plays it safe and delivers near-identical phones year after year, it’s only likely to shrink, so it’s disappointing to see so little seemingly changing here.
Assuming these renders are right, we hope at least that more changes under the surface. So far it sounds like there might be more hidden changes, with a leak suggesting that the Sony Xperia 1 IV might have a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset, up to 16GB of RAM, a 5,000mAh battery, and 45W charging, along with upgrades to the main and telephoto cameras – perhaps including a 50MP sensor.
Those would all be improvements on the Sony Xperia 1 III, but mostly in small and unsurprising ways. The only really promising leaks are those surrounding the camera, as they’re vague enough that Sony could have big plans there.
The camera was one of the highlights of the Xperia 1 III, so making an even better one could help the Xperia 1 IV stand out, but it remains to be seen whether the upgrades will be enough.
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Via PhoneArena
