• Sony has posted an advert for the Xperia 1 VIII's AI Camera Assistant tool
• But all the images using this feature look worse than the 'before' shots
• It's unclear how this could have happened without Sony realizing

Update 15/05: Sony has followed up its X post with a second post explaining that the AI Camera Assistant feature "doesn’t edit photos after shooting — it suggests 4 settings in different creative directions based on the scene and subject. You can choose any option or use your own settings." The rest of this article is as originally published.

AI is a controversial tool, but even those against the technology would probably admit that it has some utility. One such use case is to improve photos, but Sony’s recent attempt to advertise AI's skills in this area has very much backfired.

You see, the Sony Xperia 1 VIII has just launched with an ‘AI Camera Assistant’ tool, which, on paper, sounds promising. It can make suggestions about settings you might want to change, such as exposure, bokeh, and color, based on what you’re pointing the viewfinder at, in order to get the best version of a photo. Except, its suggestions are seemingly absolutely terrible.

In a post on X, the official Sony Xperia account has shown some before and after photos aimed at advertising the capabilities of this tool, but the improved shots basically just seem to be overexposed to ludicrous levels, washing out colors and details, and leaving the photos looking pale and unnatural.

An accident or an intentional gamble?

Even if the feature really is this bad, it’s bizarre that Sony would highlight its failings like this, so there’s some debate online about what’s going on. Nothing’s CEO Carl Pei even weighed in, suggesting “this must be engagement farming??” But if it is, it’s quite the gamble given just how terrible this makes the feature look.

Other replies have described the results as “awful” and noted that “all the originals look better”, with one poster saying, “If this is intelligence, I'd prefer my phone dumb.” Another simply asks, “Is this satire?”

The response is almost universally negative, and it seems hard to believe that Sony didn’t realize the adjusted photos look worse. But it’s also hard to imagine the company would intentionally post bad images for engagement.

Perhaps, then, the before and after shots have accidentally been mislabeled, but the post has been up for quite a while now, so you’d think it would have been taken down if that was the case.

We’ll be interested to give the AI Camera Assistant feature a try for ourselves when we get our hands on the Sony Xperia 1 VIII, but for now, based on Sony’s own images, it looks like something you might want to steer well clear of.

• Sony has launched the Xperia 1 VIII
• It has a redesigned camera block, a new telephoto sensor, an AI camera assistant, and a top-end chipset
• It also costs more than most high-end phones, and isn't available in much of the world

Like clockwork, the Sony Xperia 1 VIII has now been announced, a year to the day after the Sony Xperia 1 VII. But while the day is the same, the details are different, as Sony has given its new phone a much-needed redesign.

That’s mostly meant changing the camera block, so instead of the vertical line of lenses in the top left corner that we’ve seen since the Sony Xperia 1 II, there’s now a square camera block, with the metal housing wrapping around to the left edge of the phone.

Other than some new gemstone-inspired shades (Graphite Black, Iolite Silver, Garnet Red, and Native Gold), that’s the only major visual change, but it makes the new phone look dramatically different.

The other big change this year also relates to the cameras, as they include a new AI Camera Assistant that will suggest things like lenses, bokeh effects, and color tones, based on the scene and subject, to help ensure your photos look their best. It sounds a bit like the Camera Coach feature on the Google Pixel 10 Pro series, so it’s not a totally new idea, but it’s a potentially useful implementation of AI anyway.

The cameras, by the way, include a 48MP f/1.9 wide, a 48MP f/2.0 ultra-wide, a 48MP f/2.8 telephoto with a 70mm focal length, for roughly 2.9x optical zoom, and a 12MP f/2.0 front-facing camera.

Those are largely the same lenses as last year, except for the telephoto, which was previously only 12MP and with a roughly four times smaller sensor, but which had a continuous optical zoom, so you could optically zoom to more distances. Instead, on the new phone, you can use sensor cropping to get near optical-quality zoom at other distances.

Other specs of the Sony Xperia 1 VIII include a top-end Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, a 5,000mAh battery with the promise of two days of life, a 6.5-inch 1080 x 2340 OLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, an IP68 rating, and full-stage stereo speakers, which likely means you’ll get better audio from them than most phone speakers.

It also continues to have features that the rest of the smartphone industry is largely abandoning, like a 3.5mm headphone port and a microSD card slot — plus sizable bezels above and below the screen, rather than a punch-hole camera.

A high price and relatively limited support

Unfortunately, those bezels aren’t the only bad element of the Sony Xperia 1 VIII, as it is also only promised four major Android operating system upgrades, along with six years of security updates. That’s not terrible, but it’s dwarfed by the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S26 series and the Google Pixel 10 line, both of which are promised seven years of Android updates.

And it’s not as if the Sony Xperia 1 VIII is a cheaper phone — in fact, it costs more, with a starting price of £1,399 for a version with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, rising to £1,849 for a model with 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage.

There’s no availability in the US or Australia, but for comparison, the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra starts at $1,299 / £1,279 / AU$2,199, the Pixel 10 Pro XL starts at $1,199 / £1,199 / AU$1,999, and the iPhone 17 Pro Max starts at $1,199 / £1,199 / AU$2,149. So, Sony’s phone costs more than any of these, likely making it hard to justify for most would-be buyers.

If you do want the Sony Xperia 1 VIII, though, and you live somewhere that it’s available, you’ll be able to pre-order it now, with UK shipping estimates currently showing as June 19. And if you do pre-order, you will at least get a pair of Sony WH-1000XM6 headphones thrown in free, which are worth $449 / £399 / AU$699 in their own right.

Sony Xperia 1 VII: Two-minute review

The Xperia 1 VII is Sony’s top Android phone. It’s simultaneously refreshing among its peers and too conservative to be considered all that interesting or dynamic.

It’s very similar to its predecessor, the Sony Xperia 1 VI, but stands out as one of the few higher-end phones with a headphone jack and microSD expandable storage. These are not expensive features, but do partially come to define the Xperia 1 VII’s appeal against its rivals.

The other side of the phone is a bit more problematic. Aside from using what was at launch the latest, most powerful, Qualcomm chipset, the Xperia 1 series is falling behind in a few areas.

Charging speed, battery capacity, camera slickness, and video modes nowadays feel a little regressive in this class, and some of these areas are more limited than they were in some earlier generations of the Sony Xperia 1 VII’s family.

This would not matter so much were the Sony Xperia 1 VII not extremely expensive, but it costs more than the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, which is the more dynamic phone.

Sony Xperia 1 VII review: price and availability

• Starts at £1,399 (roughly $1,870 / AU$2,885)
• Launched in June 2025

The Sony Xperia 1 VII was released in June 2025, following an announcement in May.

It costs £1,399 or 1,499 euros, equivalent to around $1,870 / AU$2,885 in a direct currency conversion at the time of writing, but with no current availability in those regions. This is for the model reviewed, which has 12GB RAM and 256GB of storage. There is also a 512GB model in some parts of the world, but this isn't available in the UK.

In any case, that price puts the Sony Xperia 1 VII among the most expensive Android phones to date, short of unusual models encrusted with jewels or gold bling.

• Value score: 2 / 5

Sony Xperia 1 VII review: specs

Here's a full specs list for the Sony Xperia 1 VII, so you can see what it has going for it at a glance:

Sony Xperia 1 VII review: design

• Gorilla Glass Victus 2 screen protection
• Familiar Sony 'monolith' design
• 3.5mm headphone jack

Phones these days are often accused of being boring, and in many ways the Sony Xperia 1 VII is also guilty of that. It looks virtually identical to its predecessor, and is part of a design family tree so long it could shame some monarchical dynasties.

The Sony Xperia 1 VII is a metal and glass brick that offers very little in the way of visible outer progress in tech or style. But that’s kind of the point with this series.

Sony offers lots of the bits other manufacturers have long since discarded in the noble pursuit of copying Apple. For example, the Sony Xperia 1 VII has a headphone jack, which I love as someone who actually bought a pair of wired in-ear monitors during testing.

It also has space for a microSD card in its SIM tray, and there’s no notch or punch-hole in the screen, just larger-than-most display borders. And it has a two-stage shutter button for the camera too. I’m not much of a fan of the latter these days, but Sony can make treading water seem valuable because it offers so much that other flagship phones just don’t have anymore.

Most of the build bullet points are largely beyond reproach too. The Sony Xperia 1 VII is a full metal and glass phone, with Corning’s tough Gorilla Glass Victus 2 up front, and aluminum sides. Its rear panel is 'just' Victus rather than its successor, which has better drop resistance, but this still provides a respectable amount of protection.

The back is also textured, with a series of embossed dots, apparent when you look real close. It’s very fingerprint-resistant, and simply gives the Sony Xperia 1 VII a different feel than that of flat glossy glass.

It is basically an identical feel to the Sony Xperia VI, though, especially as the two generations also have a sort-of corrugated effect to the frame.

The rectangular shape makes the Sony Xperia 1 VII feel tough, the sort of phone you could use as a bludgeoning weapon. But in previous generations I’ve found it less than ideal for the finish’s longevity. Eventually the paint will wear off the sharp corners of the frame, showing up as bright, raw aluminum highlights. A couple of weeks in, that wear is already visible on the Sony Xperia 1 VII's camera lens housing.

You can fix that with a case, of course, but the Sony Xperia 1 VII does not include one.

Like other phones in this series, the Xperia 1 VII also has a side-mounted fingerprint sensor rather than an in-screen one. It doesn’t feel as instantaneous as some, and I find it annoyingly picky. As soon as I’ve done a little exercise, just a bit of sweat will cause my finger not to be recognized.

The speaker array deserves a note too. There are front-mounted stereo speakers, with the fairly full-sounding audio I’ve come to expect of top-tier phones. It may not be the loudest stereo pair among flagship phones, but I’ve happily spent many (many) hours listening to podcasts using nothing more than these speakers.

Water resistance is excellent too, as is typical for Sony. The Xperia 1 VII is rated for IP65 and IP68, for protection from immersion in fresh water and being subjected to jets of the stuff. This finish may be easy to scrape, but the phone is difficult to drown.

• Design score: 3 / 5

Sony Xperia 1 VII review: display

• Bright screen makes good use of HDR
• Lower resolution than older Xperia flagships
• Colorful and contrasty

This Sony series used to employ some pretty wild display panels, with ultra-tall shapes and ultra-high resolutions. But the Sony Xperia 1 VII has a far more ordinary 1080p screen that measures 6.5 inches across.

There’s no notch, it’s a totally flat panel, and this is a 120Hz OLED screen with OLED staple deep color and flawless contrast.

The Sony Xperia 1 VII’s default color mode has strong saturation, but there’s also a Creator mode that lowers saturation for a more measured appearance. This also kicks in as standard in apps that try to take over the color presentation of the screen, which is great.

It means your photos end up looking as they will on other well-calibrated screens, rather than severely oversaturated.

There’s nothing too special going on here, but the Sony Xperia 1 VII's screen is at least very bright. Legibility in strong direct sunlight is good, and the high peak brightness makes the most of the latest movements in HDR.

And I’m not just talking about HDR video. You’ll notice in Instagram that sometimes the highlights of the picture are brighter than the app’s white border. That’s HDR for you, and it can look great. It’s used when you look at your own photos in the gallery too, most notably bringing out the bright highlights in clouds in a very eye-catching manner.

Let’s not get carried away, though. Phones are currently on an upwards peak brightness trend thanks to the underlying OLED panel tech developing fairly rapidly in the background. Even fairly affordable phones have ridiculously high peak brightness claims — like the 3,000-nit Nothing Phone 3a.

• Display score: 3.5 / 5

Sony Xperia 1 VII review: cameras

• High-quality primary camera
• Could feel more responsive and quick
• Zoom is fun to use but disappoints on image quality in 2025

You’d think phones like the Sony Xperia 1 VII would have the best phone cameras in the world. A division of Sony, after all, does make almost all of the camera sensors used by the best phones.

Yet despite that the Sony Xperia 1 VII doesn't quite match the best rivals here, not in all respects anyway. While the Sony Xperia 1 VII has mostly top-tier hardware, the experience of actually using the camera doesn’t have the standard-setting gloss and slickness you might expect.

For example, the shutter doesn’t always feel instantaneous, and there’s sometimes a fractional wait between captures as you shoot single stills. The best-feeling phone cameras appear to operate as fast as your finger will go. The Sony Xperia 1 VII isn’t quite there.

Its preview image isn’t the best either. For example, Samsung provides a solid estimation of what a photo will look like before you even take it, including the effects of its HDR processing. The Sony Xperia 1 VII will sometimes show blown highlights in the preview view, even if it pretty much always fixes those highlights by the time the image hits your gallery.

As we’ve seen across the phone, much of the camera is pretty familiar compared to the last generation. The Sony Xperia 1 VII has a large-sensor 48MP primary camera and a still-unusual genuine optical zoom lens – virtually every other phone zoom has what’s known as a prime lens, where the view is fixed.

The ultra-wide gets a notable upgrade, though. Sensor resolution jumps from 12MP to 48MP, which could be good or bad depending on the sensor used. But this time it’s also a much larger sensor, jumping from 1/2.5-inch in the Xperia VI to 1/1.56-inch here. It’s one of the higher-spec ultra-wide cameras you’ll find.

Sure enough, the ultra-wide takes lovely pictures, giving the Xperia 1 VII an admirable sense of consistency between the wide and ultra-wide lenses. Colors aren’t oversaturated, instead appearing largely natural.

Are these two lenses actually equals? It’s not even close, and that becomes clear at night. The Sony Xperia 1 VII can only take (barely) passable low-light shots with the ultra-wide, lacking the dynamic range and detail of the main camera. Far-away brick work turns to mush, and it also seems the ultra-wide shots don’t get as much low-light processing either.

The main camera’s night shots are good, although Sony perhaps leans slightly less egregiously on computational photography to enhance dynamic range. This can mean photos look more natural than the norm, if also less impressive in some scenes.

The deficiencies of the zoom camera aren’t too hard to find either, even though having what amounts to 16mm-170mm framing versatility is amazing. This camera allows you to shoot at anywhere from 3.5x to 7.1x optical zoom, but when shooting at the further reaches of the zoom in particular, detail integrity and clarity are actually pretty poor considering we are looking at a non digitally-zoomed image.

It’s likely down to a conjunction of two factors that limit the quality of photos we’ll be able to get. There’s the lowly f/3.5 aperture – which is fine in a 'proper' camera but very poor in a mobile phone. And the sensor itself is small. That said, I’ve found that image quality issues can appear in any kind of lighting, from blazing sunshine to night.

That’s not to say the Sony Xperia 1 VII’s extreme zoom images are unusable. They can look good on the surface, but fall apart a bit when approached with a critical eye.

The zoom camera also has a kind of amazing macro mode, which is available at the 120cm focal length. You can focus at up to 4cm away from the camera. It’s enough to reveal the printed dots in a Magic the Gathering card, or the subpixels in a MacBook Air’s display. I’ve used it to identify tiny spiders, and get a closer look at ripening blackberries, but you need a steady hand as the depth of field is extremely shallow. Thankfully the Xperia 1 VII does have a focus peaking option to help out. This is where in-focus elements of the scene are highlighted.

But, stepping back once more, compared to the more conventional pericope designs in phones like the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and Xiaomi 15 Ultra, Sony needs to up its game to compete.

For video, the Sony Xperia 1 VII has some solid skills, with some odd missing parts. It can capture 4K video at up to 120fps, and there’s a software-generated 'bokeh' blur video mode and an extra stabilized 'AI' mode.

However, where Sony used to be the master of slow-mo video, the Xperia 1 VII has no real notable skills here. Back when ultra-powered slow-mo modes became a show-off contest, there was often interpolation involved. But it was fun to play around with, and that’s largely absent here.

Around the front, the Sony Xperia 1 VII has a 12MP selfie camera. It’s good, capable of rendering natural-looking skin tones, and has the detail to pick out pores, single facial hairs and so on – when you aren’t obliterating such details with filters.

• Camera score: 3.5 / 5

Sony Xperia 1 VII review camera samples

Sony Xperia 1 VII review: performance

• Gradual thermal throttling attempts to manage heat
• A high-performing phone
• Still gets a little too warm on occasion

The Sony Xperia 1 VII has one of the best chipsets available to Android phones in 2025. This is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite. It’s enormously powerful (though now beaten by the new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5), and here it’s paired with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.

This will be able to handle any game you throw its way and, the largely non-processor-related camera hitches aside, general performance is great. But that's as it should be, as we have every right to expect one of the best possible processors in the Sony Xperia 1 VII, given how much it costs.

When pressure is applied, Sony takes a highly progressive approach to thermal throttling in the Xperia 1 VII. Where some phones hang on for dear life until the internal temperature sensor reaches a certain level, here the performance scales with temperature in a more fine grain way, chipping down almost from the beginning of a gaming session or benchmark test.

After 20 minutes the Xperia 1 VII ends up at 55% of its peak performance. And as that test was performed on a hot day during the summer, I also slung the phone in a fridge to see what happened with the same test. Once again, there was that very gradual loss of power, ending up with 78.8% of its max after 20 minutes.

I have also noticed that the Xperia 1 VII gets hot on occasion, which is predictably accompanied by faster power drain.

In any case, losing up to 45% of peak power may sound pretty bad, but it’s not uncommon to see up to a 55% loss in phones with these high power chipsets.

Some folks had major reliability issues with the Xperia 1 VII at launch, spurring a response from Sony itself. Thankfully, it’s been mostly smooth sailing day-to-day during testing, though.

• Performance score: 4 / 5

Sony Xperia 1 VII review: software

• Sticks to the AI basics
• Fewer Sony apps than some older phones
• Familiar Sony interface style

The Sony Xperia 1 VII runs Android 15 and has Sony’s long-standing custom interface on top. It comes with the promise of four years of operating system version updates and six years of security patches.

There’s nothing too surprising here. It has an app drawer, one that can be arranged either alphabetically or using your own layout. Choose the latter and you can also sort apps into folders.

The only interface niggles we’ve found are that the Wi-Fi switch wasn’t put in the feature toggle drop-down as standard, and that the standby behavior and lock screen layout means it’s easy to accidentally have podcasts or songs skip while the phone is in your pocket.

These are not problems without fixes, but they are annoying.

A while back, Sony went big on its own apps, including multiple camera apps for enthusiasts and the point ’n’ shoot crowd. It made a minor splash at the time, but all that has mostly been scaled back in favor of simplicity.

And, let’s be honest, having to maintain multiple apps for the same job has got to be a pain.

The Sony Xperia 1 VII gets a single camera app, a basic video editor, the Music Pro multi-track recorder app, and what Sony calls the Creators’ App. This is part social network, part a way to bring over the photos taken with your 'proper' Sony camera(s).

Sony’s concept here does kind of make sense, to bring together the other sides of Sony’s wider business to lend the Xperia 1 VII additional credibility. It desperately wants to make phones for creatives, but doesn’t really have a hope in hell of bringing many of them over to its stable, especially as there are alternatives to all of these apps floating around, ones with more workflow-boosting features.

This phone also does not have an app pre-installed that lets you use the phone as an external monitor for Sony Alpha mirrorless cameras, despite that feature once being hailed as a photographer’s USP for buying a top-tier Xperia. I did install a Sony app that appeared to do that job, but it also appears to be largely brand-agnostic on the phone side, and I’m primarily a Fuji camera user anyway.

Sony has not gone heavy on AI software in the way other manufacturers have – which may be appealing or a turn-off depending on your tastes. It is here, though. Long-press the side power button and Google Gemini AI appears. There’s just not much in the way of Sony-made AI features, which is probably for the best given how at-risk they’d be of coming across as superfluous and try-hard.

• Software score: 3 / 5

Sony Xperia 1 VII review: battery

• Bottom rung 'fast' charging
• One-day real-world battery life
• 5,000mAh capacity

The Sony Xperia 1 VII has a 5,000mAh battery, just like its predecessor. I have found that with my use it lasts a solid day and no more.

Is it worse than last year’s model? Perhaps not, or at least not hugely, but Sony has not caught up with one of the new meaningful developments in phone tech of late. This is the silicon-carbon battery, which allows for higher-capacity batteries in the same size of cell.

The Sony Xperia 1 VII lasts a full day with my kind of use, but rarely has much spare to keep it going overnight or into the next day. On a couple of occasions – usually when I’ve watched too much YouTube – it has needed an evening top-up too. And, as noted earlier, there have been moments when it has inexplicably got warmer than it should, indicative of excess power drain.

I think if you are able to get Sony’s claimed two-day use, you’re not using your phone intensively enough to justify one this pricey.

Charging speeds are not particularly impressive either, as 30W is the power ceiling. Sony does not include a power adapter with the phone, but plenty of non-Sony plugs will be able to charge it at max speed, over USB-PD.

A full charge from flat took 88 minutes, while it reached 50% in a much better-sounding 29 minutes. It’s not a real fast charger, and is now also beaten by Samsung – not a fast-charging pioneer either, but at least top phones like the Galaxy S25 Ultra support 45W charging.

The Sony Xperia 1 VII can be charged wirelessly too, but at up to a dismal 15W. Reverse wireless charging is in as well, though, which should come in handy if you have wireless earphones that support Qi charging.

• Battery score: 3 / 5

Should you buy the Sony Xperia 1 VII?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Sony Xperia 1 VII review: Also consider

Not sure about the Sony? Here are a few alternative options.

How I tested the Sony Xperia 1 VII

• Review test period: several weeks
• Testing included: everyday use, photography, long days away from a charger, a weekend away
• Tools used: Geekbench 6, 3DMark

The Sony Xperia 1 VII was used as my primary phone for several weeks, to get the best idea of how it works. I took hundreds of photos with its cameras, and used it during a weekend away, with long days away from the charger.

Some benchmark performance testing was done too, in order to back up, or potentially challenge, observations I found from my everyday phone use. However, there were not any grand surprises to be found in those benchmarks anyway.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed October 2025

• The Sony Xperia 10 VII is shipping without a USB charging cable
• This will save Sony money but its environmental impact is less clear
• It's likely other brands will start doing the same

In a move that was perhaps inevitable, a phone has now launched without a USB charging cable in the box. That phone – the Sony Xperia 10 VII – is probably not one that too many people planned to buy anyway, but it is a notable shift.

This news came to our attention thanks to Reddit poster Brick_Fish (via Android Authority), who shared an image of the charger-free box contents on Reddit, along with a photo of the box itself, which has a picture of a cable with a line through it – indicating that a charging cable isn’t included.

With Sony not putting a cable in the box with this phone, it seems likely that future Sony Xperia handsets will also ship without a cable – and having seen Sony do this, we wouldn’t be surprised if other manufacturers follow suit.

After all, for a long time now, most smartphones have shipped without a charging brick, so this move is a logical extension of that approach. On the other hand, Apple was first to drop those, and Sony’s decisions probably won’t have the same impact.

But as Android Authority points out, Apple itself recently shipped the AirPods 4 and AirPods Pro 3 without bundled USB cables, so with or without this move from Sony, there’s every chance Apple could start shipping iPhones without cables too.

The reasoning for this is presumably much the same as it was with charging bricks – namely that electronics have been requiring USB cables for long enough now that most buyers probably already have a whole nest of them.

An environmental – and financial – impact

As such, they arguably don’t need one to be included with new purchases, so by not making and shipping cables, Sony is potentially being more environmentally friendly as it’s reducing e-waste.

Of course, while that’s the argument, not shipping cables or charging bricks with phones also saves the manufacturers money, and that’s likely been the main factor in them removing charging bricks from boxes, and now in Sony’s decision here.

And that might be a better justification ultimately anyway, because the environmental impact of not including charging cables isn’t entirely clear cut.

While not everyone who buys this phone will need to go out and buy a cable for it, some buyers inevitably will, and that will lead to additional packaging that wouldn’t be necessary if the cable were just included in the box.

Plus, as replies to the Reddit post note, those cables that people buy separately may, in many cases, be lower-quality third-party options, which might not perform as well, making them worse for buyers, and they might not last as long, making them worse for the environment too.

So, it’s unclear whether this is actually a good or bad move for people and the planet, but it’s almost certainly a good move for Sony’s bank balance – and for that reason, it’s likely other brands will follow suit.

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• Sony has launched the new Xperia 1 VII flagship smartphone
• Hardware improvements include a new ultra-wide camera, while software sees the introduction of Xperia Intelligence
• The phone costs £1,399 in the UK, with no US availability at the time of writing

Sony has launched the Xperia 1 VII smartphone, bringing a slew of hardware and software updates to the company’s creator-focused flagship handset.

The Japanese tech giant is keen to emphasise the incorporation of technologies from its various tech brands in the new phone, specifically Alpha-branded photography tools, Bravia display tech, and Walkman-branded audio.

It’s good to know that Sony has thrown the full weight of its tech talent at the Xperia 1 VII, especially considering the phone is no cheaper than its predecessors – at £1,399, it’s one of the most expensive flagships on the market.

As well as sporting the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, 12GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage, the phone’s headline hardware features include a new ultra-wide camera, an upgraded headphone jack, and improved display calibration.

Sony has given the Xperia 1 VII a new 48MP ultra-wide camera with a 1/1.56-inch sensor, up from a 12MP 1/2.5-inch camera on the previous generation Xperia 1 VI.

In the official Xperia 1 VII product page, Sony states that the new ultra-wide camera can achieve "clear night shots equivalent to full-frame cameras", and while a larger sensor should increase low-light performance, this claim seems dubious given that full-frame sensors are more than twice the size of the Xperia 1 VII's ultra-wide sensor.

This new ultra-wide sits alongside two cameras carried forward from last year’s Xperia 1 VI – a 48MP main camera and 12MP telephoto camera with continuous 3.5x-7.1x telephoto zoom. The camera system is controlled by a dedicated shutter button with half-press focus, the same as prior iterations.

As mentioned, the Xperia 1 VII is one of the only phones on the market that still has a headphone jack – an elegant feature for a more civilized age. The phone has inherited components from Sony’s line of Walkman media players to enhance wired audio quality, while AI-enabled DSEE Ultimate processing can add clarity to compressed audio streams.

And in collaboration with Sony Bravia, a light sensor has been added to the rear of the phone to assist with brightness and color calibration in indoor and outdoor conditions.

Even bigger steps have been taken on the software side – the Xperia 1 VII is the launchpad for Xperia Intelligence, a suite of tastefully subtle AI tools centred around photography and filmmaking.

For example, the AI Camera Work tool assists in keeping video footage stable, while the AI Auto Framing tool keeps a human subject in the center of the shot. That Auto Framing tool also allows users to film a second vertical close-up video of said subject while filming a wider horizontal shot.

The phone also comes with Google Gemini installed, with access to tools like Circle to Search.

The Sony Xperia 1 VII is out now in three colors – Moss Green, Slate Black, and the eye-catching Orchid Purple option. It’s likely to top our list of the best Sony phones, but let us know if you think this £1,399 handset will be worth its high price in the comments below.

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• We have new details on the Sony Xperia 1 VII
• Upgrades for the cameras and screen are promised
• The phone is set to launch on Tuesday, May 13

We're expecting a brand new flagship phone from Sony in the very near future, and a new leak has revealed plenty about the upcoming handset – including the design of the device, the colors it's going to be available in, and some of the features it'll offer.

This all comes from Android Headlines, where you'll find a host of images of the Sony Xperia 1 VII, as well as some of its marketing material. We can see the standard Xperia design language in evidence here, including a flat screen and boxy corners.

The three colors the phone is going to come in are apparently black, green, and purple, and there are plenty of shots of each shade. We can also see a triple-lens camera around the back, matching the Sony Xperia 1 VI released in May 2024.

Only a few days ago we heard that this phone would be unveiled on May 13, and "powered by Alpha" – the name of the technology in Sony's digital cameras. It's clear that photography capabilities are going to be a big focus for the smartphone.

Battery and screen

In our Sony Xperia 1 VI review, we praised the core specs of the handset, the strong photo and video performance, and the battery life. However, we did have concerns over the durability of the design and the charging speeds.

For the follow-up, the materials leaked by Android Headlines suggest that we'll get a new Zeiss coating on the screen to combat glare, while there'll be a 5,000 mAh battery inside (the same as on the Xperia 1 VI) that apparently offers two-day battery life.

Focus lock and macro photography features are highlighted, as well as full-stage stereo speakers, while the screen is apparently going to make some use of the same Bravia technology that Sony deploys in its television sets.

This coming Tuesday everything will be made official, and of course we'll bring you all the details of the Sony Xperia 1 VII as they're announced. From what we've heard so far, it looks set to jump straight to the top of our best Sony phones list.

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• Sony has revealed that it will announce the Xperia 1 VII on May 13
• The company has also teased that it will be "powered by Alpha"
• This likely means a real focus on camera improvements

Sony’s Xperia 1 phones are among other things known for quite impressive cameras, but oddly – despite Sony also making a range of popular and capable ‘Alpha’ cameras – the company hasn’t used ‘Alpha’ branding on its Xperia phone cameras before. But it looks like that’s about to change.

In a teaser video on YouTube, the company has revealed that the next Sony Xperia 1 – likely to be dubbed the Sony Xperia 1 VII – is landing on May 13.

This teaser doesn’t give much away, but it does mention that the phone is “powered by Alpha”, and then goes on to show an Alpha camera, followed by images of people taking photos with what’s likely the Xperia 1 VII.

So, if nothing else this tells us that photography is likely a major focus for the Sony Xperia 1 VII, but what exactly it being “powered by Alpha” means is less clear, with that potentially referring to software, hardware, or both.

Still, based on our Sony Xperia 1 VI review we can say that we hope night image quality and dynamic range optimization are improved, as they were weak links in that phone’s photography performance.

A trio of sensors, likely with upgrades

Assuming the phone pictured in the video is the Sony Xperia 1 VII it has a similar design to the Xperia 1 VI, complete with a flat back and three rear lenses. We have some idea of what those lenses might be too, with leaks pointing to a 48MP main sensor (with optical image stabilization), a 12MP ultra-wide camera, and a 12MP telephoto, with a focal length that can range from 70-200mm.

That’s broadly similar to what you’ll find on the Sony Xperia 1 VI, except the telephoto camera there is limited to 85-170mm.

Still, even if these leaks are correct, it’s possible we’ll see other changes to justify the 'Alpha' branding, such as larger sensors, better lenses, or software improvements.

Away from the cameras, it has also been reported that the Sony Xperia 1 VII will have a 4K, 120Hz screen, a Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, up to 16GB of RAM, up to 512GB of storage, and a battery of at least 5,000mAh.

So, this could be a highly capable handset, but with the current model costing £1,299 / AU$1,899 (with no US availability) it’s also likely to be extremely expensive. We should find out for sure very soon.

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Sony Xperia 1 VI two-minute review

The Sony Xperia 1 VI is Sony’s top Android phone, and it will seem pretty familiar to existing Sony fans. Even with a significant change to the screen aspect ratio versus the Sony Xperia 1 V, using the Xperia 1 VI feels like meeting an old friend. 

A lot of the typical Sony strengths and weaknesses are here too. The Sony Xperia 1 VI’s key charm is in the way it rejects several contemporary smartphone trends. It has a headphone jack. It has expandable memory. It doesn’t have a camera cutout in the screen, and Sony hasn’t cut down battery capacity just to make the Xperia 1 VI marginally thinner. 

These will all seem smart moves to a good chunk of the phone-buying audience out for something a little different. And you still get high-end camera hardware, a top-tier chip, good speakers, and an eye-catching screen — just about all the usual elements expected of a pricey Android phone.

The Sony Xperia 1 VI does cost a packet, though, and arguably isn’t hugely competitive considering some of the slightly less advanced parts. 

These include slower-than-ideal fast charging, camera processing that still lags a little behind the best for dynamic range optimization and night-time image processing. I also found the rear disappointingly prone to visible scratches, despite the use of high-end toughened glass. 

A big part of the appeal here is the handful of features that Sony’s Xperia 1 VI shares with much lower-end phones. There’s still a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a microSD slot built into the SIM tray. These are not expensive features to implement, but are vanishingly rare in phones of this level. 

The Sony Xperia 1 VI is a lovely phone, but you had better buy into its specific style for the outlay to be worthwhile.

Sony Xperia 1 VI review: price and availability

• Costs £1,299 / AU$1,899
• No US availability
• 512GB storage version available in some territories

The Sony Xperia 1 VI is priced just like its predecessor. But unlike the Sony Xperia 1 V, this phone is not slated for release in the US. 

In the UK you’ll pay £1,299, and AU$1,899 in Australia. That gets you a 12GB RAM and 256GB storage configuration. There’s also a 512GB storage version available in some territories. But with a microSD slot onboard, seeking one of these out or paying more for the additional storage may not be all that appealing. 

The phone was announced in mid-May 2024, with general availability in June 2024.

Sony Xperia 1 VI review: specs

Here's the Sony Xperia 1 VI spec sheet in full:

Sony Xperia 1 VI review: design

• Classic boxy Sony design
• Excellent water resistance rating
• Scratch-prone rear panel

Samey or confident? The Sony Xperia 1 VI has a design much like the phone before it. This look — a no-nonsense block — has been Sony’s house style since 2012. 

Changes therefore come in some of the finer points. The Sony Xperia 1 VI has an embossed, textured glass back, and it comes in red, silver and black, as well as the subdued green seen here. It's more of an ordinary shape too, as Sony’s ultra-long 21:9 screen has been traded for a more standard 19.5:9 aspect ratio. 

As usual, Sony makes use of high-grade materials on the Xperia 1 VI. The front and rear glass is Gorilla Glass Victus (Vitus 2 for the front). Unfortunately, the treatment on the rear panel doesn’t seem to be nearly as resilient as the glass itself. 

On the first day of use, I managed to put a series of scratches on the back. These stand out because, it would appear, they make the matt finish more shiny. And since then more have appeared. 

I didn’t go to the beach or throw the phone around. The Sony Xperia 1 VI just seems unusually susceptible to damage, at least in this particular finish. And I’ve not had many complaints to level at matt glass phones before, even ones whose ruggedization sounds a lot worse on paper. 

Other ruggedisation cred here is good, though. The Xperia 1 VI is rated at the IP68 and IP65 standards, meaning it can be submerged in water at a depth of up to 1.5 meters, and can withstand low-pressure water jets; you just need to make sure the SIM tray and its rubber gasket are properly in place. 

This is a mid-size phone, but it feels a little larger than its screen size might suggest thanks to its blocky shape, and the way the lack of a camera punch-hole extends the upper-screen border a bit. There’s a combi fingerprint reader/power button on the side rather than an in-screen one and, just like the last generation, it’s not the fastest around to unlock the Xperia 1 VI, being a touch more leisurely than some.

• Design score: 3 / 5

Sony Xperia 1 VI review: display

• High maximum brightness
• Lower resolution than the last generation
• More ordinary shape than before

We tech reviewers like it when a product gets you more, for less money. But less for more money? You might be in trouble. 

Sony once became famous for putting 4K screens in its high-end phones. The Sony Xperia 1 VI takes the opposite road. It has an elongated 1080p screen, one with a much lower pixel density than its predecessor. 

The key question: does it matter? At this size, pixelation isn’t obvious even in small fonts. And thanks to what appears to be careful anti-aliasing, you notice it more as a slight softness when looking close up. I’ll level with you: I didn’t notice until a week into testing when I started looking at this phone’s vital statistics. 

However, it’s one reason to drop the Sony Xperia 1 VI down a tier if you’re considering a bunch of these super-expensive phones. 

It's otherwise strong, though. The Sony Xperia 1 VI is super-bright, and seems to reach its high brightness mode when outdoors more swiftly than some. 

With launch software, it reached 720 nits in ordinary conditions, which increased to around 800 nits after an update. The screen can go brighter when it’s particularly light outside. I could only get my tester tool to register 920 nits (full field white), but others have measured as high as 1,300 nits. Either way, clarity outdoors is great. 

This is also a screen made to save power. It’s a 120Hz refresh display, but in its default mode, it drops right down to 15Hz when displaying static content. Sony says it can actually go down to 1Hz, but I’ve only seen it cycle between 15Hz and 120Hz. You can also set it to cycle between 60Hz and 15Hz instead. But after switching, the loss of motion clarity is quite striking.

• Display score: 4 / 5

Sony Xperia 1 VI review: cameras

• Excels at shooting subjects very near and very far
• Excellent shot-to-shot shooting speed
• Night image quality and dynamic range optimization could be improved

The Sony Xperia 1 VI has three rear cameras, with an array not dissimilar to that of the last generation. There’s a standard camera, a dedicated zoom and an ultra-wide. 

It’s not all business as usual, though. Previous iterations had multiple camera apps. It was intended to provide both a standard phone experience and one closer to the feeling of using Sony’s Alpha-series mirrorless cameras. 

This approach had as much a cluttering effect as anything else. There’s now one key camera app, and it has a Pro mode inside that provides the manual control of the older models. But the one useful “pro” videographer app is apparently making a return at some point in the Xperia 1 VI, according to Sony. To accompany that style, the phone also has a physical shutter button that, just like a “real” camera’s, can be depressed halfway to focus without capturing an image. 

The range of the optical zoom camera has changed too, from 3.5x-5.2x to 3.5x-7.1x. This camera even has “telephoto macro” shooting, which simply means the zoom camera’s lens is capable of focusing incredibly close-up for a camera of this type. 

It is unnervingly effective, capable of “seeing” the subpixels on a MacBook Air’s display — the red, white and blue components of an LCD’s pixel that make white when shining out concurrently. Those are some serious macro photography chops. 

This zoom camera is a blast to use all-round. It’s great for gigs, particularly if there’s a good amount of light or you’re shooting at a festival during the day. There’s a real pro feel to the way the Xperia 1 VI just lets you shoot away at full speed, because it lets the images sit in a queue for processing when there's a spare moment rather than slowing shooting down.

You can tell there’s a drop in lens sharpness at the max zoom. And low-light shooting isn’t amazing. But the sheer shooting flexibility it puts at your fingers is creatively freeing. The Sony Xperia 1 VI is some of the most fun I’ve had with a camera all year. That the zoom also works so well super-close too, only adds to the charm of this little lens and sensor combo. 

The main camera’s primary strengths are its charming color reproduction and general decent-looking processing of detail up close. While there’s some evidence of a sharpening technique at work, the overall impression is of a camera happy to appear a little softer and more natural than over-processed and painterly. 

The ultra-wide camera isn’t quite as strong. But like all the best ultra-wides in expensive phones, you can switch to it and expect roughly the same character and comparable image quality you’d see from the primary camera. Aside from at night, where the drop in native sensitivity is more obvious. 

There are some weaker elements, though. The Sony Xperia 1 VI is more susceptible to overexposure than rivals from Samsung, Xiaomi, and Huawei, for example. This won’t usually be giant parts of the image, just smaller areas a more advanced HDR engine could pick up on. 

The Sony Xperia 1 VI is also far from the best in low light. It’s probably the worst contender at the price for simple auto-mode shooting. Sure, the processing brightens images up dramatically and there’s a respectable level of detail. But photos don’t have the level of detail in shadows as seen elsewhere. 

Video quality is good but, again, you lose some of the spotlight-pulling features of rivals. You can’t shoot at 8K, which isn’t hugely useful for most folks anyway. 

You can, however, shoot at up to 4K, 120 frames per second with all three rear cameras. The telephoto macro mode supports video too, again at up to 4K at 120 frames per second. 

The front camera has a 12MP sensor too, and it can produce detailed-looking selfies in reasonable lighting. This selfie camera is nothing revolutionary, but it’s solid.

• Camera score: 4 / 5

Sony Xperia 1 VI camera samples

Sony Xperia 1 VI review: software

• Avoids the current AI obsession
• Potentially useful creativity apps
• Fairly normal interface

The Sony Xperia 1 VI runs Android 14 and has a largely inoffensive, not too invasive, custom interface layer grafted on top. 

My first reaction to the phone was its app menu wasn't that good-looking; I thought the text looked a little too bolded and inelegant. The Sony Xperia 1 VI provides a decent amount of customization as to how these elements appear, though. You can alter object scaling and font size independently, and some may prefer the Dark mode, which uses lighter text upon a dark background. 

Sony’s approach to apps hasn’t changed much this generation either. At a time when Google and Samsung are obsessed with AI, Sony’s angle is still to reference the other parts of Sony as a whole. 

Music Pro is a nod to Sony Music. This is a multi-track recorder app, a tiny DAW (digital audio workstation) where other phones might just have the equivalent of a dictaphone. 

External Monitor lets the Sony Xperia 1 VI act as a monitor for one of Sony’s Alpha-series mirrorless cameras. 

Video Creator is a mini editing suite that lets you edit and put together clips into a larger video project. 

All of these are neat ideas, a cut above the low-effort bloat some phones are criticized for including. But they aren’t quite ingenious or developed enough to be considered serious reasons to buy an Xperia 1 VI over a competitor. You’ll find better, more complete-feeling alternatives on Google Play.

• Software score: 3 / 5

Sony Xperia 1 VI review: performance

• Significant throttling, which kicks in fast
• Great peak performance
• Loud and chunky-sounding speakers

The Sony Xperia 1 VI has one of the most powerful chipsets around in 2024, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. It beats Apple’s A17 Pro, used in the iPhone 15 Pro, in a lot of tests, and has notably excellent graphics performance. 

As you’d expect, then, the Sony Xperia 1 VI feels excellent in use. It’s responsive and fast, and games run great. Titles like Fortnite sing on the phone, as it only can with a true high-end chip. 

The Sony Xperia 1 VI also avoids the overheating issues earlier models in this family were subject to. However, a little stress test reveals why. 

This phone throttles its performance almost immediately when under strain. 3DMark’s test bench shows a drop in benchmark scores from the first run (which takes a minute), where other rivals will often wait for significant heat to build up before dropping power, if they do so at all. 

The Sony Xperia 1 VI settles at 58% of its peak performance, which isn’t great. It’s not as bad as some of the sub-50% results I saw in some of the earliest Snapdragon 8-series phones, mind. 

It’s good for gaming, then, but for a phone that’s been partially labeled as a “gaming phone”, you’d hope for high performance that can be sustained for longer. 

The Sony Xperia 1 VI’s speakers are an unmitigated hit. They are a stereo pair that get loud and have real meat to their mid-range. I listen to podcasts all the time on my phone, and the robustness of speakers’ voices compared to the last phone I used, the Infinix Note 40 Pro, was truly eye-opening.

• Performance score: 3 / 5

Sony Xperia 1 VI review: battery life

• Good battery life, but only light users will see “two-day” use
• Slow “fast” charging
• Supports relatively slow wireless charging

The Sony Xperia 1 VI has a 5,000mAh battery. It’s an ordinary size for bigger phones in general, but larger than that of plenty of thinness-obsessed flagships.

There’s bad news too, though. As usual for Sony, the Xperia 1 VI does not include a charger. Its charging rate is also pretty poor for 2024, at just 30W. According to my power meter, tested with several different high-power adapters, it only reaches a power draw of 27.5W too. 

Even Samsung, which has been slow to adopt higher-power fast charging, offers a 45W standard. As such, Sony only claims the Xperia 1 VI meets the old fast-charging standard of 50% in 30 minutes. And it meets that, sort of, reaching 49% at the 30-minute mark. 

It takes 86 minutes to reach 100% and continues receiving power at a lower rate for a while after that. 50% in 30 minutes doesn’t feel like rapid charging anymore — not for this money, anyway. 

Real-world stamina is good, and getting a full day of use is no issue. I don’t find this a two-day phone, though; not unless you barely use your Android. A phone with a screen this bright, with a powerful chip, is just capable of too much not to be able to hammer the battery at times. I find the Sony Xperia 10 phones last longer in real use, even if they are markedly worse phones otherwise. 

Some will find the Xperia 1 VI lasts longer, though, and real-world stamina is clearly a highlight next to some of the direct competition. 

The Sony Xperia 1 VI also supports wireless charging, but again the charging speed isn’t great, coming in at 15W.

• Battery score: 3 / 5

Sony Xperia 1 VI review: value

Sony pitches the Xperia 1 VI at the same price as its predecessor, £1,299. It’s among the most expensive phones out there, and its slight deficiencies stand out markedly at the price. 

The merely acceptable low-light performance, slow charging and moderate screen resolution are not the most comfortable match for a phone selling at this high a price. 

Meanwhile, features like a 3.5mm headphone jack and microSD slot, which are somewhat defunct from many flagship phones, help claw back some value for the Xperia 1 VI but can’t make up for the high price.

• Value score: 3 / 5

Should you buy the Sony Xperia 1 VI?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

How I tested the Sony Xperia 1 VI

• Review test period = 3 weeks
• Testing included = Everyday usage, including web browsing, social media, photography, video calling, gaming, streaming video, music playback
• Tools used = Geekbench 6, Geekbench ML, GFXBench, native Android stats

I used the Sony Xperia 1 VI as my day-to-day phone for several weeks. During the review period, I took it to a couple of music day festivals, on a hike across the UK’s north downs, and out and about in London. 

This real-world normal usage testing was accompanied by more technical benchmark testing, which included seeing how bright the screen could go in multiple environments, testing how powerful the chip is, and how its performance was affected by heat build-up. 

Read more about how we test

First reviewed July 2024

Sony has been making some interesting moves with its smartphones lately. It launched the Sony Xperia 1 VI with a much lower-resolution screen than the previous model, and now it’s rumored to be launching a camera phone that’s small enough to potentially feel like a compact camera.

This is according to leaker @InsiderSony (via Sony Alpha Rumors), who claims that Sony is working on a successor to the Sony Xperia Pro-I. Reportedly dubbed the Sony Xperia Pro C, the big change in this model could be to the screen, which is apparently going to be just 6.0 inches. That’s smaller than most phone screens, and far smaller than the 6.5-inch Xperia Pro-I.

According to the source, the Sony Xperia Pro C will have a 120Hz 2K OLED display, a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, a 5,000mAh battery with 45W charging, a base capacity 256GB of storage, and 12GB of RAM.

So those are high-end specs, but it’s the cameras that are the focus here, with the Sony Xperia C said to have a 50MP 1-inch main sensor. That would make for a larger sensor than the vast majority of smartphones have, which in turn should allow it to take in more light. The Sony Xperia Pro-I does already have a 1-inch sensor, but it's just a 12MP one, so this should still be a significant upgrade.

@Insider Sony claims that this has an f/1.8 aperture, optical image stabilization (OIS), and supports 12-bit RAW and 14-bit DCG RAW.

There’s also mention of a 12MP sensor with autofocus, and support for filming in 4K at 120fps, plus another 12MP camera that’s likely for selfies, since it has the same 20mm focal length as the rumored main camera. There will probably also be a telephoto camera based on past form, but the source claims not to have any details of this yet.

A phone for photographers

In any case, it’s the small screen size and the 1-inch main sensor that are the most interesting elements here, and they could combine to make this a viable alternative to a compact camera. Of course, we’d take this leak with a pinch of salt for now, but the source has accurately leaked Sony phones in the past.

This leak doesn't make any mention of when the Sony Xperia Pro C might launch, and as Sony doesn’t launch new Pro models every year it’s hard to predict, but Sony Alpha Rumors speculates that it could arrive in late 2024.

That should give you time to get saving – and you might need to, as Sony’s Pro line sits above its main flagship series. So in other words, the Sony Xperia Pro C will probably cost even more than the Sony Xperia 1 VI.

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• The Sony Xperia 1 VI has landed, with a big zoom and a high price

Sony’s contender for the best phone of 2024 has landed, with the flagship Sony Xperia 1 VI having been unveiled alongside the mid-range Sony Xperia 10 VI.

It’s the first of those devices that’s the most interesting, with highlights including a telephoto camera that can move between focal lengths of 85mm and 170mm, which at the top end amounts to a 7.1x optical zoom.

That’s more zoom than you get with the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and Google Pixel 8 Pro, both of which top out at 5x optical zoom. It also has the Sony Xperia 1 V beat, as that tops out at 5.2x. The same lens can also take macro shots, offering a maximum magnification of around 2x, and a minimum focus distance of 4cm.

There’s also an ultra-wide camera, and the main camera sounds impressive too, as Sony claims that the new phone's 24mm lens can deliver “picture quality equivalent to full-frame cameras”.

This is achieved, in part, by AI processing, but while the Sony Xperia 1 VI also uses AI to improve autofocus tracking – it can recognize the human skeleton and poses – and to improve the contrast, color, and clarity of the screen, it doesn’t sound like Sony has filled the Xperia 1 VI with flashy AI features. Rather, it uses AI mostly behind the scenes.

Speaking of the screen, this OLED display can get 1.5x brighter than the screen on the Sony Xperia 1 V, and a new ‘Sunlight Vision’ feature uses AI to prevent overexposed highlights, by analysing the frames and the environmental brightness in real-time.

The Sony Xperia 1 VI also has a 5,000mAh battery designed to last two days between charges, allowing for continuous video playback for over 36 hours. It charges quickly too, juicing up to 50% in just 30 minutes.

Other specs include the top-end Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, and a 3.5mm headphone port, which – combined with support for numerous audio industry technologies and formats – makes this a promising choice for audiophiles.

A premium price

All of this sounds impressive, but it should at the price, with the Sony Xperia 1 VI costing £1,299. There’s no word on US or Australian availability, but that’s the same price as its predecessor, which cost $1,399 / AU$2,099.

So, at least it hasn’t seen a price increase, but that still makes the Sony Xperia 1 VI more expensive in most regions than the starting price of the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra or the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

If that’s too much for you, then you might want to consider the Sony Xperia 10 VI, which costs just £349 (around $440 / AU$665). That phone has a 6.1-inch Full HD+ OLED display, a 3.5mm headphone port, and a Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 chipset. 

Pre-orders for both phones start today (May 15), and the Sony Xperia 1 VI ships from early June.

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A wealth of information has leaked for the Sony Xperia 1 VI revealing almost everything there is to know about the smartphone. Specs, camera array, features; you name it and it's probably there. According to news site MSPowerUser, the device is slated to run on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset plus a 5,000 mAh battery that’ll reportedly last two days on a single charge. On the front is an OLED display. It’s unknown exactly how large the screen will be, but it's said to have a 19.5:9 aspect ratio which is smaller than the Xperia 1 V’s 21:9 aspect ratio.

As impressive as these specs may be, the real star of the show is the software. MSPowerUser claims Sony is combining its Photography Pro, Videography Pro, and Cinema Pro apps into one useful tool. The report points out this is a move seemingly “inspired by [the company’s own] Alpha series cameras.”

Like the Alpha line, the Xperia 1 VI could receive “human pose estimation technology”, giving it the ability to focus on people even if they’re facing away from the lens or are obscured. Sony even apparently has plans to introduce an app called Video Creator, simplifying the video production process and helping users make content.

Camera upgrade

Previous leaks said Sony wouldn’t be making any changes to the camera system on the Xperia 1 V. As it turns out, that may not be the case. MSPowerUser doesn’t say how many megapixels the main wide-angle camera will be. However, they do say it’ll have a 24mm lens supported by an “Exmor T for mobile stacked CMOS image sensor.” This allows the camera to behave like it has a 48mm lens with 2x optical zoom. 

Alongside it is an ultra-wide angle camera with a 16mm lens and a telephoto option sporting a 95 to 170mm lens. The latter is capable of 7x zoom. MSPowerUser also mentions how the company claims photos taken by the Xpera 1 VI’s main lens will rival those taken on one of their full-size cameras. 

Notable features

Beyond the camera array, the report states the smartphone will have a wide array of audio-enhancing software including support for the DSEE Ultimate upscaler. Company devs are improving the device’s speakers so they’re able to better deliver “bass and clarity.” 

Returning to the screen. Sony may implement several gaming-centric features. Chief among them is the 240Hz touch scanning rate ensuring fast response times. Gamers will also be able to activate FPS Optimizer to keep the in-game frame rate high. All hardware is probably going to make the phone run hot. To keep things cool, the Xperia 1 VI is said to have a vapor chamber.

The images you’ve been seeing come from user MysteryLupin on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) who recently posted a series of photographs they claim are of the new phone. What's interesting about the set is all the files match the pictures seen on MSPowerUser's report so Lupin's post may be legit. Of course, take everything you read here with a grain of salt. Things can always change. The publication says the phone “is set to launch on May 17th.” No word on how much it’ll cost.

Til we learn more, check out TechRadar's roundup of the best camera phones for 2024.

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Sony Xperia 5 V: Two-minute review

Sony's Xperia 5 line started life as a low-compromise alternative to the Xperia 1 series – the first three packed the exact same camera systems as their flagship counterparts, with the Xperia 1 III being a serious high-point with its continuous zoom periscope camera. 

In recent years, the compromises seem to have been creeping in, and the Xperia 5 V is the most compromised in its line. But does not being a carbon copy of the Xperia 1 V make the 5 V a bad phone? Absolutely not.

After a couple of weeks of testing, the Xperia 1 V's solid build, comfortable size, excellent battery life, consistently good performance, and fantastic primary camera really do help it shine. But it isn't without some shortcomings.

Firstly, design. The Xperia 5 V may feel great and be hardy – with its IP65/68 water resistance being a particular highlight – but from the front, the phone looks far more mid-range than it ought to. I understand Sony doesn't subscribe to that notch or punch-hole life, so its Xperias have bookends above and below the screen. Whereas the Xperia 5 IV was almost borderless either side of the screen, though, the 5 V has chunky bezels, making it look almost like a cheaper Xperia 10 series phone.

Next, it's the Xperia 5 V's storage. To my knowledge, only a 128GB version will be launching, at least in the UK. With 33GB filled up after pre-installed apps are updated, that leaves just 87GB for all your apps, games, and WhatsApp backups. This might be plenty for some, but it isn't enough for me, and likely you, if you consider yourself a power user.

The Xperia 5 V's screen is also weak when it comes to color-integrity off-angle, with the display suffering more than any other high-end panel from low-end, OLED color-shifting. Not something we'd expect from a Sony device. While you probably won't notice this in isolation, alongside a premium device, the 5 V clearly falls behind.

There is a microSD card slot – and that's the Xperia 5 V's saving grace – so video, offline movies and songs can be loaded up on it. But most apps don't support offloading files to the SD card nowadays, as such you'll likely still run out of space soon enough, if you download loads of offline content through an app. And, as an example, if you want to install Genshin Impact, you're losing 27.25GB of space with just one install.

So, despite plenty of highlights, especially for camera fans who like total control over their photography and filming experience, Sony hasn't made the Xperia 5 V a winner across the board, even if it is still a good phone.

Sony Xperia 5 V review: Price and availability

• Available from late September
• Priced at £849 / €999 (approximately $1,075 / AU$1,665)
• Cheaper than the Xperia 5 IV and 5 III on launch in the UK

The Xperia 5 IV is the lowest-cost Xperia 5-series phone since 2020's Xperia 5 II, at least in the UK. Costing £849 / €999 (approximately $1,075 / AU$1,665) – £100 less than the Xperia 5 IV at launch – the slightly more affordable positioning goes some way to explain some of Sony's decision to pare some specs and styling back for 2023, even if I'm not happy about that.

The Xperia 5 V also costs a lot less than the flagship Xperia 1 V, which comes in at a pricey $1,399 / £1,299 / AU$2,099. For anyone who wants to experience Sony's new, Exmor T for Mobile stacked camera sensor, therefore, the Xperia 5 V is now the lowest-cost way to do so.

Compared to other phones on the market, Sony's pricing starts to look a little less affordable. The Google Pixel 7 Pro, which has a periscope telephoto camera and a much more striking design and display, costs the same as the Xperia 5 V. And if you want a small phone with wireless charging, a headphone jack, and even more storage, the Asus Zenfone 10 is a great shout – though you'll be taking a hit on the camera.

• Value score: 3.5 / 5

Sony Xperia 5 V review: Specs

Sony's Xperia 5 V sits in that awkward is-it-isn't-it-a flagship space. Some of its specs are as good as they get as a result – that Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset and the superb Exmor T for Mobile primary camera sensor – but other specs let it down.

The biggest culprit holding the Xperia 5 V back is its 128GB storage and 8GB RAM combo. While I'm not too concerned about the modest amount of RAM – I had no performance issues with the phone in my time with it – the 128GB storage is a bit of an issue at the phone's price. The aforementioned Zenfone 10 starts at 256GB, matches most of the Xperia 5 V's specs, and costs a fair bit less.

Sony also opts for slower charging than much of the competition, and it hasn't included a telephoto camera for this series of Xperia 5. Both these factors work against the phone at its premium price, but neither is a deal breaker.

What you do get, though, is IP65/68 water and dust resistance, expandable storage, a headphone jack – which should please wired audio lovers, a decent OLED screen, and novel Sony highlights, like a SIM tray that can be pulled out with a fingernail (i.e. without any tools).

Sony phones definitely have their charm, but a couple of weak areas limit the Xperia 5 V's full-package factor.

Sony Xperia 5 V review: Design

• Gorilla Glass Victus 2 back and front
• IP65/68-certified water resistance
• Feels clunkier than Xperia 5 IV

The Sony Xperia 5 V looks like a fine phone in a bubble. Forget about all past Xperia 5s, and forget about all the low-on-bezel Honor 90-a-likes launching with all-screen, curved, immersive displays, and the Xperia 5 V's design nails it.

Of course, no phone is an island, and the Xperia 5 V starts to look chunkier and clunkier when you compare it with its predecessors and its competition. 

Specifically, the one element that makes Sony's latest phone feel less than competitive alternatives are those chunky bezels on either side of the screen. When it comes to phones, small bezels equate to a flagship look, and bigger bezels to a budget look, and the Xperia 5 V has big, budget bezels.

What's really interesting is that no phone shows the 5 V up more than its predecessor, the Xperia 5 IV. Side by side, the latter looks like the newer model – so anyone thinking of upgrading from another 5 series phone will likely be underwhelmed on the design front. This feels like a move that could alienate Sony Mobile's die-hard following.

Everything gets a lot better once you get past the Xperia 5 V's bezelly fascia. It's IP65/68 water and dust-resistant, so you can submerge it in water for 30 minutes at 1.5 meters, without fear of wrecking it.

The Xperia 5 V also feels solid. Its metal frame is easy to grip – likely owing to its profile being thicker than past Xperia 5s, and the blasted matte texture also feels great. I also love the fingerprint-resistant finish around the back, and Corning's Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on both sides is a fitting addition for added peace of mind.

Sony favorites are back, including a headphone jack for wired audio fans, a SIM and microSD card tray that can be pulled out without any tools, and a physical camera button. The Xperia 5 V doesn't have that rich, textured shutter button as on the Xperia 1 V, but it's still a dual-detent photography tool that fans of the series will appreciate.

With the 6.1-inch screen's modest size helping the phone feel very manageable, despite its extra heft over past Xperia 5 phones, the 5 V is comfortable to use and didn't pull up any red flags in our time with it. I just wish it looked a bit more Xperia 5 and a little less Xperia 10.

• Design score: 3 / 5

Sony Xperia 5 V review: Display

• 6.1-inch Full HD+ OLED display with 120Hz refresh rate
• Bright and sharp, but color shifting off-angle is noticeable
• 21:9 aspect ratio and plenty of display options to customize

The Xperia 5 V's screen is fine, but it isn't excellent. At 6.1 inches, it's small compared to most modern-day flagship phones, but I still found it wide enough for comfortable typing and swiping, and being an OLED panel, colors look vibrant, and contrast levels are high. This combo makes for a manageable, pleasing, high-impact watching and messaging experience, but there are some quality shortcomings.

The Xperia 5 V's OLED color shifting is much more pronounced than on most high-end phones out now, including its predecessor. In fact, the visual characteristics of this pricey phone more closely resemble those of the Xperia 10 V than the Xperia 1 V off-angle. While they probably aren't using the exact same display – one is 60Hz and one is 120Hz – they both suffer from exceptionally bad color shifting.

If you aren't familiar with the term color shifting, some OLED screens take on a slightly blue or magenta tint when you aren't looking at them head-on. This varies from display to display, and the Xperia 5 V I tested showcases some of the worst performance on this front outside the budget and mid-range space I've seen in a while. Tilt the phones almost totally side-on, and both the 10 V and the 5 V screens turn totally blue.

This color shifting is particularly visible when looking at white or very light content, but on the plus, it doesn't affect viewing angles – content is easy to see and read head-on or off-angle – but it does impact color integrity.

Even much cheaper phones like the RedMagic 8s Pro outperform the Xperia 5 V in this respect, which we wouldn't have expected, given Sony's Xperia line is so focused on creators and content consumption. 

If you dive into the settings, Sony gives you plenty of control over how your Xperia 5 V screen performs, including complete manual white balance.

There are two color gamut and contrast modes to choose from: creator mode and standard mode, with the prior designed to work perfectly with HDR and 10-bit content. A Real-time HDR drive option boosts visibility when playing back HDR content, and Sony's X1 image enhancer is also back, adding a little extra zing and pop to video.

You can choose between two refresh rates, 60Hz and 120Hz, with the Xperia 5 V screen set to 60Hz by default. There's no third option to activate dynamic or variable refresh rate, so the phone can't automatically choose based on what's on-screen, and it can't drop the refresh rate to save power. These refresh rate limitations seem like a missed trick, as both features are now commonplace in much more affordable devices.

Weak peak brightness levels have hamstrung Sony phones in the past, but the Xperia 5 V beamed brilliantly on a hot summer day, making for easy reading in direct sunlight with auto-brightness fired up. Manual brightness doesn't shine quite as dazzlingly, but it never left me wanting.

Old favorites like an always-on display are back, and there's a really intuitive one-handed mode – swipe down from the gesture bar in the bottom center of the display – so navigating all 6.1 inches of the Xperia 5 V is plain sailing.

So, yes, the Xperia 5 V nails the basics – it's bright, sharp, responsive, and has loads of customization options – but the excessive color distortion off-angle is just too much of a compromise for a phone that costs this much.

• Display score: 3 / 5

Sony Xperia 5 V review: Software

• Runs Android 13 with Sony's relatively light UI
• 2 years OS updates + 3 years security updates
• Floating windows and split-screen working customizations

Sony phones have almost always looked clean and fuss-free, and that tradition carries forward to the Xperia 5 V in virtually every respect, including its user interface (UI). 

For the most part, the Xperia 5 V's experience is stock Android 13, though Sony's added highlights. These include Side Sense – a menu that pops up on the side of the screen for shortcuts to frequently used apps. This also makes it easy to quickly launch split-screen app combos; a fun, handy customization.

Swipe right from the main home screen to activate the Google App and news feed, swipe up from the bottom to pull up an apps tray, and swipe down anywhere on a home screen to bring down your notifications menu.

Sony has also upgraded its Game Enhancer for 2023, with the Xperia 5 V debuting its new look. This gaming portal congregates all your games in one place, and when you fire one up, it overlays a host of options to help level up your gameplay.

You can launch an app in a floating window, access a browser to pull up a walkthrough, or access YouTube alongside your gameplay. It's also where you can toggle performance mode, customize your display settings, and make other changes on a game-by-game basis.

Perhaps the most confusing aspect of the Xperia 5 V UI relates to the camera – there are three camera apps. That said, with the upgraded Photography Pro now supporting vertical capture and a fantastic auto mode, not to mention perfectly respectable video capture, non-filmmakers and creatives should be more than happy to just live in Photo Pro and ignore Cinema and Video Pro; an option that wasnt always as easy to recommend.

The main drawback of the Xperia 5 V's software isn't what it's like to use, it's the lack of future-proofing Sony commits to. While other brands like Oppo offer four years of major OS and five years of security updates, Sony only commits to two and three years, respectively.

Sony charges a premium for its phones and is vocal about its commitment to reducing e-waste and focusing on battery longevity. Its innovation when it comes to eco-friendly packaging materials is also part of its sustainability narrative, making limited OS and security support the clear weak link in Sony's commitment to long-lasting smartphones.

• Software score: 3.5 / 5

Sony Xperia 5 V review: Cameras

• 52MP primary camera
• 12MP ultra-wide camera
• 12MP selfie camera
• Updated bokeh (portrait) mode

The Xperia 5 V has a 52MP primary camera with a 1/1.35-inch sensor and an f/1.9 aperture lens. Unlike past Xperia 5 phones, it misses out on a telephoto camera, but it does have a 12MP ultra-wide with an f/2.2 aperture and autofocus. 

It's worth talking about the main camera first, as thanks to the sensor's novel dimensions – 4.3:3 – versus traditional 4:3 sensors, the camera only uses a 48MP, 4:3 portion to capture photos. That's why you might have seen the Xperia 5 V marketed as a 48MP camera phone, but technically, it has a 52MP sensor.

Even calling the 5 V a 48MP phone is a stretch, as the photos are pixel-binned down to 12MP, whether captured in JPG or RAW. So while some phones, including the iPhone 14 Pro, support full-res, 48MP photos, Sony caps all photos from all cameras to 12MP; an odd move to be sure.

The Xperia 5 V also carries forward the Sony tradition of including no less than three camera apps. The default app, Photography Pro takes you from full automatic camera – a la iPhone – through to full manual, controlling every aspect of your shot other than the aperture.

Video Pro is one for online video creators who shoot in 16:9. It has extensive slow-motion shooting options with maximum control over frame rates and also offers an 'S Cinetone for mobile' look, which Sony Alpha shooters will appreciate.

Finally, Cinema Pro is a 21:9 lover's jam. Ideal for filmmakers, this is where you'll find terms like shutter angle, manage recording projects rather than files, and access the super-flat Venice look that shoots with almost log-grade low contrast.

The Xperia 5 V shoots video at up to 4K, 120fps, and also benefits from a microphone around the back, so you can choose to prioritize voices captured on it, or general sound from all three microphones on the phone.

All this might sound like a lot of features, but I haven't scratched the surface when it comes to all the manual control Sony makes possible.

One aspect of the Xperia 5 V we didn't get to test out was a new Video Creator app, which can be used to manually edit videos or create an auto-generated montage, similar to GoPro Highlight Clips.

Sony Xperia 5 V camera samples

If you aren't a fan of heavily processed photos – shadows boosted to within an inch of their lives, backlit subjects brighter than their background, and nighttime photos that look like they were taken in the day – Sony's natural, realistic styling will be a breath of fresh air. 

I found the Xperia 5 V's shots to be nuanced, detailed, and low in noise. Sony's conceded a little when it comes to computational photography when compared to the Xperia 5 IV. Now, shadows are richer in detail than ever, and night shots look great.

For anyone who's concerned about the lack of a telephoto camera on the Xperia 5 V, I've created some examples of how well its zoom fares when compared to its predecessor and its 2.5x optical zoom:

In bright environments, the optical zoom does edge ahead, but when the lights drop, the Xperia 1 V's larger sensor nails it. In fact, even in middling light – which is more common than bright or near-night ambient light – the quality of the Xperia 5 V photos won out for me.

As a result, in the case of the Xperia 5 V, two cameras really are better than three, if the third is a mediocre telephoto camera. Were it a quality periscope camera, though, that would have been a different story.

Unsurprisingly, the ultra-wide camera doesn't perform as well as the primary camera. Sony's processing helps it along with night shots, but it can't keep up when it comes to exposure when the lights drop. That means its photos will usually look a little darker when set against the primary camera in a low light environment, and it will also be a bit noisier.

It's great to see the ultra-wide lens feature autofocus, and that offers some versatility, but with a nearest focus distance of around 20cm, there's no ultra-wide macro option. Nevertheless, ultra-wide group shots and selfies should look a bit crisper than generic fixed-focus snaps.

Sony's improved its Bokeh (portrait) mode, apparently for the Xperia 5 V, however, I still experienced the same crunchy subject masking as on old Sony phones in more challenging scenes. Simple, head-on, posed portraits look great. But get a bit further back or load up the scene with complication, and it can't stack up to a Pixel or iPhone.

Video captured on the Xperia 5 V's main camera looks fantastic, and stabilization is strong across resolutions. The ultra-wide camera is the weak link, so you'll want to lean on the main camera, especially when the lights drop, but if you do, the 5 V serves up a best-in-class primary camera across both photo and video.

As for the selfie camera, it’s a solid snapper, especially when the light is right. Benefiting from Sony’s balanced processing, photos look natural, detailed, and we had more success with the bokeh mode on it than when using the rear camera mix. It also captures night photos too, and if you hold still, results are impressive even when the lights drop, and with 4K video, it’s one of the more versatile front cameras on the scene.

• Camera score: 5 / 5

Sony Xperia 5 V review: Performance

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
• One memory option: 8GB RAM
• Global storage options TBC with one in the UK: 128GB

The Xperia 5 V is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, which is a mighty chipset that's tried and tested to run cool and fast for the most part. Sony's struggled with heat management before, but with its slightly thicker chassis and superior internals, the Xperia 5 V does a decent job of keeping heat in check.

The phone benchmarks brilliantly, scoring a Geekbench 6 score of 5140 multi-core and a 3D Mark Wildlife Extreme score of 3600, putting it in the upper echelon of non-gaming phone performance alongside the OnePlus 11 5G and Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.

The biggest challenge I faced when gaming was that I cycle eight games when testing a phone: Diablo Immortal, DragonBall Z, Genshin Impact for performance, Injustice 2 and Sky for some mid-tier, relatively demanding gameplay, and TMNT: Shredder's Revenge, Streets of Rage 4, and Marvel Snap for 2D gaming.

It wasn't gaming performance that left me wanting on the Xperia 5 V, even though Sony's phones won't stack up to gaming phones; GSM Arena found that throttling occurs to keep the temperature in check. That said, 128GB is too little storage for a phone of this price. Genshin Impact alone fills up 27.25GB, Diablo Immortal over 4GB, and DragonBall a similar amount. Add the 33GB of pre-installed software, and between three games, you're over halfway to filling up your Xperia 5 V.

The Xperia 5 V does have a microSD card slot, which is a saving grace, though more and more for Android phones, its value is limited. Apps can't be installed onto SD cards, and big storage hogs like WhatsApp backups have to be installed on internal storage. So, yes – your massive 4K video files can be recorded to a huge 1TB SD card – but that doesn't mean a power user won't have to watch how many movies and games they download. That's fine for a midrange phone but not for one as pricey as the Xperia 5 V, which has already seen cutbacks to design and screen quality.

With Samsung and other brands scrapping the 128GB entry-level storage capacity in their premium phones, it's time Sony did the same if it wants to compete.

What the Xperia 5 V does exceptionally well is sound great – both from the front-firing dual speakers and headphone jack – and it offers up plenty of audio settings. These include control over the Dolby sound profile – you can choose from Dynamic, Movie, Music, Custom and advanced (full EQ control) – toggle on 360 Reality Audio or 360 Upmix, as well as DSEE Ultimate for audio upscaling, and Effect Priority to pick which feature to prioritize. The phone also supports Spatial audio across the phone speaker and wired headphones.

• Performance score: 4 / 5

Sony Xperia 5 V review: Battery life

• 5,000mAh battery (same as Xperia 5 IV)
• Almost double the screen-on time versus the Xperia 5 IV in tests
• 30W wired charging, wireless charging, reverse wireless charging

The Xperia 5 V has excellent battery life. For the screen-on battery test, I calibrated the Xperia 5 V and 5 IV to the same brightness level with a lux meter and streamed a one-hour clip from YouTube over Wi-Fi, then ran identical benchmarks. Last year's Xperia 5 IV discharged almost double as quickly, dropping to 92 percent, versus the Xperia 5 V, which was at 96 percent – very impressive – and possibly owing to the different (visually inferior) display used in the newer model.

The phone easily lasted a whole day, even with some tethering, gaming, watching, and a fair amount of camera use. It's also great to see wireless charging back, so quick top-ups throughout the day means you could get two days out of the Xperia 5 V if you're more conservative with it.

The fact the Xperia 5 V's charging caps out at 30W and the phone misses out on a USB-C cable and a power brick will matter more to some than others. For me, the relatively slow charging isn't an issue – the phone powers up from 0-100 percent in around 90 minutes, which is competitive with iPhones. 

As I'm a wireless charger who tops up rather than plugs in overnight or on the go, and have a number of cables and plugs already – the potential battery health benefits of slower charging, smaller packaging, and reduction of e-waste mean the Xperia 5 V's setup is great for me. If you know you rely on fast charging and are short on cables and power bricks, then the Xperia 5 V might not fare so well for you.

• Battery score: 4.5 / 5

Should you buy the Sony Xperia 5 V?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Sony Xperia 5 V review: Also consider

The Sony Xperia 5 V is an excellent phone for a certain kind of user, but there are plenty of alternatives that might check more of your boxes.

How I tested the Sony Xperia 5 V

• Review test period = 2 weeks
• Testing included = Everyday usage w/ web browsing, social media, photography, video calling, gaming, streaming video, music playback
• Tools used = Geekbench 6, 3DMark, Device HW info, UGreen 140W USB-C charger

I started using the Xperia 5 V a week before flying out to Berlin for IFA 2023, so had a week of using it in the UK, and three days of roaming with it in Berlin before wrapping up my review back in the UK.

Initially, I was eager to put the camera through its paces, so went out and about in London to try out all the modes and capture most of the photos you're seeing in this review. I then gamed on the Xperia 5 V on a hot summer day to check if the heat issues that plagued its predecessor were resolved – and they are – and made calls, messaged, listened to music wirelessly, and wired to give it a 'lifestyle test'. 

When I had the phone in test conditions, I ran benchmarks and in-depth screen tests. I knew outdoor viewability was solid, but I picked up on the weak off-angle color integrity only when conducting indoor tests alongside other phones.

The battery tests were also done indoors, which supplemented my real-world use, and a direct camera comparison was carried out between the Xperia 5 IV and 5 V, so users looking to upgrade could gauge how much zoom they're be sacrificing.

The rest of the review findings were the result of using the phone as my primary device for two weeks and making notes as I went along, matched with almost 15 years of industry experience as a technology journalist and phone reviewer. 

Read more about how we test

First reviewed September 2023

While Sony doesn't like to set a specific date for when it releases its newest phones, it has proven consistent with its release lineup for the last few years, with the Sony Xperia 1 V and Xperia 10 V having been announced back in May this year, and arriving late the following month. Fast-forward to September and it's now the turn of the pocketable but powerful Sony Xperia 5 V, which Sony has unveiled at IFA 2023 in Berlin.

Yes, that does mean Sony's newest phone is technically called the 'five mark five' but don't hold that against it, it has a wealth of powerful features within its compact form, not least of which is the same impressive Exmor T for Mobile lead camera sensor the company introduced on the Xperia 1 V, now set into a phone with a more compact 6.1-inch display.

Sony bills the Xperia 5 V as being “for creative younger audiences who shoot, post and consume content heavily on their smartphone,” which in our minds means it goes up against everything from the Samsung Galaxy A54 to the iPhone 14 and beyond.

Aside from its noteworthy main camera tech, like previous Xperia 5 entries, the Mark 5 sets itself apart from its fellow 6.1-inch-screen sibling – the Xperia 10 V – by packing Qualcomm's flagship-class silicon at its heart. Does this combination mean it has what it takes to join the best Sony phones? Read on to get some indication ahead of our full review.

Cut to the chase

• What is it? The latest compact flagship from Sony
• When is it out? Launching late September in select markets
• How much does it cost? £849 / €999 (around $1,075 / AU$1,665)

Sony Xperia 5 V: release date and price

• Launching regionally in "late September"
• Price at £849 / €999 (approximately $1,075 / AU$1,665)

After a little leak here and a light tease by Sony there, the Sony Xperia 5 V officially broke cover on September 1. Sony has a habit of keeping its on-sale dates intentionally vague and as with its predecessor, that's no different here, with the company promising the Xperia 5 V's purchase availability is kicking off sometime in "late September."

While that isn't much of a surprise, what is a welcome surprise is that pricing has fallen between generations – in the UK, at least – with the phone now priced at £849, while its predecessor clocked in at £949. While we also have European pricing, we'll return to update this with US and Australian pricing if and when it becomes available in those regions.

Regardless, at this price it comes up against the standard Samsung Galaxy S23, the aforementioned iPhone 14, and the Google Pixel 7 Pro – a trio of the most high-profile and competent mainstream rivals currently on the market. Sony's hope seems to be that the Xperia 5 V's unique blend of features offers niche appeal to those after an... alternative alternative.

Sony Xperia 5 V: design

• Slightly thicker and heavier than the Xperia 5 IV
• Gorilla Glass Victus 2, aluminum frame
• IP65/68-certified against dust and water

The general hardware layout hasn't changed all that much between generations, with a little thickness and weight gained, likely as a result of the new lead camera hardware.

Sony chose to keep the divisive surface finish changes made to the Xperia 1 V – like its ridged metal surround and textured glass back – away from the Xperia 5 V, which sports a more conventional look as a result, available in three colors: black, blue and Platinum Silver.

Durability is still a key factor in this more compact flagship with IP65/68 certification against dust and water, plus the latest Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protecting the phone's display.

Even with the added bulk, the design of the Xperia 5 V sets to offer what its predecessors have too; the same key features as the Xperia 1 V flagship in a more compact package.

Sony Xperia 5 V: display and audio

• A 6.1-inch 21:9 Full HD+ 120Hz OLED display
• Full-stage stereo speakers + 3.5mm headphone jack

The more compact proportions of the Xperia 5 V, compared to the 1 V, come as a result of the move from a 6.5 to 6.1-inch display. This HDR-capable OLED panel doesn't boast the same outlandish 4K resolution of the 5 V's larger sibling, but it still promises great Full HD+ visuals, from a panel that's brighter than last year's model, while retaining the same tall 21:9 aspect ratio and 120Hz refresh rate (it's unclear whether this is a dynamic addition, however).

Sony is one of the last bastions for smartphone audio fans, with improved stereo speakers promising higher driving voltage and lower noise floor compared to the Xperia 5 IV, as well as an actual 3.5mm headphone jack.

The company's usual run of both first and third-party audio-enhancing technologies also features for creating richer listening experiences or upscaling lower-fidelity audio, such as 360 Reality Audio, Dolby Atmos, DSEE Ultimate, and Qualcomm aptX Adaptive.

Sony Xperia 5 V: cameras and battery

• 48MP + 12MP rear cameras
• 12MP selfie camera
• 5,000mAh battery with 30W wired charging

While the formula seems so familiar compared to the Sony Xperia 5 IV, there is one notable omission on the Mark 5's back – a telephoto camera. In order to transpose its fancy new 'Exmor T for Mobile' lead sensor over from the Xperia 1 V, while also keeping costs in check, it would seem that Sony decided to axe the third rear sensor that the Xperia 5 line has sported for generations.

To combat this, the company still describes the camera hardware as delivering "3 in 2," by which it means the two sensors can still hit three focal lengths. 16mm from the 12MP ultra-wide, while the main 52MP sensor (with its effective 48MP resolution) is responsible for 12MP (pixel-binned) 24mm stills, as well as 48mm 2x zoom shots, which it's presumably able to achieve by cropping on the large sensor, similarly to how the iPhone 14 Pro achieves its 2x zoom.

This technically means the Xperia 5 V's 2x zoom (ideal for portrait shooting) is achieved without digital quality degradation and thus technically counts as optical zoom through the phone's main sensor. Sony also promises – thanks in part to improved AI image processing – that portrait shooting yields better quality bokeh (background blur) in scenes.

The Creative Looks feature found on the 1 V persist here too, letting you grab shots with additional interest and dynamism added at capture, while the S-Cinetone, addition of slow-motion recording, and stereo mic audio capture all help support the video recording experience.

An additional app called Video Creator is also on hand, with its Auto Edit feature designed to help users create engaging videos from their stills and videos, complete with music, in a matter of seconds.

As for battery, Sony has been a pioneer with regards to some of its battery protection and life-extension technologies, all of which remain present and correct on the Xperia 5 V to the point where Sony brands the phone as having a 'three years long life' battery. The company has gone as far as to say that the Xperia 5 V will last through a full day's use and onto the following morning with up to 50% charge still left in the tank, which is impressive, if true.

The 5,000mAh cell (the same as the Xperia 5 IV) also supports 30W wired fast charging, plus up to 18W wireless charging.

Sony Xperia 5 V: specs and features

• Powered by a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset
• 8GB RAM, 128GB storage and microSD expansion up to 1TB
• Two years OS updates, three years security updates

Part of the Xperia 5 V's impressive battery claims come as a result of promised improved thermal efficiency, with 40% better heat diffusion and the use of Qualcomm's latest and greatest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset leading to a 20% improvement in power consumption.

That silicon also means the phone is well-suited to handling the most demanding apps and games (provided Sony's thermal management can keep up), and is also what supports the phone's impressively-rich suite of new camera features.

As before, you'll only find the Sony Xperia 5 V in a single variant with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, which is on the lower-end in 2023, until you learn that the phone does at least allow for microSD expandability up to an additional 1TB; like the headphone jack, another rarity in this day and age.

As for software, Sony's clean take on Android persists, with the phone launching on Android 13, with the promise of two years of OS updates and three years of security updates – among the shortest support roadmap in the industry and a key buying consideration if you tend to hold onto your device for a long time.

Stay tuned for a full review of the Sony Xperia 5 V very soon.

You might also like

• Sony Xperia 1 V review
• Sony Xperia 5 IV review
• Best Sony phones

Sony’s flagship phone for 2024 has landed, and as usual with Sony flagships, the Sony Xperia 1 VI has some real standout features for certain types of users.

Primarily, this phone is focused on photographers and audiophiles, but it’s a high-end handset all round, though surprisingly the screen is actually a downgrade in some ways from the Sony Xperia 1 V’s.

Below, you’ll find full details of the Sony Xperia 1 VI, including its price, design, and all the key specs and features.

Cut to the chase

• What is it? The latest flagship Sony phone
• When is it out? Announced on May 15, ships on June 6
• How much does it cost? £1,299 (likely around $1,399 / AU$2,099)

Sony Xperia 1 VI: release date and price

The Sony Xperia 1 VI was announced on May 15, 2024, with pre-orders open now, and it ships on June 6 in the UK (there's no word yet on US or Australian availability).

It costs £1,299, which is the same launch price as the Sony Xperia 1 V. That might mean it will also cost the same in other regions, so we could be looking at $1,399 / AU$2,099 if and when it launches in the US and Australia.

Sony Xperia 1 VI: design and display

The Sony Xperia 1 VI has a glass back with a “textural rear panel finish”, designed to improve grip. It has a metal frame, a dedicated shutter key, and it comes in three shades – Khaki Green, Platinum Silver, and Black.

It’s 162 x 74 x 8.2mm and 192g, and it’s water resistant, having been tested to both IP68 and IP65 standards. The front is protected by Gorilla Glass Victus 2, and the back by the first generation of Gorilla Glass Victus.

As for the display, the Sony Xperia 1 VI’s screen is 6.5 inches and has a 19.5:9 aspect ratio, which makes it a little less narrow (in portrait orientation) than the Sony Xperia 1 V, with its 21:9 screen.

Interestingly, the OLED display this year is actually a downgrade in terms of resolution, coming in at just 1080 x 2340. So it’s FHD+, rather than the 4K (1644 x 3840) of the Xperia 1 V. Arguably, such a high resolution was overkill on a device of this size, but it’s surprising that the Sony Xperia 1 VI doesn’t even match the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra in being QHD.

Still, this year’s screen can get up to 1.5x brighter than the previous model, and it includes a new ‘Sunlight Vision’ feature, which uses AI image processing to prevent overexposed highlights when brightening the screen in environments with lots of glare.

AI is also used to improve the contrast, color, and clarity of the screen, and this display has a variable refresh rate that can move from 1Hz to 120Hz.

Sony Xperia 1 VI: camera and battery

Arguably, the headline feature of the Sony Xperia 1 VI is its camera, and specifically its 12MP telephoto camera, which can zoom from between 85mm to 170mm (for roughly 3.5x – 7.1x). That means it offers way more focal lengths than most phones, and tops out at a greater zoom than most can offer too.

The Sony Xperia 1 VI also has a 48MP f/1.9 main sensor and a 12MP f/2.2 ultra-wide, plus a 12MP f/2.0 front-facing camera.

The telephoto camera can also take macro shots, and the phone is capable of shooting video in 4K HDR at 120fps. There’s a dedicated shutter button too, and the Sony Xperia 1 VI uses AI to improve the autofocus and process images.

The battery could also impress, as while it’s a fairly standard flagship size at 5,000mAh, Sony claims that it offers two days of life with typical use, and can manage up to 36 hours of continuous video playback.

The company’s Xperia Adaptive Charging tech also works to keep the battery healthy, so that it won’t degrade as fast as the batteries in other phones, and it supports both wireless charging and reverse wireless charging.

Sony Xperia 1 VI: specs and features

The Sony Xperia 1 VI is powered by a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, like most of 2024’s best Android phones. It also has 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, and it’s a rarity among high-end handsets in having a microSD card slot too.

It runs Android 14, and comes with the promise of three years of Android updates and four years of security patches. That’s in line with a number of other brands, but well behind Samsung, Google, and Apple.

There are some potentially handy software features here, though, like an FPS optimizer, which will help you get the perfect balance of image rendering performance, power consumption, and low surface temperatures when gaming.

There are also other gaming tools, such as the ability to adjust the touch sensitivity and white balance.

And Sony has gone big on audio, providing a 3.5mm headphone port, “full-stage stereo speakers”, and support for numerous audio technologies and formats, such as High-Resolution Audio, High-Resolution Audio Wireless, LDAC, Bluetooth(R)7LE Audio (Low Energy), and Snapdragon Sound18.

The Sony Xperia 1 VI also uses AI to enhance the quality of music played through the phone, and its Music Pro feature aims to let you record studio-quality vocals using the built-in microphone.

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Sony Xperia 1 V: one-minute review

The Sony Xperia 1 V is the best Sony phone for 2023. It’s a great example of how Sony’s approach to phone design is a little different to that of the competition. And a big part of this approach is keeping a lot of older things the same as they always were. 

This handset is a lot like the Xperia 1 IV, but with a new processor and some other tweaks. If you bought last year’s model, you should feel pretty good about that. But is it dynamic enough to compete with phones like the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra and iPhone 14 Pro Max? 

That part is a little less clear. It doesn’t drip in that sense of “newness” that propels a lot of shiny, expensive tech, which may lead you to question if it is really worth the high asking price. However, it is going to appeal to a key kind of tech traditionalist. 

Who’s that? The person who wants a top-tier phone with a headphone jack. The Sony Xperia 1 V has one. 

Its camera software is also inspired by Sony’s dedicated cameras, offering a completely different feel to most of the best camera phones. Is it better? Again, that’s up for debate and not everyone will love how it feels. But the way Sony does not blindly follow the pack remains refreshing.

Sony Xperia 1 V review: price and availability

• Out now
• Starts at $1,399 / £1,299 / AU$2,099

The Sony Xperia 1 V launched in June 2023, a year after the similar Xperia 1 IV. These are expensive phones. You can expect to pay $1,399/£1,299/ AU$2,099, matching the pricing for the last model. 

It has 256GB storage. In some territories there’s as 512GB version too. However, it is less appealing an upgrade than it would be in an iPhone, as the Xperia 1 V has microSD memory card support.

• Value score: 3 / 5

Sony Xperia 1 V review: Specs

Sony Xperia 1 V review: design

• Dimpled glass Gorilla Glass Victus rear
• Classic Sony boxy design
• Has a headphone socket

The Sony Xperia 1 V adopts the same design style as all the previous Sony Xperia flagships: the monolith. It’s a squared off-slab. And while it means this phone doesn’t exactly scream “new”, it is recognizably Sony in a way other manufacturers, other than Apple, can’t quite achieve. 

I find this design makes the Xperia 1 V and its predecessors seem a little chunky, relative to their actual specs. This phone is just 71mm wide and 8.3mm thick, very similar to last year’s Sony Xperia 1 IV. 

This year, though, we get some new textures. The Sony Xperia 1 V’s back is textured glass, with an embossed dot pattern that, well, makes it feel much less like glass. Its aluminium mid-frame has a series of embossed lines running along it too. This is Sony trying to make the Xperia 1 V stand out from its predecessors, but in that classic low-key Sony way.

It continues to reject a few newer conventions of flagship phone design too. The Sony Xperia 1 V has a 3.5mm headphone jack socket, now a true rarity in all but the cheapest phones. It uses a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, not an in-screen one. This is a notably poor scanner, though. Slower, less responsive and less reliable than the norm, it lets the phone down and the reliability (or lack thereof) is inexcusable, even if this phone cost half as much. We felt the same about the sensor on the Sony Xperia 1 IV too. 

Build quality is otherwise excellent, though. The Sony Xperia 1 V has Gorilla Glass panels on front and back, using second-generation Victus series glass up front, original Victus on the back, and it boasts IP68-certified resistance against dust and water. The Xperia 1 V can handle submersion in water to a depth of 1.5m. 

As usual, Sony uses a SIM tray you can prise out with a fingernail, and on the other side of this tray there’s room for a microSD slot. This is another unusual touch in a top-tier phone. A fairly good set of stereo speakers finish off the outer hardware. 

They do come with a silly extra, though, called dynamic vibration. It fires off the vibration motor in time with any sound played. This works well enough for gaming but doesn't really have a function anywhere else.

• Design score: 3.5 / 5

Sony Xperia 1 V review: display

• High-quality, flat 4K OLED display
• 120Hz refresh rate
• No notch, but extended screen surrounds

The Sony Xperia 1 V has a 6.5-inch OLED screen that mines the same excesses as the previous models in the series: a very tall shape and ultra-high resolution. This is a 4K screen, with a 3840 x 1644-pixel count. 

According to a hardware scraper app, its default render resolution is 2560 x 1096 pixels, but the real-world effect is a complete absence of pixelation, even if you get your eye as close to the screen as you can, it's worth noting that true 4K resolution only kicks in when compatible content is detected.

Color and maximum brightness are great, and the OLED panel has effectively perfect contrast by design. The display's refresh rate also peaks at 120Hz. 

There’s little to criticize here, if also little to significantly separate the Sony Xperia 1 V from its peers, other than one typically quirky Sony trait. This screen has no notch, no punch hole. Instead, the front camera sits in a little blank expanse of bezel above the screen. Phone makers tend to try to eliminate as much of this surround as possible, but Sony isn’t like everyone else.

As you can probably tell from a glance, the Sony Xperia 1 V’s display is completely flat. There are no curves here, bar the very slight rounding-off of the corners of the display panel. 

Sony does not offer loads of ways to customize how the Sony Xperia 1 V screen looks. You can either use the Creator Mode or Standard mode. The latter is described as being more vivid, but there’s no grand shift in saturation to be seen here, and both modes look tasteful. There’s no way to drastically cut down color pop to reserved sRGB levels, but we can’t imagine many doing so these days anyway.  

There is a separate section that lets you alter the color temperature. This changes how “warm” or “cool” the Sony Xperia 1 V display appears.

• Display score: 4 / 5

Sony Xperia 1 V review: software and performance

• Has some “pro” style apps
• Good performance, but some thermal throttling
• Gets warm when doing very little at times

The Sony Xperia 1 V runs Android 13 with a light Sony-made interface and a bunch of wallpapers that bring the software that signature Sony look. However, there’s little to offend or annoy here. 

Sony uses a conventional Android layout, and the standard approach to the drop-down notifications bar. There are a few little Sony tweaks, though. 

You can, for example, create folders in the app drawer, and choose the order of your apps rather than just arranging them in alphabetical order. Of course, it’s all optional and you can just leave the Sony Xperia 1 V to sort out the order too. 

Sony’s value-adding strategy is more about preinstalled apps than anything to do with the interface. 

Music Pro is a multi-track recorder app, a very stripped-back take on a DAW (digital audio workstation) app like Reason or Logic. External Monitor, another app, lets you use the Sony Xperia 1 V as a USB-connected display. The prime use case is as an external monitor for one of Sony’s mirrorless cameras. But it’s not limited to that. 

We’ll cover the Cinema Pro, Video Pro and Photo Pro apps in the camera section of this review, but Sony’s pitch is clear. It wants us to consider the Xperia 1 V a professional tool as well as a normal phone.

The Sony Xperia 1 V has the best chipset you could hope for at the time of its launch, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. This is a flagship processor that addresses one of the key issues of the Gen 1 version: throttling. 

Last-generation phones were capable of some amazing benchmark results. But they often weren’t indicative of real-world performance, as you could lose 50% or more power after just a couple of minutes thanks to heat build-up. 

Is the Sony Xperia 1 V much better in this respect? We can’t use our usual methods to tell, as Sony has blocked certain apps – including 3DMark – on review devices. 

However, we did dig out an app called CPU Throttling Test, which shows you how much performance is lost over time. Performance loss starts at the two-minute mark, and by eight minutes or so the Sony Xperia 1 V is reduced to around 60-65% of its original power. The minimum recorded over a 15-minute test was 59%, which happened in both runs we tried. 

It’s not ideal, but we saw drops to 46% performance in the Sony Xperia 1 IV. 

Sony has had its own issues with heat in its phones over the years and, unfortunately, we’ve had some of this with the Sony Xperia 1 V, in another sense. We’re not talking about overheating here, just the phone getting hotter than it should when performing light activities. This does not happen consistently, but we have felt the phone often get warm when streaming audio. 

However, we’ve had zero obvious performance issues in real-world use. And games run very well on the phone.

• Software score: 4 / 5
• Performance score: 4 / 5

Sony Xperia 1 V review: cameras

• Has a multitude of cameras apps
• Good general image quality
• Doesn’t match the best in extreme situations
• Impressive-sounding zoom is optically soft

The Sony Xperia 1 V has three rear cameras. It’s an unusual and high-end array, the most eye-catching of the three being a 3.5-5.2x 12MP zoom with a true optical zoom lens. Lens elements visibly move as you move between those two focal lengths. Such a zoom has only been seen in a handful of phones since smartphones became a thing. 

Our other two lenses are a 12MP ultra-wide and a 48MP (technically 52MP with an effective 48MP area) primary wide camera. All three of these, and the selfie camera up front, use Sony sensors. Skip on a few paragraphs if you just want to know what the photos the Sony Xperia 1 V are like, as we have to touch on Sony’s photography ethos first. 

Sony doesn’t approach photography like the other phone makers, in a repeat of what we’ve seen throughout this review. It still uses a two-stage shutter button on the side of the Sony Xperia 1 V. You half depress this button to focus, and push all the way down to capture an image. 

Don’t want to do so? No problem. There’s a Basic mode that feels much more like the standard way of shooting with a phone, using the touchscreen. It’s how I used the Sony Xperia 1 V, most of the time. 

And if you like to think the old ways are the best, you can switch to other Program, and Manual modes, designed to offer a layout comparable to one of Sony’s Alpha-series cameras.

Good idea? Yes and no. It makes doing things like switching between the focal lengths feel clunky. The real value here is in putting the options that you can’t change after the shoot at your fingertips, and these aren’t always as useful as you might think. 

The top ones are shutter speed and exposure. And, sure, ISO sensitivity, but you should want the lowest ISO you can get away with, given phone camera grain and noise aren’t exactly pretty. If you’re not shooting with a tripod, the amount the manual style of control actually adds is limited because you’re dealing with a fixed aperture lens. 

And even if the Sony Xperia 1 V did have a variable aperture lens – like on the likes of the Xiaomi 13 Ultra – it still would not give you that much additional creative control, thanks to the crop factor of these cameras. A change in setting is going to be at most a switch from a very small aperture to a very, very small one. 

The Sony approach makes a lot more sense with video, in the Cinema Pro and Video Pro apps. One of the clear giveaways you’re an amateur shooting with a phone is the way the exposure and focus switch too rapidly. The phone approach to video is to constantly check if it’s in focus, and exposed correctly. And if not, to sort that out as soon as possible. However, you don’t want that for a pro-looking shoot where ideally you’d have a focus puller and controlled lighting. In Cinema Pro, you lock in your settings before you start shooting, to avoid all that jittering about. 

Sony Xperia 1 V camera samples

How are the Sony Xperia 1 V’s photos? Excellent, but at this level they fall down in some important areas that can’t be explained away by saying the Sony approach just leans towards a more “pro” style. 

That said, this camera still avoids all the issues of the much earlier models in the series. They had processing that looked bad up close, with coarse, jagged or strangulated detail. All of that is gone, and the Sony Xperia 1 V now has a more relaxed approach to detail rendering in most cases than, for example, the Huawei P60 Pro. 

Color is respectable too, lacking the kind of obvious oversaturation that makes nature scenes look a little unreal. 

The ultra-wide uses a quality 12MP sensor, one that sports a less zoomed-out field of view than some. Sony typically manages to keep the color tone and image character between the wide and ultra-wide cameras consistent; largely avoiding the sense you’re slumming it with the ultra-wide, during the day at least.

The zoom camera is easily the most catchy-sounding of the three rear sensors, though. It can move smoothly between 3.5x and 5.2x zoom, using a genuine optical zoom lens; a true rarity in the smartphone space.

As with any capable zoom camera, the Xperia 1 V’s is going to seem like a revolution in fun for your mobile photography, if this is to be your first time with a periscope zoom. Long-range photos that would once have been total mush will now look sharp. Or, well, sharp-ish. The phone's zoom camera is a reminder that prime lenses (that are those with a fixed focal length) are typically much sharper than optical zoom ones like this.

The 5.2x mode is lossless in theory, but in reality it looks very soft. You can see this when you look down at a per-pixel level, but it also even more obvious when shooting images with very high light contrast, causing a slight smearing effect.

We compared its 10x results to those of the Huawei P60 Pro. The Huawei results were significantly sharper, and not just because of more advanced processing. There is genuinely more detail there. The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is going to do even better at 10x, thanks to its dedicated 10x camera too. 

The ability to compare one ultra-zoom camera phone to another is a rare privilege. However, any keen photographer may notice the Xperia 1 V has an unfortunate tendency to leave parts of the image overexposed in high contrast scenes at times.  This might be where part of the scene is covered by trees, but the rest is bright-but-cloudy sky, for example. The Sony Xperia 1 V just doesn’t try quite as hard as the competition to retain highlights in these high light contrast scenarios. 

Similarly, low-light results, while good, are also a cut below the best from Samsung, Huawei and Google. There’s more noise, less detail, and a tendency to record more motion-blurred images despite the use of OIS in both the wide and zoom cameras. A lot of this stuff, bar the occasional notably-overexposed image, only becomes obvious in direct comparison with another top-tier phone. There is another factor to consider, though. 

The Sony Xperia 1 V’s preview image is quite poor too. What you see in the camera app as you compose your picture doesn’t look all that much like the final image, because it does not properly estimate what effect dynamic range processing will have. 

This also means your subject is typically much less visible on the screen too, as it will look darker and dimmer than it will in the final picture. That matters when shooting outdoors on a very bright day. 

Are things looking bad for the Sony Xperia 1 V camera? Not at all. It’s still largely a blast to use in its Basic mode, has a very high hit rate of shots and top-tier image quality. We’re just not sure it competes particularly at $1,399/£1,299 in all areas. 

For video, the Sony Xperia 1 V can shoot at up to 4K resolution, 120 frames per second. And there are three different apps you can use to capture.

There’s the normal route, just using the camera app. Then Video Pro has an interface based on Sony camcorders, offering much better control over manual focus and manual zoom. This can be a fun one to use. 

Cinematography Pro is based on the experience of Sony pro-grade video cameras, and may be slightly intimidating to some because it puts a lot of stuff, and numbers, in front of your eyeballs.  However, this one is ideal for times when you want to manually set, for example, your shutter speed and ISO manually before you hit the shutter button. You can also see the area outside of the actual frame in the preview image, which is neat. 

Would we use it for casual video capture? Probably not. But if you want to make a short film, you’ll want to use Cinematography Pro, or Video Pro. 

Care about selfies? The Sony Xperia 1 V has a 12MP selfie camera. We are fairly happy with its results. It can reproduce a good amount of detail, and holds up well in poor lighting, even if you don’t use the screen as a fill flash. 

However, it doesn’t compare all that well with the selfie camera of the Huawei P60 Pro one modern-day photography champ. That selfie cam renders lots more detail in good lighting, and has more powerful dynamic range optimization.

• Camera score: 4 / 5

Sony Xperia 1 V review: battery

• Poor charging speed
• Good, reliable one-day-plus battery life
• Supports wireless charging

The Sony Xperia 1 V has a 5,000mAh battery, just like the Sony Xperia 1 IV. While the mysterious occasional heating up of this phone is never going to be a good indicator of battery life, I was entirely happy with how long it lasted in the day-to-day. 

The phone tended to last around 1.5 days of moderate use during review, and can be relied on for fairly heavy days of use. 

At one point during testing I had to trek across the country, from a 7am start to getting home at just before 11pm. Despite lots of audio streaming, some YouTube streaming, a bit of tethering to a laptop, and route planning using the phone, the Xperia 1 V still had about 25% charge by the time I got home. 

It’s a phone I've not had to worry about dying early in the day. Apart from one particularly bad day when the Xperia 1 V seemed to spend almost the entire day borderline hot — something definitely was awry there. An hour of streamed video took 6% off the battery, suggesting it’s good for up to around 16.5 hours. 

Sony does not offer particularly good charging, though. We’ve been spoilt by companies like Xiaomi and OnePlus, which offer charging up to a stupendous 150W. The Sony Xperia 1 V is stuck on 30W, the least you’ll find in any of the top-tier Androids. 

Our Sony Xperia 1 V did not include a charger, but we have plenty of compatible 30W-plus chargers about. So does it get to the old silver standard of 50% in one hour, as Sony claims? Charging from a completely flat battery, the Sony Xperia 1 V reached 43% charge after 30 minutes with charger one. And 47% with charger two. 

If you start charging the phone when it’s at 1% rather than dead, reaching 50% in 30 minutes may be feasible. Still, this is very poor charging speed for an Android this expensive. After 45 minutes, it had reached 60%. 

It does support 15W wireless charging, though, and reverse wireless charging, which are convenient extras that don't necessarily crop up on every flagship.

• Battery score: 3.5 / 5

Should you buy the Sony Xperia 1 V?

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Sony Xperia 1 V review: Also consider

The Sony Xperia 1 V is fairly similar to its predecessor. It doesn’t shake things up too much in this series, but as such does feel quite distinct from the competition. Even when placed next to phones with some of the same specs. Here are some other key models to consider.

How I tested the Sony Xperia 1 V

• Review test period = 2 weeks
• Testing included = Everyday use as my main phone, web browsing, GPS navigation, video streaming, gaming, calls, podcast and music playback
• Tools used = Geekbench 5, Geekbench 6, 3D Mark, multiple power adapters

My time with the Sony Xperia 1 V coincided with some notable events. I got to take it across the country, to a wedding in the lake district, for example.

As well as an opportunity to take some unusual photos, this sort of trip is great for assessing battery life in a more challenging scenario. However, much of my observations in this area come from using the Sony as my one and only phone, which is the norm throughout a review period.

I also had the chance to test drive the Xperia 1 V’s zoom camera in a truly challenging situation, watching Blur at Wembley Stadium from the cheap seats, right at the back of this 80,000-plus visitor venue.

The Sony Xperia 1 V and I have been places, and this also means you tend to get to see what other people feel about its design, how good they think the pictures it takes look. However, the boring stuff matters too. Can its speakers make a podcast audible while you’re cooking? How bright does the screen look while you’re outdoors? These are elements I always pay attention to.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed: July 2023

The Sony Xperia 1 V is Sony’s latest flagship smartphone, and it looks to be making a play for our list of the best camera phones, as it’s the camera that’s seen the bulk of the upgrades.

That’s not all that’s changed since the Sony Xperia 1 IV though, as this is certainly a more powerful phone than its predecessor too.

Below then, you’ll find everything you need to know about the Sony Xperia 1 V, including details of its release date and price.

Cut to the chase

• What is it? The latest Sony flagship phone
• When is it out? Announced on May 11, shipping now
• How much does it cost? Starts at $1,399.99 / £1,299 (around AU$2,100)

Sony Xperia 1 V release date and price

The Sony Xperia 1 V was announced on May 11, 2023 and began shipping in the UK on June 29 (with pre-orders opening on June 14), while in the US it arrived on July 28. It’s unlikely to be sold in Australia.

As for the price, you’ll be paying at least $1,399.99 / £1,299 (around AU$2,100). That’s the starting price too, so if you want 512GB of storage rather than 256GB then it will cost more. Though that larger model may not be available everywhere.

That said, Sony is cushioning the blow a bit by throwing in a pair of Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones with UK pre-orders. These typically cost $399 / £380 / AU$649, and we awarded them five stars. In the US, you'll instead get LinkBuds wireless earbuds (valued at $179 / £149 / AU$299) and a $50 coupon.

Sony Xperia 1 V design and display

The Sony Xperia 1 V looks a lot like the Sony Xperia 1 IV, with a similarly tall and narrow design. It’s 165 x 71 x 8.3mm, weighs 187g, and has Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the front and on its textured glass back, and an aluminum frame.

The phone will be available in Black, Khaki Green, and Platinum Silver shades, and it has both an IP68 and an IP65 certification, making it more water resistant than most handsets.

The display is a 6.5-inch 1644 x 3840 OLED one with a 120Hz refresh rate, and a narrow 21:9 aspect ratio. It’s an unusual display both for that aspect ratio and its extremely high 4K resolution. That said, it’s the same thing as Sony has been doing for years now, so it’s only unusual compared to other smartphone brands.

Sony Xperia 1 V cameras and battery

The cameras are the most interesting part of the Sony Xperia 1 V, and particularly the primary sensor, which is a 52MP f/1.9 one. Except, not really, because only 48 of those megapixels are in the effective area for taking photos, and the resulting shots are pixel binned down to 12MP.

Still, it’s a big upgrade on the 12MP sensor in the Sony Xperia 1 IV, and not just because of the extra megapixels – this camera uses a new ‘Exmor T for mobile’ sensor design, and has a 1.7x larger sensor than the Xperia 1 IV’s main camera, a combination which allows for 2x better low light shots according to Sony.

That’s the big upgrade here, but the other cameras while the same as before remain notable, particularly the 12MP f/2.3 telephoto one, because this offers continuous optical zoom between 3.5x and 5.2x. Oh, and both the main and telephoto snapper have optical image stabilization.

Rounding out the rear cameras there’s a 12MP f/2.2 ultra-wide one, and the Sony Xperia 1 V also supports 4K video recording, and has a 12MP camera on the front.

As for the battery, that’s 5,000mAh and supports 30W wired charging. There’s also wireless charging, but Sony hasn’t said how fast this is.

Sony claims the battery can last for approximately 20 hours of continuous video playback, and that it can be charged to 50% in 30 minutes.

Sony Xperia 1 V specs and features

The Sony Xperia 1 V has a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset. That’s up from the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 in the Xperia 1 IV, and along with the main camera is the other big upgrade this year.

It’s also the same chipset as you’ll find in the likes of the OnePlus 11 and the Samsung Galaxy S23 series – though Samsung uses a faster version of it. That’s joined by 12GB of RAM, and a choice of 256GB or 512GB of storage.

The Xperia 1 V runs Android 13, as you’d expect, and it has a side-mounted fingerprint sensor, 5G support, and stereo speakers.

• These are the best Sony phones

While most of the tech world is still obsessing over Google’s announcement of the Pixel Fold, Pixel Tablet, and Pixel 7a, Sony has decided to try and steal some of the attention by announcing the Sony Xperia 1 V and the Sony Xperia 10 V.

They’re the company’s new flagship and mid-ranger, respectively, and it’s the Xperia 1 V that’s by far the most interesting of the two.

It's only especially interesting in one way, mind – a lot of the phone's specs are quite similar to those of the Sony Xperia 1 IV – but it looks like the primary camera has had a major upgrade. Here, it’s a 52MP f/1.9 one with optical image stabilization. That’s far more megapixels than the 12MP of the Xperia 1 IV, but it’s the design of the sensor that’s most interesting.

You see, the Sony Xperia 1 V has a new sensor design called Exmor T for mobile. We don’t need to get too deep into the technical details, but it’s 1.7 times larger than the previous phone’s sensor, and can apparently perform two times better in low light.

Note, though, that this is still a smaller sensor than the one used in the likes of the Xiaomi 13 Ultra, despite that also being made by Sony, and while it’s technically a 52MP sensor, the effective area for photos is 48MP, and it pixel bins shots down to 12MP.

In any case, it still sounds like a big upgrade, and it’s joined by the same 12MP f/2.2 ultra-wide and 12MP f/2.3 telephoto cameras as last year, the latter of which being able to zoom between 3.5x and 5.2x optically. There’s also a 12MP camera on the front.

The Sony Xperia 1 V has the expected power upgrade, too, in the form of a new Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, like you’ll find in most 2023 Android flagships. That’s joined by 12GB of RAM, 256GB or 512GB of storage, and a 5,000mAh battery with 30W charging.

The screen is a 6.5-inch OLED one with a 120Hz refresh rate and a 1644 x 3840 resolution, just like on the Xperia 1 IV, and the design is similar too, with sizeable bezels above and below the screen, a glass back (clad in Gorilla Glass Victus 2 in this case), and a metal frame. The phone also has both an IP68 and IP65 rating, giving it marginally better water resistance than most handsets.

It comes in a choice of Platinum Silver, Black, and Khaki Green shades, and it will be available to pre-order from June 14 in the UK, before shipping on June 29, with the price starting at £1,299 (around $1,635 / AU$2,425).

Pricing and availability in the US are yet to be confirmed, though, and we probably won’t see this phone in Australia, going by past form. As usual with Sony, this is an expensive phone, but in the UK you do at least get a pair of Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones thrown in if you pre-order.

From high-end to mid-range

As for the Sony Xperia 10 V, that’s a lot more affordable, costing £399 in the UK (around $500 / AU$745) and going on sale from mid-June. As with the Xperia 1 V, though, we’re yet to hear price and availability details for other regions.

Specs for this phone include a 6.1-inch, 1080 x 2520 OLED screen, a Snapdragon 695 5G chipset, 6GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and a 5,000mAh battery.

It also has a 48MP main camera (though not the same one as the Xperia 1 V), an 8MP ultra-wide, and an 8MP telephoto offering 2x optical zoom.

There’s an IP68 and IP65 rating for water resistance too, but on paper it only sounds like the main camera has had much of an upgrade here, as even the chipset is the same as in the Sony Xperia 10 IV. That said, Sony has at least added stereo speakers and made the display brighter.

Accidental product leaks by brands are usually minor slip-ups that are only spotted by chance, such as a premature store listing that’s quickly taken down. But Sony has leaked its upcoming flagship Xperia 1 V phone in style – by posting a massive billboard featuring the device on the side of a building.

The billboard (see above) was spotted in Hong Kong before being taken down, but not before photos appeared on Reddit  and Twitter, and they show a handset that’s pretty much identical to what we’ve seen in leaks.

Based on the images, Sony Xperia I V – which is set to be officially revealed on May 11 – will look a lot similar to the Xperia 1 IV. The flat sides remain, surrounding a slender, slim body, characteristic of previous entries in the series. You’ll also spot a camera lens layout that remains uniquely Sony. The new phone’s camera array appears a little bigger than the previous generation, with Sony’s ad proclaiming that the phone will have a “next-gen” camera system.

 A tale of two promos

If I had a nickel for every Android phone launching on May 11 with an official render making the rounds on the first day of May, I would have two nickels, as the saying goes. The Xperia 1 V joins the Google Pixel 7a being teased by an official source only days ahead of launch, even if one was unintentional.

Though we’ve seen fewer leaks around the Xperia 1 V than we have for the 7a, we still have a clear idea of what to expect from both phones. The Xperia 1 IV is rumored to be coming with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, 16GB of RAM, a 6.5-inch flat display, and a 5,000mAh capacity battery. The Pixel 7a, meanwhile, is expected to have a Tensor G2 processor, 8GB of RAM, a 6.1-inch display, and a 4,400mAh battery.

Though these are very different smartphones in many respects, both the Xperia and Pixel lines place a premium on the camera experience (though you could argue all the best Android phones do).

The Pixel series has typically outperformed the Sony Xperias in reviews and comparison tests, with our Xperia 1 IV review noting that the phone is for those who would rather edit their photos themselves than those who want a usable image straight out of the box.

Might this be the year that Sony makes up ground in the photography department? We’ll have a better idea soon, but for a phone that’s rumored to cost upwards of $1,000 / £1,000 / AU$1,800, we’d hope so.

There haven’t been a huge number of Sony Xperia 1 V leaks, which is surprising, because the phone is just weeks away from launch.

We know this because Sony just took to both Twitter and YouTube to announce that the "Next ONE is coming" on May 11 (or May 10 in some parts of the world). So while the company didn’t go so far as to say the full name of the phone, it can hardly be talking about anything else.

That’s also not a surprising date at all, as the Sony Xperia 1 IV landed on May 11 last year, and a recent leak suggested the Xperia 1 V would be announced in May.

The launch event is being held in Japan, which means the timings won’t be super sociable for most of our readers. It kicks off at 9pm PT on Wednesday May 10, which is 12am ET / 5am GMT / 2pm AEST on Thursday, May 11.

The event will be live-streamed on YouTube, and from the teaser video and accompanying text, we know that the Sony Xperia 1 V’s camera will be a big focus. The video zooms in on a camera sensor and shows someone taking a photo of a sunset (or possibly a sunrise), while the text mentions a "next-gen sensor" and "next-gen imaging."

So what should we take from that? Well, a post on Weibo (spotted by SumahoDigest) previously pointed to a larger 1/1.4-inch sensor being used, though notably that would still be somewhat smaller than the sensors found in some current rival phones, several of which boast a 1-inch sensor, not to mention there's Sony's own Xperia Pro-I from 2021.

Then again, such 1-inch sensors – found in the likes of the Xiaomi 13 Ultra – are actually made by Sony, so it would make sense for the company to use one in its own phones.

Whatever the case, a sensor size increase seems likely, as that could improve low light shots, which would be handy for the slightly dim scene in the teaser video.

Few upgrades and major competition

Beyond that, and the likely presence of a new Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, we might not see many changes here, with leaks pointing to a similar design and the same 5,000mAh battery capacity and 6.5-inch screen size as the Sony Xperia 1 IV – though it might get 16GB of RAM, up from 12GB in the current model.

It’s also worth noting that sometimes Sony puts its phones on sale long after announcing them, so while the Xperia 1 V is being unveiled soon, you might not be able to buy it for a while.

Still, there are likely to be other options, because as well as the possibility that Sony itself will show off additional phones during the event (perhaps the Xperia 10 V, as the Sony Xperia 10 IV landed on May 11 last year too), we’re also expecting new Google phones that week.

Google IO 2023 kicks off on May 10, and reports suggest we’ll see the Pixel 7a and Pixel Fold there, along with the Pixel Tablet. It’s strange that Sony has decided to launch its flagship handset so close to Google’s event, but it should make for an exciting couple of days for phone fans.

Sony’s flagship phones usually face the same two major issues, one being the price, and the other being a baffling release schedule, which sees them go on sale long after they’re announced. Sadly, it looks like at least the latter of these might continue with the Sony Xperia 1 V.

According to leaker Zackbuks, writing on Chinese social media site Weibo (via NotebookCheck), the Sony Xperia 1 V will launch at around the same time this year as the Sony Xperia 1 IV did last year. Specifically, it might be announced in May, and go on sale in June.

Now, that doesn’t sound too bad, but there are a couple of things to note. First of all, the specific dates in May and June last year meant there was over a month between announcement and release for the Sony Xperia 1 IV, and that was just for the UK, with the US not getting the phone until September.

Zackbuks is also likely talking about Chinese dates here, and typically Sony’s flagship phones land in China and Japan before anywhere else. Sometimes long before, with the Sony Xperia 1 III for example landing in China in early June of 2021, but not in the US or UK until mid-August.

All of which is to say that Sony often likes to make much of the world wait, for some reason. So, if the Sony Xperia 1 V is working on the same release schedule as the Xperia 1 IV, then there’s a high chance that the US, at least, will be waiting until quite a while after the May announcement to get it, and even the UK may be waiting over a month.

An unfortunate wait

That would be a shame, because by then interest in the phone may have waned, and the September US launch last year was particularly poor timing because by then attention was turning to the iPhone 14.

Of course, there’s no guarantee this will happen again. Zackbuks – via the machine translated text – sounds like they’re making an educated guess as much as anything, and even if they’re right, perhaps Sony will work to bring the Xperia 1 V out globally in early June, rather than making some countries wait until late June or subsequent months.

The good news is that May isn’t far away now, so if the Sony Xperia 1 V really is being announced then, we’ll at least have a clearer idea of this best phone contender’s release date soon.

Nokia owner HMD Global has lifted the lid on not one, not two, but three new smartphones ahead of MWC Barcelona 2023 – and one of them is so easy to repair that you may never have to step foot inside an electronics store again. 

Manufactured in collaboration with global repair community iFixit, the Nokia G22 is designed to be easily repairable by anyone, anywhere, with just a handful of cheap tools. 

The phone’s battery, screen, charging port and back cover can all be popped off and replaced in a matter of minutes, which HMD Global says should allow owners to keep using the G22 for years after its three-year warranty has expired.

We tried our own at-home repairs on the rear panel of a Nokia G22 sample sent to us in advance of the phone’s announcement, and it really was a pretty simple process. All you need is a parts-specific G22 Fix Kit – those are available to purchase from iFixit.com for as little as £27.99 (around $33 / AU$49) – as well as whatever replacement parts your phone requires (also stocked by iFixit.com). 

The G22 itself will retail for £149.99 / AU$349 (around $180) – which could make it one of the best cheap phones to launch in 2023 – and begin shipping in the UK from March 8 and from early April in Australia. In addition to its repairability credentials, the phone will arrive packing a 6.5-inch, 90Hz HD+ display, a Unisoc T606a processor, a 50 MP main rear camera, a 5,050mAh battery and IP52 water and dust resistance. 

It’ll be available in two storage configurations – 64GB and 128GB, both with 4GB RAM – and the G22 will also run Android 12 to begin with, HMD Global says. 

Clearly, those specs suggest the Nokia G22 isn’t going to challenge the best iPhones and best Samsung phones to the title of best smartphone in 2023, but HMD Global is here targeting consumers who aren’t interested in spending four figures on their mobile devices (hence the company’s focus on repairability and longevity).

“People value long-lasting, quality devices and they shouldn’t have to compromise on price to get it. The new Nokia G22 is purposefully built with a repairable design so you can keep it even longer,” HMD Global’s Head of Product Marketing, Adam Ferguson, said in a presentation given to TechRadar.

Good things come in threes

Nokia has also unveiled two new entries in its popular C-Series line, the Nokia C22 and Nokia C32, ahead of MWC 2023. 

Boasting all the durability bells and whistles of the brand’s existing C-Series smartphones, the C22 will be available in two storage configurations – 64GB with either 2GB RAM or 3GB RAM – and offer a whopping three-day battery life. 

The phone will retail for £109.99 (around $130 / AU$195) and begin shipping in spring in the northern hemisphere (which is between March and June, for our Australian readers with local pricing TBC).  

The C32, on the other hand, will arrive sporting Android 13 and a 50MP main rear camera (where the C22 has to make do with a 13MP main lens), and retail for the slightly more expensive price of £129.99 / AU$249 (around $155). Both phones will share the 6.5-inch, HD+ display of the aforementioned Nokia G22. 

We’ll be sharing our thoughts on all three phones once we’ve spent some more time with each of them in the near future. In the meantime, stay tuned to TechRadar for all the latest news and announcements to emerge from this year's MWC trade show.

We're expecting to see the Sony Xperia 1 V at some point this year, and unofficial renders that have been posted online give us a good idea of what to expect in terms of the design aesthetics and the color options for this flagship smartphone.

The photos and videos shared by Green Smartphones and seasoned tipster OnLeaks (via Notebookcheck) show the phone from just about every angle, front and back. The handset is shown in both a black and a purple-ish shade.

We've also got a few specs here, though some of them are listed as "unconfirmed": a 6.5-inch flat display, a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, 16GB of RAM (up from 12GB last time), and a battery capacity of 5,000 mAh (matching the phone's predecessor).

Camera upgrades

When it comes to the front and back cameras, this source says that we can expect a 12MP selfie camera on the front, and a triple-lens 48MP+12MP+12MP camera on the back – so the main sensor at least is getting a major upgrade from the Sony Xperia 1 IV.

The actual design of this year's phone looks similar to what we saw in 2022, though the camera flash has been moved into the camera bump for a slightly neater look. There's still a headphone jack and a recessed power button with an embedded fingerprint sensor.

We have actually had one previous leak regarding the design of the Sony Xperia 1 V, and these new renders match up with it, giving us more confidence that they're accurate. If Sony follows last year's schedule, we could see the handset in June.

Analysis: the same Xperia story

The narrative around the Sony Xperia flagship phones has generally been the same for several years now, and based on these newly revealed renders, it's not going to change all that much during 2023 – for better or for worse.

While they've never enjoyed runaway success in terms of sales, the Xperia handsets have always impressed in terms of their displays and their camera capabilities. This is as you would expect considering all the other electronics that Sony develops.

So what limits the appeal? This particular Sony Xperia range has always been relatively expensive, and there are often minor drawbacks to worry about. In the case of the Sony Xperia 1 IV, we weren't very impressed with the integrated fingerprint reader.

From what we've heard about the Sony Xperia 1 V up until this point, we're once again going to get a smart-looking phone with an excellent display and camera setup – so let's hope Sony manages to get the price down a little as well.

• Everything we know about the Sony Xperia 1 V so far

All has so far been quiet on the Sony Xperia 1 V front, despite the fact that it’s surely in the works. But the first leaks are now emerging, and they include an image seemingly showing the back of the phone.

This was shared by a poster on the Esato forums going by the name Speckles. It was then spotted by leaker ZackBuks on Weibo (via Android Authority), who notes that the main and ultra-wide cameras appear to have changed from the ones on the Sony Xperia 1 IV, but adds that they don’t know if this image is accurate or not – so take it with a pinch of salt.

Changes to these cameras – which look like they might have bigger lenses this year – are likely to be for the better, and those aren’t the only potentially positive changes. The camera block also contains all the sensors this time, rather than some sitting outside it, creating a neater look.

However, that’s been achieved by removing the RGB IR sensor and the ToF (time-of-flight) sensor found on the Sony Xperia 1 IV. The first of those is for accurate white balance adjustments and the second is for judging depth and distance.

ZackBuks notes that the phone’s AI focus tracking technology should be good enough for the ToF sensor not to be missed, but there are no such reassurances about the absent RGB IR sensor.

In any case, something seems to have been added too, as there’s what appears to be a microphone hole on the camera block. We’ve seen this before on the Sony Xperia Pro-I too, where it’s intended for clear speech recording.

That suggests if this really is the Sony Xperia 1 V it might have even more of a niche, professional creative focus than the Sony Xperia 1 IV.

Aside from the camera details, there’s not much else to say about this image, with the pictured phone looking a lot like the Sony Xperia 1 IV. There’s a plain black rear with a Sony logo in the middle and an NFC logo further up. Sadly we can’t see the front, but with any luck this is the first leaked image of many.

Analysis: what’s the new camera?

While this leak doesn’t tell us what camera sensors the Sony Xperia 1 V is using, there’s a fair chance it includes the Sony IMX989. This was unveiled by the company last year and it’s much larger than most smartphone sensors, at one inch.

A larger size means it can catch more light, which is particularly beneficial for low light shots. It can also potentially offer better dynamic range and produce less noisy images, so there are a lot of benefits to it.

The Sony Xperia 1 V won’t be the first phone to use this sensor if it does include it – that was the Xiaomi 12S Ultra, which impressed most reviewers with its camera quality. So if Sony does use this sensor, then the Sony Xperia 1 V has a good shot at being one of the very best camera phones.

Two-minute review

The Sony Xperia 5 IV is a great, compact phone – one of the better options for anyone who wants an easy-to-handle, classically styled, premium device. Its design benefits from a frosted glass back which is rich to the touch and does a great job of repelling fingerprints, and the phone's flat sides are comfortable to hold too. 

Sony's a traditionalist, and that ethos applies to its phone design. There's a headphone jack and a camera button, and the overall style and design language haven't changed much over the years. It's pretty obvious why Sony fans are so loyal. Sony is very consistent compared to many other brands whose year-on-year launches barely resemble one another.

Sony's also consistently punchy with its prices, and the Xperia 5 IV costs $999 / £949 / AU$1,399. That's less than an iPhone 14 Pro, but more than a Pixel 7 Pro. Thankfully, the Xperia's design quality doesn't undermine its price tag.

The Sony Xperia 5 IV's screen is something of a standout for its size. Normally, smaller screens don't pack the quality larger ones do, but the compact Xperia's is a bright, bold, deep, vibrant canvas that makes the content displayed on it look great.

The 21:9 aspect ratio won't be for everyone, and the fact Sony misses a trick with no dynamic refresh rates also holds it back on paper, but in the flesh, the 120Hz panel is smooth, brighter than its predecessor, and supremely customizable.

The cameras on the Sony Xperia 5 IV are, in a break from tradition, dialed back when compared to those of the 1 IV. You still get the same 12MP main and ultra-wide cameras, but the telephoto which featured a continuous zoom is now a fixed 60mm, 12MP camera. That means roughly 2.5x zoom, vs up to 5.2x on the Sony Xperia 1 IV.

Scaled-back specs don't mean you can't grab excellent photos from the Xperia 5 IV, but it misses the mark when the lights drop. Sony does add a bunch of photo and video modes geared towards experts and enthusiasts, but for most point-and-shoot mobile owners, you might be better off with a cheaper alternative like the Pixel 7.

It's also worth noting, the camera on the Sony Xperia 5 IV gets hotter than we'd like it to, and shuts down after around nine minutes of 4K 120fps recording on a cool day, and five minutes on a warm day.

Strangely, performance wasn't an issue when it came to heat management. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 kept its cool when gaming, even at high graphics settings. The phone didn't drop too many frames and in turn, makes for a nifty gaming device.

Running Android 12, Sony hasn't quite got the latest version of Google's mobile OS onboard, but this is promised soon, app support is excellent, and Sony loads up some customizations like Side Sense to make everything feel more... Sony. Stock Android fans will be a little underwhelmed with the lack of Material You and other stock highlights, but Sony fans should know exactly what to expect.

There's 128GB of storage, and given the Sony Xperia 5 IV's price, we would have loved to see it ship with 256GB as standard, but the inclusion of a microSD card slot is some compensation.

As for the battery life of the Xperia 5 IV, it's excellent. By ditching the periscope camera, Sony frees up space to include a large 5,000mAh capacity cell, helping the phone last a full day and then some when the screen is set to 60Hz, or a comfortable full day when set to 120Hz.

Add 30W wired charging to the mix, as well as wireless charging, not to mention Sony's smart battery care tech, and the Xperia 5 IV is feature-packed, even if it isn't the camera zoomer its larger sibling is.

Sony Xperia 5 IV price and release date

• Available in the UK, US, and Australia
• One capacity widely available – 128GB
• Priced at $999 / £949 / AU$1,399

The Sony Xperia 5 IV is available globally, with specific UK, US, and Australian availability confirmed. You can order it in most regions now, and it's widely available in one capacity – 128GB. 

Priced at $999 / £949 / AU$1399, the Xperia 5 IV is an expensive phone given the fact it misses out on a periscope telephoto camera, which the Xperia 5 III had. That said, with its huge 5,000mAh battery and wireless charging support, it's also got some highlights that were missing on its predecessor.

Other phones in the Xperia 5 IV's price range include the new Google Pixel 7 Pro, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus, and the Galaxy Z Flip 4. With the Google Pixel 7 Pro costing less and offering more in virtually every respect, the Xperia 5 IV's value isn't best-in-class.

• Value score: 3/5

Sony Xperia 5 IV design

• Available in Black, Ecru White, and Green
• Compact design is very pocket-friendly
• Features headphone jack and camera button

Small phones that have loads of power – there aren't that many out there. If you're an Apple user, then the iPhone 14 Pro is your best bet. Android users have a few more options: the Asus Zenfone 9, the Galaxy S22, and the Xiaomi 12 are three 2022 choices. The thing with all these Android phones, however, is that they cost less than the Sony Xperia 5 IV, and are at least as powerful.

So with this premium price, you'd expect a rich finish from the pocketable Xperia, and that's exactly what you get. The frame is matte aluminum, which has a satiny feel that matches the frosted back nicely. The front and back of the phone are hardy Gorilla Glass Victus, and the flat sides and compact form make it easy to hold.

Ports are also a highlight. In addition to a USB-C port at the base, there's a headphone jack at the top. Sony includes front-firing speakers, which sound great – less tinny than those of the Pixel 7, for example, and there's even a physical camera button on the right side. That's also where you'll find the power button, which doubles up as a fingerprint scanner, and a volume rocker, while the SIM card tray is at the base. 

Sony's SIM card trays are our favorite kind, after all, you don't need a pin to eject them – just a modest fingernail, and they also pack microSD card slots – double win.

Available in three colors, Black, Ecru White, and Green, we tested the black one, and thanks to its frosted back, it does a fine job of fending off fingerprints – seldom the case for dark-colored phones.

The Xperia 5 IV doesn't ship with very much in the box. There's no power brick or USB-C cable, and no case. Neither does the phone get a pre-fitted screen protector, which so many alternatives include. That said, Sony does rate the 5 IV IP68 dust and water-resistant, so it is relatively durable.

Its packaging is also very slimline – like that of Apple and Google. Smaller packaging means reduced shipping and storage requirements, and that's better for the planet – so while it's easy to be cynical and assume dialing back box contents is a cost-saving exercise, there's a clear e-waste benefit too.

Weighing 172g and measuring 8.2mm thick, the 5 IV is lightweight and relatively slim. With its compact 6.1-inch screen and narrow design, it's also a great option for anyone sick of oversized Androids. 

So while Sony gives us big déjà vu energy year-on-year, with styling that's refined more than revised, the Xperia 5 IV is still a premium-looking and feeling phone that should check a lot of boxes.

• Design score: 4.5/5

Sony Xperia 5 IV display

• 6.1-inch Full HD OLED display
• 1080 x 2520 resolution, 449ppi
• 120Hz refresh rate

The Xperia 5 IV is a Sony phone, so it has a tall, 21:9 aspect ratio screen. At 6.1 inches, it's also relatively small, and being so narrow, is very comfortable to work across. 

Sony's display quality has struggled in the past with its Xperia 1 line. After all, squeezing a 4K resolution into a tiny smartphone screen is bound to pull up some challenges. While less headline-grabbing, therefore, the Full HD resolution of the Xperia 5 series has been more consistently good. 

With the Xperia 5 IV's modest screen size, it's also got a high number of pixels per inch (PPI). At 449, it's not far off the iPhone 14 Pro (460ppi), so is plenty sharp.

If there's one issue with last year's Xperia 5 III screen, it's outdoor viewability. With the third generation of Xperia 1 and 5 missing out on brilliant brightness, they weren't ideal for sunny climes. Fortunately, the Xperia 5 IV rectifies this, beaming as brightly as 1000 nits. Despite not being best-in-class, this should still do a fine job in most environments of making everything on-screen easy to see.

What's great about the Sony Xperia 5 IV's display is how customizable it is. Dive into the screen settings, and you can activate a range of viewing modes, including Creator Mode (which showcases content in a BT.2020 color range), customize white balance, and more.

The Xperia 5 IV shows off content brilliantly, too, with zingy, vibrant colors, impressive viewing angles, deep, inky blacks, and that 120Hz refresh rate, which makes content glide.

Sony is yet to employ an adaptive refresh rate, which would help with power-saving, especially on the larger Xperia 1 IV. That said, with the Xperia 5 IV's battery being so capable, the feature is less missed here.

• Display score: 4.5/5

Sony Xperia 5 IV cameras

• 12MP main, ultra-wide, and telephoto cameras
• All cameras can shoot 120fps 4K video
• Misses out on a periscope zoom

While historically, the Xperia 5 series has been blessed with the same camera system as its larger sibling, the Xperia 1, in a break from tradition, the 5 IV dials the zoom right back. 

The Xperia 1 IV, launched earlier in 2022, introduced a continuous periscope zoom that's still groundbreaking tech. Meanwhile, last year's Xperia 1 III and 5 III featured a two-stage periscope zoom system which was pretty cool too.

This time around, though, we don't get any periscope zoom. In fact, Sony loads up the 5 IV with the weakest zoom range of any flagship Xperia phone since the original Xperia 1 and 5.

A smartphone isn't made or broken by its zoom camera, though, so you shouldn't write the Sony Xperia 5 IV off just yet. With its three 12MP cameras, it can capture HDR videos at a high 120fps frame rate in 4K resolution. That's both impressive and niche – a theme for Sony phones.

Before we talk about software and performance, let's recap the Xperia 5 IV's camera specs. Its main camera combines a 12MP sensor with an f/1.7 aperture, 24mm lens with OIS (optical image stabilization). At 1/1.7-inch, its camera sensor isn't particularly big. The new iPhone 14 Pro upped the size to 1/1.28, for context.

Smaller sensors are inherently worse in poorly-lit environments, so if you're expecting best-in-class performance, it's already looking shaky.

We mentioned the telephoto camera misses out on maximum zoom, but going into specifics, it's a 12MP, 1/3.5-inch sensor, matched with an f/2.4, 60mm lens with OIS. Finally, the 12MP ultra-wide camera features a 1/2.5-inch sensor, an f/2.2 aperture lens with a 16mm focal length, and it also packs autofocus.

Onto software, and Sony includes three camera apps on the Xperia 5 IV. The main one is Photo Pro, which fires up in Basic mode for a traditional smartphone camera interface. This is where most point-and-shoot users will live when taking pictures, though the app also features a plethora of manual modes too.

Video enthusiasts can choose between Video Pro and Cinema Pro, and both these open with overheating warnings upon first use. Video Pro is for casual content creators who want to shoot 16:9 content, while Cinema Pro is for folks who want to dive into a filmmaking camera UI, and shoot in 21:9. For enthusiasts, three camera apps is Christmas morning. For most, though, it's overkill.

Overkill or not, if the automatic mode was great, then we wouldn't have any issues with Sony loading up the phone with such a rich range of tools. Unfortunately, though, while it's good in well-lit environments, the Xperia 5 IV drops the ball as soon as the lights drop.

Now, if it's felt like a negative camera review so far, it's time to strike a balance – there's a lot to love about the Xperia 5 IV's photos. Sony's photo processing is very natural, the camera button will please traditionalists, and the focus and clarity are on point too. Sony grabs photos with atmospheric shadows, well-balanced highlights, and old-school dynamic-range – so photos don't look as flat as those captured by Pixels, for example.

That's also the case across all three cameras – and there is consistency to the color science and detail you can expect from them. The main camera is the best performer, followed by the ultra-wide, then the telephoto. However, in bright environments, you can play them all off against each other and still get consistently good results.

Dark scenes take the Xperia 5 IV down, though. Compared to the Pixel 7, a much cheaper phone, the Xperia's auto-mode photos look like they're captured on a webcam. Yes, you can go into Pro mode and capture a striking photo with a long shutter speed and a steadied camera – and that option is great to have. The majority of smartphone users, however, won't want to do that.

If the Xperia 5 IV was more affordable, we'd be happier with its camera performance, but at its price, you can get some superb alternatives that wipe the floor with it in automatic mode.

That's also true of video. The phone's specs may read well – up to 4K resolution with HDR active at 120fps, but you need ideal lighting to capture usable footage. Otherwise, you'll be shooting oversized, mediocre-looking footage. The Xperia is slower to adjust focus than other lower-cost camera phones, and it also doesn't give you access to high frame rate capture from the default camera app.

Then there's the issue of heat. On a hot day, our camera app shut down after five minutes recording 120fps 4K video. On a cool day, this extended to nine minutes. Once hot, we couldn't even take photos, so had to hang out for a few minutes until things cooled down.

It's always the way – by adding and adding and adding, there's a serious risk of overcomplicating things, and Sony has, indeed, overcomplicated its camera while failing to make its automatic mode competitive. Sony phones have also had heat issues for a while, now.

In turn, we wish it would focus less on high frame rates and advanced capabilities and address the thermal issue with its cameras, and amp up its computational photography in auto mode.

On the plus, the 12MP selfie camera does capture flattering, balanced photos, and is a huge improvement over the Sony Xperia 5 III. 

• Camera score: 3/5

Camera samples

Sony Xperia 5 IV performance and specs

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1
• 128GB of storage + microSD card slot
• 8GB of RAM

Despite launching after a number of Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 phones, the Sony Xperia 5 IV launches with a slightly older 8 Gen 1. That isn't a big deal when it comes to power – both chips are mighty, and able to handle the latest games and apps with ease.

Given both the Xperia 5 IV's camera overheating, and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 overheating in phones like the Xiaomi 12 Pro, we thought the 5 IV's gaming performance would be scorching. Surprisingly, though, it kept its cool.

Half an hour of Genshin Impact at maximum graphics settings got the phone warm, but never uncomfortable, and other, less demanding titles didn't give us any issues either. The phone benchmarks just like other 8 Gen 1 devices, so is still competitive for 2022, and performance was, generally, smooth.

With 128GB of storage, the Sony Xperia 5 IV should have enough space for most, though, at its price, we wish it had 256GB like the cheaper Oppo Reno 8 Pro. The fact it packs microSD card expansion is handy though.

The fingerprint scanner on the side is responsive, unlocking the phone quickly, and the inclusion of a 3.5mm headphone jack is also very helpful for audiophiles. On the subject of sound, the phone's speakers are also rich and loud, offering more depth than we would expect from a compact smartphone.

• Performance score: 4/5

Sony Xperia 5 IV software

• Launched with Android 12
• Will be updated to Android 13
• Brings back Sony's Android UI

The Xperia 5 IV runs with Android 12, and games and apps are widely available for it through the Google Play Store. While Android 13 is available on some phones, most are still launching with Android 12, so Sony isn't trailing behind other brands per se. It isn't leading the charge either though, with the new Google Pixels having launched with a newer version of the mobile OS.

Sony's interface ditches some stock highlights like Material You, so the UI looks less playful than many other takes on Android. That said, it's very Sony. Side Sense is back, so users can access a one-handed sidebar and get quick access to split-screen multi-tasking, and Sony's also loaded up a host of customizations to display settings. 

There are also plenty of Sony apps on board, from the three camera apps through to Bravia Core, which gives Xperia owners free access to Sony movies – a very cool value add. 

For the most part, when we used the Xperia 5 IV, the software was slick and smooth. However, occasionally, the UI would ghost, showing elements on top of one another. This happened when we tested the Xperia 1 IV too, so is clearly an issue Sony needs to address, even if it only happens a few times a week in our experience.

• Software score: 4/5

Sony Xperia 5 IV battery life

• Large 5,000mAh battery
• Fast 30W charging
• Wireless charging

The high points of the Xperia 5 IV are its design, screen, and battery performance. With a large 5,000mAh battery, the phone easily makes it through a full day with relatively heavy use, and if you're careful, that will stretch through to two days.

An hour of video streaming over Wi-Fi in a well-lit room drained the battery by six percent, so if you load up the phone with offline content you shouldn't have any issues getting through a long-haul flight with non-stop entertainment. 

We were able to charge the phone fully in around 110 minutes using a 30W PD charger from Anker, though the first 50 percent only took half an hour. The phone also charges wirelessly, and Sony's Battery Care feature is back too, dialing back charging speeds when you don't need a quick top-up, and saving your phone's long-term battery health.

• Battery score: 5/5

Sony Xperia 5 IV score card

Should I buy the Sony Xperia 5 IV?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Also consider

• First reviewed September 2022

The last we heard from Sony and its Xperia line was the arrival of the Sony Xperia 5 IV, which was announced in September. It's a smaller version of the Sony Xperia 1 IV, with a 6.1-inch display, but a new leak suggests an even more compact device is on the way from this particular phone series.

Unconfirmed information posted to Chinese social media site Weibo, reported over at Notebookcheck.net, points to an upcoming Xperia phone with a 5.5-inch screen and a modest, mid-range set of internal specs.

The thinking is that the phone might be a successor to the Sony Xperia Ace III, which was only launched in Japan. This time, however, the rumor is that the rest of the world will be getting the handset as well.

Specs appeal

In terms of specs, the leak lists a Qualcomm Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 processor, 6GB of RAM, 128GB of internal storage and a battery capacity of 4,500 mAh. The 5.5-inch display is apparently going to have a 2520 x 1080 pixel resolution, with the phone also offering a wired charging speed of 18W.

If that is indeed how the Sony Xperia Ace IV shapes up, then it's a significant jump up from its predecessor. The Sony Xperia Ace III came with a 5.5-inch, 1496 x 720 pixel screen, a Snapdragon 480 processor, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, and a 4,500 mAh battery. 

The Xperia Ace III made its debut in June 2022, so the same month in 2023 seems a good bet for when the next phone might arrive – and we will of course let you know if and when Sony makes the new handset official.

Analysis: compact phones for the people

There isn't a whole lot out there for those who prefer a more compact phone. If the Sony Xperia Ace IV is indeed real and does indeed come with a 5.5-inch display, then it'll be one of the smallest handsets available on the market.

We know that there was no mini iPhone this year: the rumor is that the iPhone 13 mini just didn't sell enough units for Apple to be able to justify an iPhone 14 mini. However, it sounds as though the iPhone 14 Plus isn't shifting in huge numbers either.

Considering the vast majority of today's phones have screen sizes well above 6 inches, it would seem that consumer demand for these smaller handsets is indeed low. The success or otherwise of the Sony Xperia Ace IV would be another indicator.

Perhaps foldable phones are the answer: a nice big screen to use when they're opened up, but also something relatively small to fit inside a pocket or a bag. Now all we need is for the prices of these foldables to fall far enough to attract mid-range phone buyers.

• Here's our verdict on the Sony Xperia 10 IV

The best Sony phones are unlike any other phones on the market – we’re talking continuous optical zoom lenses, expandable storage, and, yes, 3.5mm headphone jacks. Sony continues to carve out a unique niche in the smartphone industry, with its handsets offering a mixture of premium features, reliable performance, and pro-focused creation and camera tools.

In our current top spot, we have the Xperia 1 VI; the big and beautiful leader of Sony’s smartphone lineup. It’s a no-nonsense flagship that encapsulates Sony’s phone-making ethos; a powerful workhorse that commands a certain way of working but offers rewards in the form of its expanded feature set.

Of course, Sony charges a premium for its feature-laden phones, and as such, even our pick for the best value Sony phone – the Sony Xperia V – isn’t particularly wallet-friendly. Heck, our favorite 'cheap' Sony phone, the Xperia 5 V, costs as much as a new iPhone 16.

That said, if you’re a creative professional with a demanding mobile workflow, a diehard Sony fan, or just someone who misses plugging in your headphones, our list of the best Sony phones will throw up a model for your needs.

While other phone makers battle it out to see who can make the sleekest and shiniest handset, Sony continues to do things a little differently. The Japanese tech titan makes phones targeted at professionals and discerning consumers, loaded with uniquely powerful premium features like continuous optical zoom lenses, 3.5mm headphone jacks, and even expandable storage. Sony continues to hold down a niche defined by premium features, creator-focused hardware, and quirky designs.

At the top of the list sits the Xperia 1 VI, with its powerful flagship specs and impressive camera array. A deep camera app and physical shutter button make it a choice for photographers, and while it's not as flashy as the best iPhones or best Android phones, it's a capable creative workhorse all the same.

Though this list includes picks for the best value Sony phone and best cheap Sony phone, it's worth noting that Sony charges a premium for its powerful but unusual handsets. For reference, the Xperia 5 V is the cheapest phone here, but still costs as much as a new iPhone 16 or Samsung Galaxy S25.

Regardless, if you're a power user who uses their phone for creative work, someone who appreciates off-kilter phone design, or just want to plug in your headphones again, Sony has got you covered.

Best Sony phones 2024

Best overall Sony phone

The Sony Xperia 1 VI is our pick for the best Sony phone you can get right now. As our Sony Xperia 1 VI review details, this is an old-school flagship phone that offers features you’ll get nowhere else (except, maybe, from the other entries on this list). The hands-down coolest thing about this phone is its continuous optical zoom capability, promising consistent quality between 3.5x and 7.1x zoom.

Further proof of Sony’s focus on photography with the Xperia 1 VI comes in the form of a dedicated shutter button and a camera app loaded with options. For videographers, the squared-off screen and headphone jack provide plenty of room for monitoring video and audio. A lot of the more eccentric features of the Xperia 1 VI make sense for professional workflows.

Content creation tools aside, the Xperia 1 VI is a very solid flagship phone. You get a 6.5-inch 1080 x 2340 120Hz display, a healthy 5000mAh battery that we found lasts just over a day (though Sony claims two), and a speedy Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset for breezing through productivity tasks.

That said, the Xperia 1 VI is – as all flagship Sony phones are – wallet-bustingly expensive, at a starting price of £1,299 / AU$1,899. That’s even pricier than the ultra-premium iPhone 16 Pro Max or Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra – and there’s no US availability, either. Still, if you’re dead-set on a Sony phone, this is the best you can get, and the specs sheet is sure to appeal to pros and casual consumers alike.

Read our full Sony Xperia 1 VI review

Best value Sony phone

The previous generation in the Xperia 1 lineup brings almost the same feature set as the current entry at a substantially reduced price. The Xperia 1 V comes equipped with a 6.5-inch display with a 120Hz refresh rate, a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, and a triple camera setup with 3.5-5.2x continuous optical zoom. It’s an impressive specs sheet that comes close to this year’s Xperia 1 revision, but at an impressive discount.

The typical price reduction for a year-old smartphone is around $100 – Apple famously keeps its previous generation of iPhone up for sale at this exact discount. The Xperia 1 V, however, is a huge $400 / £400 / AU$ cheaper than the Xperia VI, and with such similar specs, it’s hard to be anything but impressed – even if the starting price is still a whopping $899.

Nevertheless, we found the Xperia 1 V to be an excellent Android phone loaded with photography and content creation features. The cameras offer solid performance, with a dedicated shutter button and the aforementioned continuous optical zoom. The camera app, while not the most user-friendly, is replete with options. And the screen is a ridiculously sharp 4K panel that even the newer Xperia 1 VI doesn’t have.

Read our full Sony Xperia 1 V review

Best budget Sony phone

Our pick for the best cheap Sony phone comes with a pretty big caveat: it's not actually cheap. That said, the Xperia 5 V offers most of the quintessential Sony phone features for well below the asking price of the super-premium Xperia 1 VI flagship. By Sony standards, it's a budget handset.

At a starting price of £799 – and with no native availability in the US or Australia – you're looking at a flagship-priced compact phone, but one that packs a lot of power. Sony’s photo-focused design ethos is on full display here, too, with a 52MP main camera sensor that crops into 48MP before binning to 12MP photos, ensuring an almost superlative amount of quality.

Elsewhere, the specs don’t quite match the flagship phones available at this price point – for reference, you're looking at the exact same starting price for the Xperia 5 V as the iPhone 16 and Samsung Galaxy S24. You get the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, 8GB of RAM, and a display with decent resolution but an inconsistent color profile. That said, if you’re after Sony’s camera tech and the apps to go with it, the Xperia 5 V is your best bet to save a little cash.

Read our full Sony Xperia 5 V review

FAQs

How we test

To put together this list of the best Sony phones, we've put each of the phones listed through our rigorous testing process and produced full reviews for each. This testing includes pushing the processors to their limits, testing the cameras in a variety of conditions, and using each phone as our main handset during the test period.

This gives us an excellent idea of how each of these Sony phones handles day-to-day tasks as well as more intensive scenarios, and combined with our tech expertise, gives us the confidence to recommend these phones to the right people.

Two-minute review

The Sony Xperia 10 IV is a bit of a mixed bag: it does really well in some areas, and not so well in others, and it arrives at a price point that's reasonable enough for what you get in return. Taking all of that into consideration, it's likely to appeal to some, without really standing out in its price bracket.

This is the cheapest of the Xperia range for 2022, positioned alongside the flagship Sony Xperia 1 IV (it's that last number that goes up each year). There should be a phone in the middle, but at the time of writing there's still no sign of the Sony Xperia 5 IV.

Starting with the good, the battery life on this smartphone is among the best we've seen lately, and the Xperia 10 IV can stretch to a couple of days quite easily. That's a key consideration for a lot of phone buyers, although the slow charging speed and lack of wireless charging should also be noted.

As is usual from Sony, the build quality and the screen quality are both at a premium level, even in this budget phone. Again though, there are caveats, because its construction relies on a lot of plastic, and the screen's refresh rate tops out at 60Hz.

Camera quality continues to be a big factor when choosing a phone, and on the whole, the Sony Xperia 10 IV performs better than a lot of other similarly-priced handsets. However, occasional inconsistencies and only average low-light performance mean it's not all positive.

From that summary you can see some of the pluses and the minuses that you're dealing with when weighing up whether or not to go for this phone. Whether or not you already own a Sony Xperia handset will probably play a part too – if you like the style and finish of this phone series, you'll find the 10 IV follows a familiar pattern.

Of course, your budget plays a part too – this is a solid handset for the price, but there are a lot of value-for-money offerings in the same sort of bracket (or even less, if you take a look at our rundown of the best cheap phones, available right now). As always, it's important to do plenty of research before making a final decision.

Sony Xperia 10 IV price and availability

• Yours for $449 / £429
• A single configuration option
• On sale in the UK and US now

The retail price for the Sony Xperia 10 IV is set at $449 / £429 (which is about AU$650, although it's not officially on sale in Australia). Of course, you might find variations on that as well as special deals, depending on your region. In the markets where it is available, the phone has been on sale since June 2022.

You can see from the pricing where this phone is positioned: the lower mid-range, just above the budget handsets that are the cheapest on the market. If you set your expectations accordingly, in line with that price, then it actually represents a pretty decent level of value for your money.

• Value score: 3.5/5

Sony Xperia 10 IV design

• Traditional Xperia 10 aesthetic
• Comes with a 3.5mm headphone jack
• Four different colors on offer

There are no surprises when it comes to the design of the Sony Xperia 10 IV, and it looks a lot like its predecessors – most recently the Sony Xperia 10 III from 2021, of course. It's a relatively compact, relatively blocky slab of plastic and glass, with corners that are ever so slightly rounded.

With a thickness of 8.3mm, a weight of 161 grams and a 6-inch display, the Xperia 10 IV is one of the smaller Android phones you're going to come across in the market at the moment. We like the matte finish on the plastic around the sides and on the back, and the unfussy look of the phone as a whole.

Down the right-hand side of the phone as you look at it are the volume controls and the power button (with an integrated fingerprint sensor), while the SIM card tray is on the left (it doubles up as a microSDXC card slot). Sony has included a 3.5mm headphone jack at the top of the unit, and there's the standard USB-C port down at the bottom. You don't get anything else in the box by the way, so it's bring your own charger and cable.

You can find this phone in four colors, depending on your region: black, white, Mint and Lavender. We tested the black model, and while it doesn't offer much in the way of design innovation, it's neat and tidy and minimal enough to appeal – and it feels solid and comfortable to hold.

The IP65/IP68 rating gives a reassuring level of dust and water protection too, and the phone is able to survive 30 minutes underwater at a depth of 1.5 meters, without any ill effects. That said, we wouldn't recommend deliberately submerging this phone if you can avoid it.

• Design score: 4/5

Sony Xperia 10 IV display

• 6-inch, 1080 x 2520 OLED 
• 60Hz refresh rate
• One of the smaller displays out there

Sony has plenty of experience making screens for all manner of devices of course, and the 6-inch, 1080 x 2520 pixels OLED display on the Xperia 10 IV is as good as you would expect given that expertise. It's bright and vivid, and because it uses Corning Gorilla Glass Victus it's more scratch resistant than most too.

The bezels around the sides of the screen aren't super-thin, but they're fine. Perhaps the biggest complaint we have about the screen is that it sticks with a 60Hz refresh rate, which makes it less fluid than most of its competitors. It's perfectly okay, and we were all making do with 60Hz screens a few years back, but you will notice the difference if you're switching from a 90Hz or a 120Hz panel.

We didn't really have any other major complaints about the screen, which looks good whether you're streaming video or flicking through your social media feeds. It's about right for a mid-range phone like this, though be aware of it's relatively small size – some people will prefer that, but it can feel cramped if you're used to a bigger screen.

• Display score: 3.5/5

Sony Xperia 10 IV cameras

• Triple-lens rear camera
• Capable of very good shots
• 2x optical zoom

We said at the start of this review that the Sony Xperia 10 IV is a bit of a mixed bag, and that's perfectly demonstrated by the camera system on the phone, which is hit and miss in terms of the results that you get back.

On a technical level you've got a triple-lens 12MP wide + 8MP telephoto + 8MP ultrawide rear camera on the back of the phone, which is actually almost an exact match for the rear camera module on its predecessor. On the front of the phone there's a single-lens 8MP wide camera that's a perfectly capable selfie taker.

When it comes to the rear camera, there's no doubt that you can take some excellent shots with this device, as you would expect from a Sony Xperia phone. However, the occasional problems with focus or color correction that we had take away some of the appeal.

It was a similar scenario with the HDR processing, which we left on auto – this often worked very well but sometimes seemed to get tripped up. On the plus side, there are plenty of options to play around with in the camera app, and it's possible that with more effort configuring these we might have got more consistent results.

Low-light photography isn't particularly impressive, but then we wouldn't be expecting to get dazzling low-light shots in a handset at this price. With the help of the night mode, you can get some usable images at night and in the dark, but you shouldn't rely on it.

The potential is there then – you can see that in some of the sample images we've included below – but the reliability and low-light performance leave something to be desired. Having 2x optical zoom and optical image stabilization at this price point is definitely to be welcomed though.

• Camera score: 4/5

Camera samples

Sony Xperia 10 IV performance and specs

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 CPU
• Mostly snappy performance
• Ready to connect to 5G networks

The Sony Xperia 10 IV is firmly in the mid-range when it comes to internal specs, with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 processor inside, 6GB of RAM and 128GB of on-board storage (which you can expand with a memory card if you need to). This phone is fully 5G ready, if you can connect to a next-gen network wherever you live.

On the whole, performance was snappy and smooth, though we did notice the phone occasionally stuttering when tackling particularly challenging maneuvers, like quickly switching between complicated apps. It's not a major issue though, and apps and games mostly glide along just fine.

The Geekbench scores of 660 (single core), 1819 (multi core) and 1353 (OpenCL) that the phone registered are indicative of the sort of level of performance you're getting here – a lower mid-range level. By comparison, the Google Pixel 6a hit 2837 in its multi-core score, which is more towards what you get with the top-end premium handsets.

If you're expecting to do a lot of movie watching or podcast listening on this phone, it's worth noting that the single speaker is rather weak – it doesn't carry much of a punch, even at maximum volume, and you're not going to be relying on this for high-fidelity music playback. The solitary speaker does an okay job, but nothing more than that.

The headphone jack is a different matter: it supports Sony's 360 Reality Audio (surround sound) and DSEE Ultimate (AI-powered upscaling) standards, and you can control these features through the software on board the phone.

• Performance score: 3/5

Sony Xperia 10 IV software

• Android 12 on board
• Minimal bloatware
• Extra Side Sense utility

The Sony Xperia 10 IV comes with Android 12 out of the box, and – as normal for Sony – there isn't much in the way of tweaks or customizations on top of stock Android. That's absolutely fine with us, as we suspect it will be with most people.

There's very little bloatware to speak of, just a Music app made by Sony, plus Facebook and LinkedIn (which you can easily uninstall). Sony doesn't mess with the main operating system settings too much either, although there is a home screen clock widget you can customize, plus the audio settings we mentioned above.

One extra you do get is a Side Sense launcher at the side of the screen, which gives you easier access to your favorite and most-used apps. We didn't find it particularly useful, but it's not difficult to turn off if you don't like it.

• Software score: 4/5

Sony Xperia 10 IV battery life

• Impressive 5,000mAh battery capacity
• You won't need to charge it every night
• Disappointing charging speeds

One of the main reasons to pick the Sony Xperia 10 IV over rival handsets is the excellent battery life that's on offer: the 5,000mAh capacity battery that Sony has packed in here will run and run and run between charges. It's no exaggeration to say that you can get a couple of days use per charge, unless you're running demanding games non-stop.

It's not all good news though, because charging is relatively slow – a full charge can take more than a couple of hours, which isn't ideal if you're in a hurry. The best handsets charge up way, way faster than this, and it's one of the compromises you make by going for a more affordable phone.

Another compromise is the lack of any sort of wireless charging functionality here, a convenience that you can now rely on with a lot of other handsets. You have to charge up the handset via a USB-C cable, and as we said there isn't one in the box – though at this stage most of us will have one lying around somewhere.

All that said, what matters most is battery life, and that's great. We ended most days with more than 50 percent still in the tank, and in our one-hour video streaming test (with the display brightness set to maximum and the speaker volume relatively low), the battery level dropped by a mere 3 percent – which works out at more than 30 hours of video playback in total.

• Battery score: 4/5

Sony Xperia 10 IV score card

Should I buy the Sony Xperia 10 IV?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Also consider

First reviewed August 2022

The Sony Xperia 5 IV is a small-form version of the Xperia 1 IV from earlier in 2022, bringing lots of the new features of that premium Android phone but in a smaller size for smaller hands.

That's the role of Sony's Xperia 5 family after all, and the Xperia 5 III was the smaller sibling to the Xperia 1 III. The Xperia 5 IV was announced at annual tech show IFA 2022, surprising people who thought that this phone might not appear at all after it didn't show up alongside its bigger sibling.

People who don't like the Sony Xperia 1 IV's big size, or want a more affordable alternative, might find this a tempting mobile, though the handset does miss out on its sibling's biggest feature – its continuous optical zoom module.

We haven't tested this new device yet, but before we do, here's everything you need to know about this new smartphone.

Sony Xperia 5 IV release date and price

Sony didn't actually announce a release date for the Xperia 5 IV, but if it's going to follow the company's usual conventions we expect that it'll launch in Europe soon, and in the US after that. Sony generally doesn't release its phones in Australia.

A euro price was provided, which is €1,049, but we didn't hear about the cost anywhere else. It'll likely cost less than its $1,599 / £1,299 Xperia 1 counterpart, at least. For context, the Xperia 5 III started at $949 / £899, but it sounds like the IV will get a price hike.

Sony Xperia 5 IV design and display

The Sony Xperia 5 IV has the same size screen as its predecessor – that means the display is 6.1 inches diagonally, with a 21:9 aspect ratio, FHD+ resolution and 120Hz refresh rate.

The main upgrade, and something we also saw the Xperia 1 IV enjoy, is that the display is now 50% brighter than it was on the Mark 3. That makes the screen easier to see in direct light, especially sunlight.

In terms of design, equally little has changed, but that should be good for people with smaller hands, as the Xperia 5 line consists of relatively compact phones.

There are three colors for the phone: black, white and green, and it's a glass phone with a metal frame. There's an IP65/68 rating, so it's particularly protected from moisture and small particles.

There's a physical fingerprint scanner on the right edge of the phone, a USB-C port for powering up, and also a 3.5mm headphone jack for wired audio, which will likely please audiophiles. Oh, and there's a physical shutter button, which you can use for photography.

Sony Xperia 5 IV cameras and battery life

The Sony Xperia 5 IV gets the same 12MP f/1.7 main and 12MP f/2.2 ultra-wide cameras as its predecessor and bigger sibling, and it also enjoys the same 12MP selfie camera that the 1 IV got, marking an upgrade over the 8MP one on the 5 III.

One odd downgrade, though, is the telephoto camera. The Xperia 5 IV doesn't get the continuous 85-125mm one from the 1 IV, nor even the variable 70-105mm one of the 1 III and 5 III. Instead, it only has a 60mm lens, paired with a 12MP sensor.

All four of the Xperia 5 IV's cameras can record 4K 120fps footage, a useful spec for people who like their video, and they get lots of the perks that Sony's Alpha cameras do, like eye autofocus tracking.

Sony has given the Xperia 5 IV a surprisingly big battery, at 5,000mAh, and we expect impressive battery life as a result. For context, that's the same size as the Xperia 1 IV has, despite that mobile using a bigger display.

Both phones also have the same charging speed, at 30W, which isn't particularly fast.

Sony Xperia 5 IV performance and specs

The brains of the operation here is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset. This is a powerful chipset that many top-end Android phones, including the Xperia 1 IV, have, and it provides loads of processing power for tasks like gaming.

I's prone to heating up under heavy use though, so don't expect to be playing Call of Duty Mobile all day without issues.

That chip is paired with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage – there's only one configuration going on sale. If you think that you might want more storage, there's a microSD card slot that supports cards up to 1TB, so you'll probably be sorted with that.

This is a 5G phone, so you'll be able to use it on next-gen networks if you have the right contract and live in a supported area. The software is near-stock Android 12, but Sony brings lots of its own apps to the party to improve the experience.

New here is Music Pro, which lets you record audio and cleans it up for you. There's Photography Pro, the default photo app, as well as Cinema Pro and Video Pro, both for capturing video, and a function that lets you stream video from mobile games.

Also present is Sony's Bravia Core, a streaming service for its movies that commonly comes on its TVs, and you get a few credits to redeem on its newest movies (like Morbius) when you sign in.

When the Sony Xperia 1 IV launched, we were impressed by its continuous optical zoom camera that let you zoom anywhere between 3.5x and 5.2x, making it great for long-range photography. The Xperia 5 IV has now launched, but the 1's pint-size sibling is missing that top feature.

Unveiled as part of IFA 2022, an annual tech show that takes place in Germany, the Sony Xperia 5 IV comes just a few months after its sibling. As is Sony's way, this is a similar phone to the 1, but in a smaller package.

That means it has a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset, a trio of 12MP cameras on the back and another 12MP one up front, 30W charging, and all the useful Sony apps that the Xperia 1 IV enjoyed a few months ago.

Like previous Xperia 5 mobiles, the Mark 4 is smaller with a display clocking in at 6.1 inches, and it's not a 4K display, while the battery's also smaller to fit with the shrunken frame.

If you follow Sony phones, you'll know that this is par for the course - the Xperia 5 is always a smaller version of its Xperia 1 counterpart, and the upgrades that the Xperia 1 IV received over the Xperia 1 III, like a brighter display, the ability to record 4K 120Hz video on all four cameras, and the new Music Pro app, are all present here...

...except for one. And you already know what it is, because you read the introduction.

The Sony Xperia 5 IV has a 60mm telephoto zoom lens, which will get you just over 2x closer to a subject. That's notably not the 85mm-125mm continuous zoom of the Xperia 1 IV, or even the 70mm-105mm adaptive telephoto of both Mark 3 phones that can jump to either of those two points.

It does make sense that the feature isn't in the phone - it's likely it takes up a lot of space, and that wouldn't have fit with this small-form mobile - but it's still a shame.

So while there are some software improvements that will upgrade the Sony Xperia 5 IV's camera over the Mark 3 in certain ways, it's not as good for zooming as its predecessor or its big sibling.

Analysis: so... what's the point?

Without the continuous optical zoom camera, the Sony Xperia 5 IV brings startlingly few upgrades over its predecessor.

The screen is a touch brighter, the chipset is a touch more powerful, and there are a few new Sony apps. But these are very minor upgrades in the grand scheme of things.

Bear in mind that the Sony Xperia 5 III has seen a year of price cuts and discounts (well, in some regions - it actually only launched at the beginning of 2022 in places like the US). It's now cheaper to buy, and given that the new version doesn't bring many more upgrades, it's arguably a more tempting buy.

That's a jam the Sony Xperia 1 IV would have been in too, if not for the continuous optical zoom, so while it makes sense that the feature is absent, it's also a shame - and it makes it unlikely that the Sony Xperia 5 IV will make its way onto our list of the best camera phones.

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The Sony Xperia 5 IV is one of this year’s smartphone mysteries, as while we had expected such a phone to exist, it didn’t launch alongside the Sony Xperia 1 IV, and leaks about it have been slim. But the best evidence yet for this phone has now emerged – and suggests that it might land soon.

GSMArena has spotted an FCC (Federal Communications Commission) listing for a phone that appears to be the Sony Xperia 5 IV. The device isn’t mentioned by name, but it’s a Sony smartphone with the sort of dimensions we’d expect.

Specifically, this phone is said to be 155.74 x 67.1mm, which would make it marginally smaller than the 157 x 68mm Sony Xperia 5 III.

The phone listed here also has a screen diagonal of 153.5mm, which should translate to a 6.04-inch display, making the screen marginally smaller than the 6.1-inch screen on its predecessor too.

Broadly though, this sounds like a very similarly proportioned phone. The FCC listing also mentions wireless charging – which isn’t something the Mark 3 model offers, along with NFC, a 3.5mm headphone port, and a USB-C port.

So if this is accurate then the addition of wireless charging might be one of the Sony Xperia 5 IV’s main upgrades, though of course a lot of specs aren’t included here. We’d take all of this with a pinch of salt anyway, but information held by the FCC is usually accurate.

Analysis: an FCC listing suggests an imminent launch

Beyond the included specs, the very existence of an FCC listing suggests that the Sony Xperia 5 IV could launch soon, as these listings tend to emerge quite soon before launch – though the exact timing can vary.

Still, we wouldn’t be surprised if we therefore officially see the Xperia 5 IV within the next month or so, and that timeframe would also make sense, as the Sony Xperia 5 III only went on sale in the UK in September 2021, despite an April announcement. Some other regions got it even later, with the US for example not seeing it until January 2022.

So Sony might well announce the Xperia 5 IV in September and then ship it soon after – at least in some regions. We can’t be certain of that, but if you’ve been looking for one of the best small phones, you might soon have a new option.

The Sony Xperia 1 IV is the most recent major smartphone to grab our attention, and fans of Sony's products or smartphones in general may be wondering whether it's worth picking up or not.

Well, the answer is either yes or no depending on what kind of phone user you are - for certain people, this would be a clear inclusion for our list of the best camera phones, but others might hate its photography experience.

The duality goes right to the core of the phone, with some features, like the great-looking screen or powerful processor, being balanced out by overheating problems and a high price. So this could be quite a divisive handset.

To help you understand whether this is a good phone for you or not, we've recorded a Sony Xperia 1 IV video review, which you can find below.

This video will give you eight minutes of access to the phone, including video and image samples, as well as views of the phone from every angle, and an exploration of all the features it offers.

Oh, and there's a one-sentence review of Morbius in there too.

The Xperia 1 IV brings upgrades to its predecessors like the Sony Xperia 1 III but some might find the photography experience worse than that on the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra or iPhone 13 Pro Max, due to the amounts of technical knowledge you need to take great snaps.

It's certainly a phone that'll appeal to some creative users - the video-recording modes are useful, as is the new music recording app. But the bigger audience might be those who like to watch or listen, as the phone has a 4K display, 3.5mm headphone jack, and access to loads of streaming apps (including Sony's own Bravia Core).

But we're spoiling the video review - watch it yourself to make up your own mind.

The Sony Xperia 1 IV is out now in the UK and Europe, and will be coming soon to the US. It’s another expensive but lavishly equipped flagship phone aimed at photography, cinema and music enthusiasts.

But how does it compare to its immediate predecessor, the Sony Xperia 1 III? From what we can tell at this early stage, they look the same, cost a similar amount of money, and perform most of the same tasks as well as one another, too.

So is the Xperia 1 IV a worthwhile upgrade? Here’s how the two phones stack up.

Sony Xperia 1 IV vs Sony Xperia 1 III price and availability

The Sony Xperia 1 IV arrived in UK and European shops on June 16, and won’t be available in the US until September 1. Americans will receive a model with 512GB of storage, which will cost $1,599, while the UK and Europe will get a 256GB model for £1,299/€1,399. Neither phone is available in Australia.

The Sony Xperia 1 III landed in US and UK shops on August 19 at a price of $1,299.99/£1,199 for the sole 256GB model that was available in those territories. Officially, it continues to retail for that amount over on the Sony website, but you may find it cheaper if you shop around.

These are two expensive phones, then, but the older Xperia 1 III is the cheaper of the two.

Sony Xperia 1 IV vs Sony Xperia 1 III design

Sony hasn’t changed things up at all from a design perspective. The Sony Xperia 1 IV looks extremely similar to the Sony Xperia 1 III that came before it, which was in turn much like the Xperia 1 II.

Viewed outside of the Sony stable, though, and both phones still look fresh. The choice of completely flat, symmetrical surfaces is starting to creep back into fashion courtesy of Apple, but Sony has been rocking that look for years.

The long, thin 21:9 aspect ratio goes against the grain, with extended forehead and chin bezels only accentuating the gaunt look of both devices.

Those bezels enable the selfie cameras to be housed away from the displays, while also playing host to front-firing stereo speakers – both of which support the devices’ cinephile credentials. Note, however, that the Xperia 1 IV’s speakers have been redesigned for more bass output.

In terms of dimensions, both the Sony Xperia 1 IV and the Xperia 1 III measure 165 x 71 x 8.2mm, and the newer phone weighs just a single gram more at 185g. They’re both quite compact as modern flagship phones go.

The rear of both phones have that muted, professional matte look, while those vertical lozenge-shaped camera modules aren’t particularly showy or distinct from one another. An IP65/IP68 rating in each case goes above and beyond any other flagship phone on the market, too.

Both Sony phones are notable for their signature physical camera shutter buttons, as well as for their high quality 3.5mm headphone jacks. Photographers and audiophiles take note.

One slight difference is that the Xperia I IV omits the dedicated Google Assistant button that came with the Xperia 1 III. That always felt superfluous, however, so it’s arguably an improvement.

What we’re trying to say here is that it’s a dead heat on the design front. Both phones look and feel very like one another, but not much like any non-Sony rival.

Sony Xperia 1 IV vs Sony Xperia 1 III display

Both the Xperia 1 IV and the Xperia 1 III come with 6.5-inch AMOLED displays featuring an unusually tall 21:9 aspect ratio. They also pack the same native 3840 x 1644 or 4K resolution, which marks them out from their 2K rivals.

Throw in the shared lack of a selfie notch, and those front-firing stereo speakers, and both of these phones are well in contention as the best option for movie fans. Find a 4K film to stream or download, and you’ll be in cinematic heaven.

Both phones share a 120Hz refresh rate, too. The biggest improvement delivered by the Xperia 1 IV over the Xperia 1 III appears to be peak brightness, which has been boosted by 50% to make it more usable in bright outdoor conditions.

Another atypical decision from Sony was to position the fingerprint sensor under the power button along the right-hand edge of both phones, rather than beneath the display.

Sony Xperia 1 IV vs Sony Xperia 1 III camera

Sony is one of the biggest players in the standalone camera market, and it’s brought an increasing amount of that know-how over to its smartphone business.

In both the Xperia 1 IV and the Xperia 1 III that translates to one of the fastest and most sophisticated autofocus systems available, which can lock onto and track subjects like few other phones can.

In this regard, the Xperia 1 IV goes one better by offering all support for real-time object tracking on all three cameras. The Xperia 1 III only offered it on the main camera.

Both phones share a camera app that provides a similar pro-style manual shooting experience to the company’s Alpha cameras. For those who prefer their photography to be a hands-on process, it’s ideal.

Sony’s triple 12-megapixel camera setup favors fast performance and light-hoovering large pixels over extensive image manipulation techniques such as pixel binning. It’s another classic photography-friendly touch.

Both phones essentially share the same wide and ultra-wide hardware setup, with one or two minor variations. However, the Xperia 1 IV does get an improved 12-megapixel selfie camera compared to the Xperia 1 III’s 8-megapixel equivalent.

But the most exciting addition to the Xperia 1 IV is a new continuous zoom system that moves smoothly between 70mm and 125mm, which equates to a fluid 3.5x to 5.2x zoom range. No other phone can boast the same thing.

Not even the Xperia 1 III, as it happens. What it does have is a single 12-megapixel sensor and an innovative dual-lens system, which can switch between 3X and 4.4X optical zoom. This is actually a larger sensor than the Xperia 1 IV’s (1/2.9in for the III, 1/3.5in for the IV), but it doesn’t have the same zooming reach, and it doesn’t offer any physical transit between those two points.

Sony Xperia 1 IV vs Sony Xperia 1 III performance and specs

The Sony Xperia 1 IV runs on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. While our review is forthcoming, we have plenty of experience with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip already. It’s the fastest Android chip on the market, so we’re not remotely concerned about the Xperia 1 IV’s performance potential.

Last year’s Sony Xperia 1 III, meanwhile, runs on the preceding Snapdragon 888 SoC. Its performance is lesser in every way, albeit not by as much as you might expect.

Benchmark tests with other smartphone lines that have made the same CPU progression point to marginal gains, while in our hands-on experience it’s difficult, if not impossible, to determine the difference.

The Xperia 1 III was very fast. The Xperia 1 IV will also be very fast. Both even come with 12GB of RAM, so there’s no difference there either.

Sony’s UI is fairly stock, with straightforward menus and icons that don’t mess too much with the Android 12 baseline. Sony does provide a fair few custom apps for covering its imaging, cineaste, and audio specialities, but they all have a purpose.

Sony has promised that the Xperia 1 IV will receive two Android upgrades and three years of security patches, and simply by virtue of its age will remain fresher for a year longer than the Xperia 1 III.

Sony Xperia 1 IV vs Sony Xperia 1 III battery

Sony has ramped up its battery capacity to 5000mAh battery. That’s a big improvement over the Xperia 1 III with its relatively puny 4500mAh cell.

That aforementioned predecessor tended to leave us with around 10% or so at the end of a long day, so we’re hopeful that the Xperia 1 IV can outdo it – although, of course, it does have that brighter display.

One element that continues to disappoint with Sony’s phones is their charging provision. Support for 30W just isn’t all that great when rivals are laying on 80W and 120W charging; but that’s precisely as far as both the Xperia 1 III and the Xperia 1 IV extend.

Neither phone comes with a charger in the box, either. We applaud that on environmental grounds, but it would have been nice to have the choice for those who need such a charger – especially for this sort of money.

Both phones support 15W wireless charging, which isn’t anything to write home about. Rivals can go much faster, but generally only if you buy a pricey bespoke wireless charger.

Takeaway

Sony hasn’t issued a bold reinvention with the Xperia I IV, but it arguably didn’t need to. It might look, handle, and perform much like the Xperia 1 III, but both phones stand out in a somewhat samey Android flagship crowd.

Both have super-sharp displays, aggressively blocky (but also quite slender) designs, clean UIs, and camera systems that prioritize fine control over automated tricks.

For all that, the Xperia 1 IV is clearly the better phone. Its processor is faster, its display brighter, its battery larger, and its telephoto camera is way more flexible.

Of course, with the inevitable deals on the Xperia 1 III offering potential discounts of hundreds of pounds, those differences might not seem all that worthwhile.

• Sony Xperia 1 IV vs Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra: an ultra-premium showdown

Two-minute review

It’s hard to know whether to class this Sony Xperia 1 IV review as an analysis of a consumer-grade smartphone or a professional-level creativity tool designed for working artists As the former, it’s almost impossible to recommend, but if you treat it as the latter, it’s hard to put down.

This is an obscenely expensive phone that just can’t compete with rivals like the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra or iPhone 13 Pro Max for ‘average’ phone fans - it has a clunky design and unassuming software, and it doesn’t rely on AI to take vibrant and captivating photos.

But Sony knows that, and it isn’t aiming at the kind of consumers who buy the first handset they see on a store shelf. No, the Xperia 1 series is aimed at professional ‘content creators’ (for lack of a better, not-cringe-inducing term) with a range of bespoke photography, videography and, new to the Mark 4, audio recording features.

This is the fourth-gen version of Sony’s top-end line of Android smartphones (what gave it away?), following on from the Sony Xperia 1 III, and accompanied by a mid-range Xperia 10 IV. These premium devices rarely have huge changes over their predecessors. Sony instead opts to tweak specs and bring useful new features for creatives.

The big new feature here is the continuous optical zoom, with the telephoto lens moving between 3.5x and 5.2x without having to use digital zoom (which is basically just cropping). It’s a really useful mode for photographers who like long-range shots.

Other big upgrades include the rollout of 4K and 120fps video recording on the three rear and one front-facing camera, an audio recording app that lets you layer, clean and mix sound, functions for mobile games streaming and a bigger battery than before.

Sony’s phones are already considered some of the best devices for creatives, and the new additions to the Xperia range ensure that Sony is keeping head-to-head with Samsung and Apple for that crown - though admittedly the Xperia’s camera is designed for more technically-minded users than the Galaxy or iPhone point-and-shoots.

There are also some rough edges that even creative users can’t overlook, which means we can’t give this phone a wholly glowing review - you’ve already seen that 4/5, haven’t you?

The big problem we found was that the side-mounted fingerprint sensor was incredibly inaccurate, and it failed to unlock the phone more times than it succeeded. This has been a consistent problem with Sony’s flagships and it boggles the mind that the company hasn’t fixed it yet.

There were also a few software issues, like video playback not working on some of the key video-recording apps, apps crashing and the inclusion of bloatware that we wouldn’t expect on a pricey device.

Yep, this is an expensive phone - it will even cost you more than some Ultra-suffix devices or foldable phones. Even our ‘price and availability’ section below isn’t for the faint of heart. Sure, you get lots of unique and useful creative features for that price, but given the cost of living crisis around the world, it seems a bit much. How many ‘starving artists’ have $1,600 to spend?

We enjoyed our time testing the Sony Xperia 1 IV, but likely wouldn’t recommend it to the vast majority of our friends, at least the ones who aren’t creatively inclined. But for the minority who’d enjoy the Cinema Pro apps, the continuous camera zoom or the 120fps recording, and could also afford that price tag, we’d wholeheartedly recommend this device.

Sony Xperia 1 IV price and availability

• Costs $1,599 / £1,299 - no Australia release
• Costs more than Samsung and Apple rivals
• Sells June 16 in Europe, September 1 in the US

The Sony Xperia 1 IV price is enough to put off all but the most dedicated buyers.

In the US, the handset costs $1,599.99, and that gets you a device with 512GB storage. In the UK it’ll set you back £1,299.99, which will net you 256GB storage. Sony hasn’t sold its last few generations of phones in Australia, so don’t expect a launch there.

The phone costs more than its predecessor - the Xperia 1 III went for $1,299.99 / £1,199.99, and both regions got a 256GB device. And before you say anything - no, doubled storage space doesn’t justify a $300 price increase.

At that price, the Sony Xperia 1 IV is competing against the very best phones on the market. For context the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra costs $1,299.99 / £1,249 / AU$1,999 for 256GB storage and $1,399.99 / £1,329 / AU$2,149 for 512GB, while the iPhone 14 Pro Max is priced at $1,199 / £1,309 / AU$2,099 for 256GB and $1,399 / £1,529 / AU$2,419 for 512GB. 

So in the US, the Sony is priced higher than similar-storage heavyweights, while in the UK it’s playing at their level.

Sony gave preferential treatment to Europe in its release of the Xperia 1 IV. It launched on June 16 there (including in the UK), while the US was initially promised a September 1 launch that in actuality ended up being September 22, with no real explanation from Sony as to why such a delay took place.

Despite such a long wait, however, this is actually a surprisingly short turnaround between launch and release compared to the company’s tendencies with previous Xperia releases.

• Value score: 2/5

Sony Xperia 1 IV design

• Angular display is uncomfortable to hold
• Retains 3.5mm headphone jack
• Shutter button is useful for photography

Both your eyes and your hand will tell you the same thing about the Sony Xperia 1 IV, that it’s a long, thin, angular smartphone that’s not going to win any design awards - especially the award for “biggest redesign from predecessor”.

Measuring 165 x 71 x 8.2mm, the phone is certainly tall, but it’s narrow enough not to stretch the hand, and it’s fairly light at 185g.

It’s not totally comfortable to hold, since its flat edges make phone quite angular, but at least it’s not as wide as many other smartphones we see.

As with most premium phones, the device is a glass sandwich with the sturdy Gorilla Glass Victus on the front and back, and a metal frame. It has both IP65 and IP68 certification, so it’s well protected against dust and brief submersions in water. You can pick up the device in violet, white or black.

If you like extra ports and buttons on your smartphone, the Xperia 1 IV is for you. Not only does it have a USB-C port, but it’s one of the only premium phones we’ve seen in the last few years with a 3.5mm headphone jack for wired audio and microphones. Plus it has a small volume rocker, a power button with embedded fingerprint scanner, and a small camera shutter button.

We’re huge fans of this camera tool - pressing it while you’re in the camera app takes a picture, but depressing it helps you find focus, just like on a real camera. Plus, pressing it while the phone’s screen is off opens the camera app, letting you take snaps in a hurry.

We can’t give as glowing feedback on the fingerprint scanner though, as it’s incredibly temperamental. It would frequently fail to find our fingerprint, sometimes giving one of a rotating carousel of error messages, and sometimes not saying anything at all. This was despite the fact that we registered our fingerprint several times, increasing the chance of it working.

We’d estimate that the scanner failed more often than it worked, and this is a problem we’ve had in these phones since the original Xperia 1. Since so many mid-range and even budget phones have reliable side-mounted fingerprint scanners, we really can’t fathom why Sony is struggling so much.

• Design score: 3/5

Sony Xperia 1 IV display

• Long, thin 6.5-inch display
• 4K resolution is great for movies
• Brightness increase doesn't quite cut it

For the most part, the Sony Xperia 1 IV has the same display as its Mark 3 predecessor. That means it’s a 6.5-inch OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, 4K resolution and 21:9 aspect ratio, and as always, it looks pretty good.

Most of the time, the Xperia screen doesn’t actually hit 4K - that’s no bad thing, because you don’t need to see your horribly-compressed Instagram pictures at that aspect ratio, and that’d drain the battery fast - but this high resolution kicks in when you play games or watch videos that are higher-res, making for a great viewing experience.

You might ask “6.5 inches? Isn’t that pretty small?” and it’s true that most high-end Android smartphones top that on paper - yet, because of the phone’s thin and long aspect ratio, it doesn’t feel that much smaller.

The main upgrade here over the last-gen Xperia is in the display brightness - Sony says the IV goes 50% brighter than its predecessor. That’s true, and it was easier to see the phone screen in bright outdoor settings than in previous versions of the handset - but we’d argue it still actually wasn’t bright enough. 

On sunny days, we struggled to see the display, compared to other phones we had with us. And we live in the UK, so it’s not like it’s ever blindingly bright outdoors.

• Display score: 4.5/5

Sony Xperia 1 IV cameras

• Continuous 3.5x-5.2x camera zoom is incredible
• 4K 120fps video recording is super useful
• A few software bugs cropped up

The Sony Xperia 1 IV isn’t the best camera phone for average users who want an easy-to-use system to quickly take good-looking snaps of loved ones, pets or food. But for photography aficionados who might otherwise be considering an actual camera, it provides loads of useful features.

Of the phone’s four cameras, two are unchanged from the Xperia 1 III - these are the 12MP f/1.7 24mm main camera and 12MP f/2.2 16mm ultra-wide snappers. Oh, and the Time-of-Flight depth sensor from before is still here too.

The smaller of the two upgrades is the front-facing camera, which is now 12MP f/2.0 24mm, up from 8MP on the predecessor. This improvement allows for 4K video recording, something a 12MP resolution is necessary for.

The huge upgrade here, though, is something no company has done before - continuous optical zoom. In short, it means the telephoto lens has moving components so it can seamlessly move between 3.5x (85mm) and 5.2x (125mm) zoom levels. This is a fantastic feature for people who like zoom photography, as it lets you properly line up your subject without having to rely on digital zoom (or cropping) to close the distance.

Long-range photography is popular for the depth effect that longer focal lengths offer, and this continuous optical lens gives all the benefits of a variable zoom lens on a proper camera, but from the comfort of your pocket device. We used this zoom lens loads in our tests, both for closing the distance with subjects that were far away and for getting in close with smaller subjects like animals or plants. 

So we’re giving two thumbs up to this type of lens - in fact, if we had a gripe, it’s that we’d love to see more. Let’s see zoom go beyond 5.2x, let’s see a sensor with a resolution higher than 12MP (as that does rule out zooming too far beyond 5.2x).

We do have one actual issue with this continuous zoom, but it’s more of a problem with the Photography Pro app. When you bring up the zoom slider, which lets you drag the zoom level from ultra-wide, 1x zoom, optical 3.5x to 5.2x, all the way to the digital zoom limit of 15.6, there’s no special panel just for the telephoto camera’s range - this means you’re stuck seeing the figures on a wider bar, so it’s quite fiddly to find exact levels.

The main and ultra-wide cameras work similarly to how we’ve seen them in previous Sony phones - there isn’t oodles of AI optimization done here as it’s a phone designed for people who are going to edit their pictures themselves. 

In fact, people who aren’t camera aficionados will be a bit lost here. There’s a camera-like shooting mode carousel, which lets you switch between different exposure modes and will be borderline gibberish to people who don’t already own a DSLR. If you just want an easy point-and-shoot camera phone, this isn’t the device for you.

What’s going to be really, really useful for mobile filmmakers is the ability to shoot 4K 120fps footage on any of the four cameras - this means you don’t have to rely on the main snapper if you want slow motion or high-resolution footage.

This mainly worked well, but there are some issues that limit its appeal. First, you can’t record audio when shooting at 120fps, so if you need sound you’ll have to jump down to 30fps or lower. Second, we found the telephoto camera footage sometimes had trouble focusing when we filmed at 4K, even with autofocus enabled - it’s not clear if this is an issue with hardware or software, but it was indeed an issue.

And now we’re on our list of mobile video gripes - there’s one huge one that really limits the phone’s appeal for movie-making, and it relates to video playback. When we shot a video in Cinema Pro (which we’ll detail later on), we couldn’t play it back in the app, despite there being a mini-gallery designed to let you view videos you’ve just shot. 

Even when we went into Google Photos, the default photos app on Android, we weren’t able to play back footage we’d shot - we later discovered this was the same for Video Pro, another video recording app designed by Sony. In fact, we thought the footage was all corrupted, until we realized that once exported (or when viewed in the phone’s files) the videos weren’t, in fact, broken.

This could be a major issue for filmmakers who want to view back what they’ve just shot, whether it’s to check out the performance or see if potential issues were visible on film. It’s likely a software bug, but it persisted between system updates and phone resets.

• Camera score: 4.5/5

Camera samples

Sony Xperia 1 IV performance and specs

• Powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset
• Overheating is a serious issue
• Speakers sound great for movies

The Sony Xperia 1 IV continues the series’ tradition of using the top-end chipset available - that’s Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 in this case. We’ve seen this in loads of smartphones at this point, including the OnePlus 10 Pro, Xiaomi 12 and Samsung Galaxy S22 (in the US, for the S22, though in Europe it used a different chip).

This chip provides loads of processing power, useful for recording high-res videos or playing lots of games. At the time of the Xperia’s release, there isn’t a more powerful chip available in Android phones.

Qualcomm’s top-end chipsets do have one hot issue - literally. They’re quick to overheat when you’re doing something intensive like gaming or recording video, or even charging up. When we tried to use the Cinema Pro app (which we’ll describe in more detail later) for 4K video recording, we’d frequently have to wait for the phone to cool down to keep using it.

Overheating can have an effect on performance, and it’s a shame that Qualcomm hasn’t looked into it, as there’s a noticeable power drop when the phone heats up. In fact, we had some app crashes when the phone got too hot, a problem most noticeable in the camera app.

When it’s working well, though, the Sony Xperia 1 IV is nice and powerful for gaming, especially thanks to the 21:9 display which gives you more space to see action.

The built-in speakers are good too, and are probably the best ones we’ve seen in a smartphone that aren’t tuned by a third-party audio company. Movies sound good when played out loud, though obviously using headphones gives a better experience.

• Performance score: 4/5

Sony Xperia 1 IV software

• Runs Android 12 but will likely be upgradeable
• Stock Android has a clean design
• Most pre-installed apps are useful - but not all

Sony uses a similar software approach to Motorola: it takes stock Android, as designed by Google, and adds a few extra tools. In the Xperia 1 IV, that’s Android 12 you’re getting, though without the update’s signature Material You customization tool.

Stock Android works well here, as its clean look complements the spacious screen. Well, it’s mostly clean, though there are a fair few pre-installed apps on the phone. However, unlike on your standard cheap Chinese phone, these aren’t third-party additions but mostly super-useful Sony tools.

These include Photo Pro (a top-end equivalent of the ‘standard’ Photo app), Video Pro (the same, but for video recording), Cinema Pro (for recording video similar to on a Sony Alpha camera), Music Pro (for recording, mixing and layering voice and music on the phone, though it only works with the in-built microphone), Bravia Core (a streaming service for Sony devices, which includes five streams of new movies and unlimited streaming for select older ones) and Headphones (Sony’s app which controls its Bluetooth headphones).

Some of these are incredibly useful for creative types. Photo Pro feels like a Sony camera with its depth of features, even down to the mode carousel that lets you choose between modes like Programme auto, Manual exposure and the standard Basic mode. Cinema Pro gives you a huge amount of control over cinematic video to let you shoot movies on your phone.

There are lots of built-in tools for capturing content, but Music Pro is one of the rare ones that actually let you edit what you capture. We’re hoping future Sony phones introduce ways to mix or edit photo and video.

We liked Bravia Core - it let us catch up on all the Sony movies we’d missed in the past few months (finally giving us a chance to see Uncharted!). But with no download function, and the phone having to stream 4K video to play, we found it kept buffering through each film.

There are select third-party apps built in, and they mostly fit within the phone’s remit of an entertainment device - there’s Tidal, Prime Video and Netflix, for example, with Booking.com, Amazon Shopping and LinkedIn being the three disappointing outliers that shouldn’t be on the device.

Thanks to its tall display, the Sony is really useful for multitasking, as there’s enough space to put two apps side-by-side, and the refresh rate also makes navigating the phone’s menus feel smooth.

• Software score: 4/5

Sony Xperia 1 IV battery life

• Big 5,000mAh battery
• Admirable longevity even with intensive tasks
• Slow to charge at only 30W

A welcome upgrade the Mark 4 Xperia gets from its Mark 3 predecessor is in the battery capacity, with a 500mAh bump taking the power pack to 5,000mAh. We actually complimented the Xperia 1 III’s battery life in our review, but bigger is always better.

Despite having a fairly large 4K screen, constant 5G connectivity and lots of background apps running all the time, we were consistently impressed by the Xperia’s battery life. It reliably saw us through a whole day of standard use, whether that meant a quick check of social media now and then, regular texting, Google Maps use and music streaming.

That wasn’t the case when we used the Xperia for some of its Pro features, as you’d expect - we couldn’t spend hours recording 4K video and expect it to last through the day. But even through intensive periods it continuously impressed us.

Charging speed is a little less impressive though. Sony decided to stick with the same 30W wired charging that it used in previous flagships, and given that some phones in 2022 go all the way up to 150W, that’s just far too slow. Sony states this speed is to stop the battery health deteriorating as quickly, and that’s a fair reason, until you consider that some fast-charging phones have methods to stop the super speeds from ruining the battery.

There’s also wireless charging here, though it’s even slower than wired, as well as reverse wireless powering so you can juice up other wireless-powering gadgets using the phone as a power mat.

• Battery score: 4/5

Sony Xperia 1 IV review scorecard

Should I buy the Sony Xperia 1 IV?

Buy it if...

Don’t buy it if…

Also consider

Now you've read this Sony Xperia 1 IV review, here are some other phones which might also interest you.

• First reviewed June 2022

If you’ve been eyeing up the Sony Xperia 1 IV then today (June 16) is the day you’ve been waiting for, as the phone has finally shipped. Or at least, it has for buyers in the UK and Europe – those in the US will have to wait until September 1, while Australian Sony fans aren’t getting it at all.

That means if you’ve pre-ordered the phone in the UK then it will hopefully be turning up on your doorstep today. Maybe it’s already there. Maybe you’re even reading this article on it. If you haven’t pre-ordered, then you can just wander into a shop and get it – assuming they have stock.

Just be aware that the Sony Xperia 1 IV is a very, very expensive phone, coming in at £1,299.99 in the UK and $1,599.99 in the US. Those are for different storage capacities – 256GB in the UK and 512GB in the US – but these are the only versions landing in each region.

In any case, that’s more than the Sony Xperia 1 III cost at launch, more than the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra or iPhone 13 Pro Max costs, and more than just about any other phone that doesn’t fold costs.

For certain users though – primarily creative professionals - the Sony Xperia 1 IV could really justify its price tag, as it offers features such as a continuous optical zoom on its camera, tools for game streamers, a pro-focused video recording mode, audio recording tools, and more. It goes above and beyond on these fronts, but these are arguably also niche features.

The rest of the Sony Xperia 1 IV is a fairly standard – if impressive-sounding – flagship, complete with a top-end Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset, 12GB of RAM, a 6.5-inch 1644 x 3840 OLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, a 5,000mAh battery with 30W charging, and a quad-lens camera.

That camera consists of a 12MP primary sensor, a 12MP ultrawide one, a 12MP telephoto one that can shift between 3.5x and 5.2x optical zoom (and every stage in-between), and a depth sensor.

Analysis: a standout phone that’s not for everyone

While the top Samsung handsets and iPhones could arguably appeal to just about anyone and everyone, the Sony Xperia 1 IV seems to have narrowed its sights towards the creatively inclined, and particularly photographers, videographers, streamers, musicians, and podcasters.

While the phone as a whole looks accomplished enough to be good for anyone, it’s those areas where it looks to stand out and excel, and those areas where it aims to justify the high price.

If you’re not interested in those things then you can get a handset that largely matches the Sony Xperia 1 IV in terms of specs for less money, and from a bigger name. So be sure you know what you’re buying before you shell out on this – and maybe wait for our full review.

• This could be one of the best smartphones

We’d thought there might not be a Sony Xperia 5 IV, given that the phone wasn’t announced alongside the Sony Xperia 1 IV, but a new leak suggests Sony’s compact flagship line will continue after all.

Sumahodigest has spotted a post on Weibo (a Chinese social network) which contains a partial specs list for the Sony Xperia 5 IV. The presence of such a specs list suggests the phone is still in the works, and the content of the list is promising.

Apparently the Xperia 5 IV has the same cameras as the Sony Xperia 1 IV, meaning a 12MP wide snapper, a 12MP ultrawide one and – perhaps most excitingly – a 12MP telephoto one, which can seamlessly move between 85mm and 125mm optical zoom ranges. That equates to between 3.5x and 5.2x zoom relative to the focal length of the main lens.

On top of that, the Sony Xperia 5 IV is also said to come in both 8GB and 12GB RAM configurations – with the latter being 4GB more than you can get in the Sony Xperia 5 III, and a match for the Xperia 1 IV.

The battery could match the Xperia 1 IV too at 5,000mAh, and it apparently supports wireless charging, which the previous model doesn’t.

A Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset is also listed, as is a 6.1-inch screen, and a choice of 128GB or 256GB of storage. Interestingly, Android 13 is mentioned as well, but that has a question mark next to it, so presumably the source isn’t sure of that.

We’d take all of this with a helping of salt, especially as the source hasn’t leaked anything in the past, so they don’t have a track record yet. Another red flag is that this post has seemingly been deleted – however they’ve made another post saying that the Sony Xperia 5 IV does exist, but that another Sony phone will probably be released before it.

Analysis: a long wait for an intriguing smartphone

Assuming this source is right in saying that another Sony phone will land before the Xperia 5 IV, that could mean the Xperia 5 IV is quite a long way off from being launched.

The mention of it possibly running Android 13 is another sign of that, as this software isn’t expected to be available before October. Similarly, in the specs list they mentioned that the Xperia 5 IV is “close to the start of production”.

All of which suggests we’ll be waiting quite a few months for it. In fact, given that the Sony Xperia 5 III didn’t hit US stores until January of this year, we might even be waiting until early 2023. But that’s just speculation.

The Sony Xperia 5 IV could be worth the wait though, as it sounds like its specs list is very similar to that of the Xperia 1 IV, yet if past form is anything to go by it will almost certainly cost a fair bit less, which is important, as the Xperia 1 IV is prohibitively expensive.

If Sony also manages to pack in a lot of the same creative tools here as it has on its top-end flagship, then the Xperia 5 IV could be its most exciting phone in a while.

• Why is there no Sony Xperia 5 IV? Here are 3 possible reasons

Via NotebookCheck

During my recent briefing from Sony on the company's upcoming Sony Xperia 1 IV flagship phone, I found myself getting increasingly excited by each new creative feature that was being announced. A studio-quality audio recording app? Continuous optical zoom? Video recording at 4K and 120Hz with HDR? Count me in!

I haven't used a phone from the company since the original Sony Xperia 1, and I used that to shoot a short film, so I'm understandably excited to test this new handset out (I should point out that at the time of writing this article I've yet to do so).

But while all the cool new video, photo and audio features in the Sony Xperia 1 IV excite me, I'm still not sure that I'll be able to recommend this device to anybody – and that speaks to the big problem with Sony phones.

A niche device

The Sony Xperia 1 IV is a niche device, designed for people with a passion for creating or consuming art and entertainment; I don't think any Xperia fans, or the company itself, would disagree with that characterization.

In particular it's a potent tool for creatives, with its Pro video and photo apps, and given the fact that you can use it as a second monitor for Sony Alpha cameras, or can strap a Vlogging monitor to it.

However TechRadar is not a specialist website by any means – our reviews are written for a wide audience, and for readers with diverse levels of tech knowledge or creative interest. There are websites aimed at artistic types, but that's not really us.

The majority of people who use our smartphone coverage to inform their buying choices probably aren't looking for complicated and niche devices (though if you're reading this you're probably interested in the new Sony, so perhaps you're the exception to the rule).

And for general smartphone buyers, the Sony Xperia 1 IV is hard to recommend, and I can't quite love it as much as I want.

Not a hugely new phone

The Sony Xperia 1 IV is not a hugely interesting or innovative phone – not, at least, compared to the Sony Xperia 1 III – and I'm sure that part of my excitement for the new phone is down to the fact that I haven't tested an Xperia in a few years.

The 'new' features of the device include extra functions for people who stream mobile games, improved long-distance zoom, a slightly better selfie camera and burst photography.

Most of those aren't going to be useful to the majority of consumers, and will only really appeal to select users. Sure, there are a few more general improvements, like a brighter screen and more powerful processor, but those upgrades won't exactly set the world on fire.

So if you're a photographer, videographer or streamer, this new phone will be great for you; but as we've established, TechRadar has many more readers than fit into those niche categories.

And for general buyers, the upgrades aren't really enough to justify the new Xperia over one of its predecessors – especially because those older models have had a year and more to drop in price.

And Sony Xperia phones have never exactly been cheap to begin with. The Sony Xperia 1 IV is even pricier than the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, costing $1,599 / £1,299 (roughly AU$2,300), despite its cameras not offering the same variety of hardware, or the same easy-to-use software-wise; oh, and the Samsung has a more premium design, and comes with a stylus.

So while I'm personally very excited for the Sony Xperia 1 IV, I can't really tell you that you should be too. If your work or hobby positions you as a 'creative' it might be a great option for you, but for general buyers looking for a new flagship phone, it's almost certainly one to avoid.

As someone who loves making films, but also needs to pay the rent, I can't love the Sony Xperia 1 IV as much as I'd like to.

• iPhone 14 could learn a thing from this new Android phone, especially for its 8K

Given that the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra currently sits as the number 1 entry on our list of the best smartphones, you'd expect it to be the priciest handset too, but the new Sony Xperia 1 IV makes it look relatively affordable.

This is the fourth-gen member of Sony's flagship line, and the Xperia 1 family is always expensive, but this is the most pricey member yet. It costs $1,599 / £1,299 (roughly AU$2,300), which is an increase of $300 / £100 over the Xperia 1 III.

But then remember that the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra starts at just $1,199.99 / £1,149 / $1,849 - so for the most basic version of both, the Samsung is far cheaper.

Things get a little muddy when you consider the annoying fact that the Xperia in the US comes with 512GB of storage, while it only has 256GB in the UK - neither region has options to change that. They do come with expandable memory if you buy microSD cards though.

You can buy the Samsung with 512GB for $1,399 though, and in the UK for 256GB it's £1,249, so the Xperia is still more expensive in each country, but it means comparisons have to be a little more nuanced.

What are you getting for the money?

Well, the Sony Xperia 1 IV has some interesting hardware features, including the first continuous optical zoom in a smartphone, so for zoom photographers it likely justifies its price tag. It also supports 4K 120fps HDR video recording on all of its rear cameras, has pro-level video and audio recording apps, offers a burst photography mode for action footage, and has Sony's eye autofocus mode.

This all makes it really useful for professional photographers... but for average phone users, that might all be too much. If that's you, the Galaxy is preferable.

The Ultra's useful modes are fantastic for people who want to utilize AI and software tricks to take the best snap. The best example of this is Single Take, a mode that lets you record a video of a subject, and lets an algorithm pick the best stills from it and edit them to create dramatic shots.

There's also Food mode which lets you choose an area of the picture to be in focus, then adds a healthy serving of artificial bokeh to the rest, and finishes it off with a garnish of heavily saturated editing.

In a way, the Samsung and Sony phones are two sides of the same coin, aimed at prolific picture takers at different skill levels. But they both have premium smarts in other ways.

The Samsung has a more premium design, with a curved-edge screen, solid build and an S Pen stylus that you can use to sketch, draw or take notes. While the Sony has a high-res 4K screen, a long, thin body and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

They both have the same chipset, the same battery size, similar charging speeds and software that isn't too far apart either - they both run Android, after all.

So your choice between these phones mainly comes down to your photography skill level - but the fact that the Xperia is a little pricier may make the Galaxy more tempting for some.

• Why is there no Sony Xperia 5 IV? Here are 3 possible reasons

The Sony Xperia 1 IV has debuted, and it's the fourth-gen version of Sony's top-end smartphone, but it's missing something that the previous three generations of Xperia device had.

That's because, despite coming with a budget alternative in the Sony Xperia 10 IV, there's no middle option - the Xperia 5 III hasn't seen a follow-up this year.

That's a curious omission, as the Xperia 5 line typically brought lots of the respective Xperia 1's specs to a slightly smaller phone with a price that was a touch lower. But there's no such handset this year - why? 

Sony didn't provide TechRadar with a reason when asked, so we've had to take matters into our own hands. We've thought of three possible reasons - you can decide which you think is most likely.

Reason 1: the Xperia 5 was a weird middle child

Perhaps it's the fault of the Xperia 1 IV and 10 IV that they don't have a middle entry.

The Xperia 5 family has always been an awkward middle child. It brings lots of the features of the top-end mobile to a smaller, cheaper device than the flagship, but it's never been particularly small or cheap. For a device like that, you just have to pick the Xperia 10.

It's hard to find sales figures for the Xperia series, let alone for the individual entries, but the lack of an Xperia 5 IV speaks for itself, doesn't it?

Perhaps Sony recognized that people were buying the Xperia 1 and 10 mobiles much more than the middle entry, and decided to focus on those two models.

Reason 2: the Xperia 5 III was too recent

Perhaps it's the fault of the recent Sony Xperia 5 III.

"Wait," we hear you say, "recent? Wasn't this phone launched in April 2021, over a year ago?" well, it was - but it wasn't released then. No, it went on sale much later, and in the US it actually only hit store shelves in January 2022.

If you're a big Sony fan, it's possible that you've just bought the Sony Xperia 5 III - so would you pick up another just a few months later? Especially if it only brings certain spec tweaks and a select few new features? Probably not - it wouldn't be worth the cash.

It's possible that Sony has recognized this potential conflict and decided to hold on the Xperia 5 IV this time around.

Reason 3: maybe there still is

Perhaps it's our fault, and we're jumping the gun: maybe the Xperia 5 IV wasn't canceled at all. 

If you can remember the foggy past of 2019, you'll remember that the gen-one Sony Xperia 5 launched about six months after the original Xperia 1.

Maybe, because of the above point, Sony has decided to postpone its middle child until later in the year, to give its phones their own space in the spotlight, and to ensure there's little competition between its third- and fourth-gen Xperia 5 devices.

• These are the best Sony phones

Today is the day: the Sony Xperia 1 IV launched at a live-streamed launch event, and it gave us a ook at Sony's fourth-gen Android phone juggernaut, ahead of its imminent release (well, in the UK, though in the US you're waiting until September).

This is a big day for Xperia fans, as well as photographers, videographers and gamers, as the new phone - as well as its Xperia 10 IV sibling - is designed for people who love to make or enjoy different types of media.

The launch event kicked off at 3am ET / 8am BST / 5pm ACT - that was actually midnight on the US West Coast, so while there were a few night owls from the States watching this live stream, the event was mainly focused on European and Asian markets.

The star of the show was the aforementioned Sony Xperia 1 IV, which you can read all about here, though it's not a huge change from the Xperia 1 III (and is a lot pricier).

You can find a guide on how to watch the Sony Xperia 1 IV live stream by clicking here, but for all the key beats, you can catch up using our live blog below.

And if you’re a fan of tech, you should know that Google IO takes place later today too, kicking off 10 hours after the Sony event.

Why did Sony choose to host the Xperia 1 IV launch so early!? Right now it’s 6am where I am, which is just too early to think straight.

Thankfully I made notes yesterday about what to focus each of these posts on, so I’m not having to totally make stuff up off the top of my head.

So what do we expect from the Sony Xperia 1 IV launch? Well, the main thing we’re expecting is… the Xperia 1 IV.

This is the company’s top-end phone that’ll likely cost over $1,000 / £1,000 / equivalent. It’ll likely have a mid-sized 4K screen, three rear cameras, a top-end chipset and a side-mounted fingerprint scanner.

These phones generally don’t have huge upgrades each time, but slight tweaks.

We’re particularly fond of the modes for photography and videography - Sony takes lots of the tech from its Alpha cameras and adds them here, and also lets you plug in the phone to one of those cameras as a secondary monitor.

Sony’s previous phones haven’t often had giant spec increases between them - I first tested the Xperia 1 and it doesn’t feel that different to the Xperia 1 III.

So don’t expect the Xperia 1 IV to feature any wild improvements. We won’t see three 108MP rear cameras or an 8K display or a stylus or anything like that, probably at least.

Instead, expect a few tweaks and upgrades. Perhaps we’ll see some changes to the way the camera app, or a few minor upgrades in the display and processor areas.

We probably won’t see the Xperia 1 IV on its own though, as its predecessors have come with siblings: the Xperia 5 and Xperia 10.

The Xperia 5 IV would be similar to the 1 IV, with many of the same specs, but with a smaller screen and a slightly lower price.

Then the Xperia 10 IV would be a budget version of it, with a much lower price and reduced specs too. While the Xperia 1 series is designed for content creators, the 10 phones are for people who just want to enjoy streaming that content.

Like the Xperia 1 alternatives, the Xperia 5 and 10 phones don’t usually bring big feature jumps between generations, but hopefully what’s new with the Xperia 1 IV, will also be passed down to these handsets, at least to a certain degree. 

So could anything else arrive?

Well, we've been hearing some rumors about the Sony WH-1000XM5 recently - these would be the newest entries in the brand's top-end range of cans. So maybe they'll show up too, though Sony generally keeps its mobile division separate to its other ones (with the notable exception of its camera range).

I'd love to see a Sony Xperia Ace phone.

These are compact mobiles that Sony only sells in Japan, and they're generally mid-range or budget devices. But given the drought of good small phones selling in other phone markets, I'd like to see one come west.

There are only 20 minutes to go until the event kicks off - it's probably time to make a quick breakfast and coffee!

Does someone mind contacting Sony HQ and asking them to postpone the launch by about 15 minutes? My breakfast grilled cheese is taking ages to cook...

Sony has basically confirmed what phone is coming, saying 'the next ONE is coming' in the live stream's chat.

By the way, if you missed it, here's how to watch the launch event.

The YouTube premiere has kicked off... to turn into a two-minute timer.

Now it's started properly.

Sony is talking about a movie or TV show that was shot using the Sony Xperia 1 Pro, we missed the name but lots of people are dressed like cowboys?

Oh, and apparently the brand is looking to use zero packaging by 2050, and the upcoming Xperia phone launched soon will have '50% less packaging than before'.

Sony is making a song and dance about how its phones are designed for creatives, both in the imaging and audio spaces.

And here it is, the Sony Xperia 1 IV. Looks... familiar.

Sony is jumping straight into the testimonials with creators who use the Xperia 1 IV... without telling us what's new with the thing?

We've heard about the cameras - also, apparently each supports 4K 120fps video recording.

They've also mentioned that this third lens supports continuous optical zoom - we're expecting moving parts in the phone then to support this.

We're seeing lots of examples of burst shot, so you press the button once and it takes loads of snaps - this should be useful for action shots, or portraits of annoying twitchy people.

Crickey they're speeding through the other camera features.

Most of them are familiar to Xperia fans - you can plug in the phone to an Alpha camera and use it as an external monitor.

Apparently the front-facing camera is new though, with a bigger sensor for better low-light performance.

Apparently there's a new mode here for audio recording, and we heard a sample of a singer using it to capture her voice for a song.

Sony has said it was designed alongside Sony Music's engineers to get it just right.

Good news, wired headphone fans: the 3.5mm headphone jack is still here.

Now we're hearing about how you can live stream your mobile games straight from the phone's built-in game enhancer app, and see or hide comments, send video straight to streaming apps and remap your controls.

Oh, interesting - Sony is apparently making gaming peripherals for the Xperia 1 IV that will launch later in the year.

We've also just heard that the phone will use the top-end Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset, something we really could have predicted.

As with every time a phone brand announces that they're using this chip, we're hearing some from Qualcomm describe why this is a good component.

There's a 5,000mAh battery too, though the charging speed wasn't mentioned. And Sony has mentioned that it's got 5G, but we kinda expected that too given the last few were.

We've also seen the Sony Xperia 10 IV, the lightest 5G phone ever apparently, despite its 5,000mAh battery.

This is nice and small with a 6-inch screen, which has the Xperia 1's 21:9 aspect ratio but not its (presumably) 4K display.

It comes in mint, lavender, white and black, and honestly we prefer these options to the Xperia 1 IV's.

Okay, the event is over. That was quick, which was nice - no use wasting time.

Unfortunately it was quick because Sony was quite light on actual details about its new phones. Let's take a look at what we didn't hear about:

• Display
• Camera sensors
• Charging speed
• Software

And why? Well, we'd imagine nothing's changed here from the Xperia 1 III. So, our prediction is:

• Display: 6.5-inch 4K
• Camera sensors: 12MP + 12MP + 12MP + depth
• Charging speed: 30W
• Software: stock Android

Now that the event's over, we're going to take a really quick break, and will then come back to you with some thoughts and analysis on the phone.

(Oh, and if you're in the US, it's somewhere between half midnight and half 3am for you - the event has wrapped, get some sleep! This live blog will still be around in the morning).

Perhaps one of the most surprising things from the event isn't what Sony announced, but what it didn't: where's the Xperia 5 IV?

The Xperia 5 series was the only one of Sony's global phones that didn't get a successor today, and we've got two options of why.

Firstly, it's possible that Sony simply isn't planning to do a Mark-4 version of its middle phone, and there are loads of reasons why, including the ongoing component shortage or possibly just a lack of buyer interest.

Secondly, maybe Sony has just delayed the Xperia 5 IV - remember that the original Xperia 5 came about six months after the first Xperia 1, and the Mark-3 version of the middle phone only went on sale in some countries a few short months ago. So perhaps Sony is looking to stagger these devices like in 2019.

We got a hint at a Sony Car too, by the way, though it was basically just this image.

We didn't mention prices... but they have been provided.

We're going to give you a few minutes to guess, before we share the answer. But they're... really something.

Now it's time for your answer:

The Sony Xperia 1 IV will cost $1,599 / £1,299 (Sony doesn't sell these phones in Australia). The Sony Xperia 10 IV will cost £429 in the UK but we don't have a US price just yet.

That's an expensive phone (for the 1, of course).

For some context the Sony Xperia 1 III (pictured above) cost $1,299 / £1,199, which was still expensive then. So the new phone is $300 or £100 more expensive than its predecessor, and we're not sure how justified this price jump is.

By the way, if you want to see everything about the new Sony phone, we've written up a hub on everything you need to know.

The continuous optical zoom is quite an exciting feature.

For casual phone users, it sounds like ultra-wide cameras are super popular, which is why budget and mid-range handsets keep using them despite eschewing zoom lenses. But for photographers, there's nothing quite like a telephoto or periscope lens to close the distance.

This lets you reframe a shot to make it as artistic as possible, or close the distance when you wouldn't normally be able to (like taking a picture of a distant landmark, or of an animal that'd run away).

Usually, phones zoom using digital zoom, which basically just crops an image and makes it bigger, which quickly results in pixellated or noisy images. Optical zoom removes this as an issue, since you're naturally zooming in at that distance.

As someone who doesn't really watch games streams, I don't know how many people watch mobile game livestreamers, but presumably there was enough interest to get Sony to make the feature in the first place.

That said, given that the only two really competitive mobile games are PUBG Mobile and Call of Duty Mobile (in the west at least; there are loads more in other regions), we'll probably see these audiences benefit most.

We've written up a longer look into why there might not be a Sony Xperia 5 IV that you can read by clicking here.

We've got three key theories: two look into reasons that Sony could have cancelled the device, and the other explores the possibility that it actually hasn't.

Of the Sony Xperia phones I've tested, I think the Xperia 5 members are my favorite. They're easier to hold in your hand, cost a little less and, from my experience at least, are just as great for performance and photography. 

Sure, they don't have 4K displays, but I don't really care about viewing 4K, so that doesn't matter. And the displays are a little smaller, but that fact can easily be offset by simply holding the phone closer to my face.

So I hope that the Sony Xperia 5 IV has been delayed, not cancelled, but only time will tell.

Today is a bit of a bonkers day for phone launches. Not only is Sony happening today, but Google IO 2022 takes place later.

We'll likely see Android 13 debuted here, and there's a chance the Pixel 6a and Pixel Watch will show up too, though we're not too sure about that.

You can follow along with our Google IO live blog, which we've already kicked off, for all the details.

We have yet to test out the new Sony phones - I really wish we could bring you some first impressions straight away, but we'll have to wait for those.

Personally, I'm really keen to test the Xperia 1 IV - camera phones are always great fun to test, when you can take them on day trips and capture fantastic shots. Hopefully our test units arrive when the weather is nice...

We've published a little analysis piece on the Sony Xperia 1 IV's price, comparing it to the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (as that's currently our top-rated smartphone).

While writing the article, we had a change of heart - we initially wanted to point out how Sony wasn't really being competitive with the sizeable price increase that the Xperia presents, but we came to realize that it's really not the end of the world.

That's because Sony and Samsung are aiming at different audiences. Sony is making devices for people who want professional-grade videography and photography, with features taken over from the Alpha series like its eye autofocus.

Samsung isn't doing that - it's targeting people who aren't professional photographers, or just want to take fantastic shots with modes like Single Take and Food helping them to take the greatest pictures possible. 

It doesn't seem that the Sony Xperia 10 IV is going on sale in US - we can't see it listed for Sony's US store, despite the fact the 1 IV is, and both are up for pre-order already in the UK. Presumably that means the mid-range handset won't be making its way to the States.

We're going to wrap this Sony Xperia 1 IV live blog up soon - partly because we want more time to think about the phone to work on more analysis pieces, and partly because Google IO is getting closer and closer and we need to prepare for that.

Thanks for staying tuned for the whole time (if you did) or for popping in and out, and stay tuned to TechRadar because we'll hopefully be able to test out the two new Xperia phones and review them very soon.

Update: we've kicked off our Sony Xperia 1 IV launch live blog which you can see here.

Sony’s 2022 flagship phone is almost here, as the company is holding an event on May 11 and it’s heavily teased that we’ll see the Sony Xperia 1 IV there.

The event kicks off at 3am ET / 12am PT / 8am BST / 5pm AEST, so if you’re in the US you’ll have to stay up late to tune in – or get up exceedingly early.

TechRadar will be covering the launch in full, and while we’re almost certain we’ll see the Sony Xperia 1 IV make an appearance, it’s possible other things will be in attendance too, such as the Sony Xperia 5 IV and the Sony Xperia 10 IV. So if you’re a Sony fan it’s going to be well worth watching – or reading all about it here on TechRadar.

We’ll be running a Sony Xperia 1 IV launch live blog if you want to follow along, and you can check our site during and after the launch for all the news and analysis, but if you want to tune in to the actual live stream, we’ve got you covered there too.

How to watch the Sony Xperia 1 IV launch live stream

Sony will be streaming the whole May 11 event on YouTube, and the page for that is already live, so you can head there to watch, or just use the video embedded above.

If you’ve arrived early, you might also want to hit the reminder button on the video, so you don’t miss the start.

Sony may also host the livestream elsewhere, but there are no other ways to access it at the time of writing.

• Check out all the current best Sony phones

We’re less than a week away from the May 11 unveiling of the Sony Xperia 1 IV, so it’s no surprise that Sony is ramping up its teasers for the phone, and that includes three short videos that hint at major features.

First up there’s a video claiming that the Sony Xperia 1 IV has been built for content creators, with Pierre T. Lambert (a travel and adventure photographer and YouTuber) claiming that the Xperia 1 IV “feels as if you had a big optical lens in your hand with a great camera.”

They go on to say that it adds range, both in terms of focal length and creative possibilities. So aside from anything else that hints at a telephoto camera, and perhaps longer-range optical zoom than the 4.4x offered by the Sony Xperia 1 III.

Next up, there’s a teaser highlighting the Sony Xperia 1 IV’s music creation skills, with Ippei Haino (a Sony Music Labs A&R producer) proposing that what you record just as a memo could end up being professional quality or studio quality.

It’s not clear exactly what’s meant here, but perhaps the Sony Xperia 1 IV has high-quality microphones built in, or pro-grade audio editing tools.

Finally, there’s a video advertising the phone at gamers, with Xifan Wu (a professional PUBG Mobile player) saying that they can livestream as they play “sharing every move, without anything else.” That likely means there’s built-in streaming software.

We wouldn’t be surprised if more videos land before launch too, but either way we should learn everything there is to know about the Sony Xperia 1 IV soon.

Analysis: a real pro

The Sony Xperia 1 IV isn’t expected to have Pro in the name (though technically the name hasn’t been revealed yet, so it could), but based on these teasers it’s shaping up to be more of a ‘pro’ handset than the likes of the iPhone 13 Pro or the OnePlus 10 Pro.

It so far seems like Sony is aiming the Xperia 1 IV at creators and streamers more than casual users, given that content creation, music production and game streaming have been highlighted.

Of course, that doesn’t mean there won’t be stuff for more casual users as well, but this is expected to be a very expensive phone, so giving it genuinely pro-grade credentials could make sense, and could help it stand out from the crowd.

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We've got more as-yet-unverified information to share about the upcoming Sony Xperia 1 IV flagship smartphone, courtesy of the rumor mill: the handset will apparently come with a selfie camera upgrade, but won't have a charging adapter included in the box.

That latter development (via Notebookcheck) will come as no real surprise, as most phone manufacturers are doing the same. Now that many of us already have chargers we can use, it makes environmental and economic sense not to keep packing new ones in with every single smartphone sold.

It's likely there will still be an official Sony Xperia 1 IV charger to buy direct from Sony if you absolutely must have another charging brick in your home. The handset may well come with a USB cable as well, so could recharge it from another device like a laptop.

Think of your selfie

As for the other piece of leaked information (also via Notebookcheck), the Xperia 1 IV is rumored to be getting a selfie camera upgrade, with the upcoming smartphone in line to offer a 12MP snapper on the front of the phone, embedded into the display.

You may remember that the Sony Xperia 1 III sports an 8MP selfie camera: while megapixel counts aren't everything, this does suggest that the selfie camera on Sony's next phone will be significantly better than the one on its predecessors. We're previously heard that the phone's rear cameras will be upgraded too.

When it comes to the question of a launch date, a teaser video posted by Sony a couple of days ago points to Wednesday May 11 being the big day. Coincidentally that's also the day that the Google IO 2022 developer conference is scheduled to get underway.

Analysis: don't forget the selfie camera

When it comes to lists of smartphone specifications, the quality of the selfie camera isn't something that many of us check first. We're more likely to look at the internal processor (showing the phone's speed), or the cameras that make up the rear camera module, before glancing at the selfie camera spec.

Considering how many selfies get snapped every hour of every day though, that's quite strange. They're the go to photo choice for capturing what's happening during the day, whether it's drinks with friends or a funny moment with the pet.

Photos taken with the selfie camera require good-quality lighting and focus just as much as those taken with the rear camera, even though the specs are usually significantly inferior. That's partly due to the limitations of the form factor of course.

Hopefully the Sony Xperia 1 IV will come with a formidable selfie camera – Sony can be relied upon when it comes to its camera lenses. When picking your next phone though, it's perhaps worth making a note of how good or otherwise the selfie camera is.

• Here's everything we know about the Sony Xperia 1 IV so far

We thought the Sony Xperia 1 IV would probably land soon and now we know it will, as Sony has virtually confirmed that we’ll see the phone on May 11.

The company has uploaded a teaser video not so subtly titled ‘Are You Ready For The Next ONE?’ in which it went through the history of the Xperia 1 range, then finished by saying that the ‘next One is coming’ on May 11.

The teaser additionally briefly shows an image which might be of the new phone, however it looks a lot like the older models too, with bezels above and below the screen, so we can’t be sure. It is in line with unofficial renders that we’ve seen though.

There’s nothing much else in the video, but the announcement kicks off at 3am PT / 6am ET / 11am BST / 8pm AEDT on that date.

It’s worth noting that we might also see the Sony Xperia 5 IV or the Sony Xperia 10 IV at this event, but they haven’t been teased here, so don’t count on it.

Analysis: what to expect from the Sony Xperia 1 IV

The teaser video above gives basically nothing away about the Sony Xperia 1 IV, other than possibly the design, but we already have an idea of what to expect.

According to leaks, the Sony Xperia 1 IV has a 6.5-inch screen, a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset, up to 16GB of RAM, up to 512GB of storage, and a 5,000mAh battery with 45W charging.

It might also have the same 50MP main camera as the Google Pixel 6, along with improvements to the telephoto camera.

However, it might also cost an awful lot, with a rumored starting price of 8,999 yuan (roughly $1,415 / £1,085 / AU$1,895), which would make it even more expensive than the $1,199.99 / £1,149 / AU$1,849 Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra.

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We've got a better idea of what we can expect from the Sony Xperia 1 IV this year thanks to a handful of new leaks – leaks covering the pricing of the handset, the charging speed it might offer, and a potential name change as well.

As gathered together at Notebookcheck.net, the list of rumors actually starts with a tip from Caybule on Chinese social network Weibo, suggesting that one of the 2022 Xperia models has been canceled. The model that's been cut is unlikely to be the flagship Xperia 1 IV, but it could be the Xperia 5 IV or the Xperia 10 IV.

Next up is a hint from the same source that the Xperia 1 IV might not be called that at all. Sony's recent naming strategy for its phones has tended to be a little confusing, so we're hoping that if there is a rebranding it will be towards a simpler nomenclature.

Charging rates and pricing

There's also word from a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulatory filing in the US (via Reddit) that the new phone will support 30W fast charging just like the Xperia 1 III. However, the battery capacity is said to be increasing from 4,500mAh to 5,000mAh.

Finally, we also have some fresh speculation on pricing: @TheGalox_ says we're looking at figures of $1,400 to $1,600 (£1,075 / AU$1,900 to £1,225 / AU$2,170), although it seems that this will partly be dependent on the region. The starting price of the Xperia 1 III was $1,299.99 (about AU$1,765) in the US and £1,199 in the UK.

As always, treat these rumors with a pinch of salt until we get official word from Sony. The Xperia 1 III was launched in April 2021, so we might not have to wait much longer to see what the successor has in store for us.

Analysis: Sony is still waiting for a smartphone hit

We were quite taken with the Sony Xperia 1 III, which we described as "Sony's best phone for quite some time" in our review. Xperia handsets can usually be relied upon to combine top-quality hardware (especially the camera modules) with Android software that's clean and tidy and free from bloatware.

This year we've already heard that the Sony Xperia 1 IV will get internal spec upgrades and better cameras. In fact, just about every part of the 2022 handset will apparently be improved compared to its predecessor – though the rumor is that the design won't change much.

However, despite all the top-tier hardware on offer in Sony's recent Xperia phones, they're yet to make a significant impression in terms of sales. On paper, they look like some of the best phones in the business, but Sony needs to work out a way of getting that potential and promise in front of potential customers to shift more units.

Part of the problem is the pricing. The flagship Xperia handsets have traditionally been very expensive, and if the above rumors are true, that's going to continue again this year. Sony may have to make more of a compromise with future handsets when it comes to specs and build quality versus retail price.

• These are the best Android phones of the moment

The Sony Xperia 1 IV was always going to be an expensive phone, but the latest leak suggests it could be eye-wateringly so.

According to a leaker on Chinese social network Weibo, going by the name Caybule, the Sony Xperia 1 IV will start at 8,999 yuan (around $1,415 / £1,085 / AU$1,895) for 256GB of storage, and rise to 9,999 yuan (roughly $1,570 / £1,205 / AU$2,105) for 512GB.

The source seemingly found these details in the HTML code of a website, though which site in particular is unclear, so we’d take this with a pinch of salt – though they’ve accurately leaked Sony details in the past.

In any case, that price would be a slight increase on the already high price of the Sony Xperia 1 III, which started at $1,299.99 / £1,199 (around AU$2,200). Obviously, conversions won’t be accurate, but the Xperia 1 III was also 500 yuan (around $80 / £60 / AU$105) less for each storage size.

If anything, the Sony Xperia 1 III was already prohibitively expensive, so while we might only see a small rise in price this year, what we really needed was a price reduction.

And if anything the Sony Xperia 1 IV might cost even more than the leak above suggests, as some commenters have viewed this leak suspiciously, noting rumors of significantly improved cameras, which could push the price up even higher. So whatever the case, the Sony Xperia 1 IV looks set to be a very expensive phone.

Analysis: a higher price than even the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra

Outside of the foldable market, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is probably seen as just about the most premium and pricey phone you can get, yet the Sony Xperia 1 IV is likely to have it beat.

Samsung’s behemoth starts at $1,199.99 / £1,149 / AU$1,849, which – somewhat ridiculously - is already less than the Sony Xperia 1 III, let alone the Xperia 1 IV.

Granted, that’s for 128GB of storage in the S22 Ultra, while Sony’s phone starts at 256GB (as apparently does the upcoming Xperia 1 IV). But even for 256GB you’re 'only' paying $1,299.99 / £1,249 / AU$1,999 with the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, and while that's slightly higher in some regions than the starting price of the Xperia 1 III, it's lower than what the Xperia 1 IV supposedly starts at.

• Take a look at all the best Sony phones

Via NotebookCheck and SumahoDigest

Just like how summer follows spring, a Sony Xperia 5 IV will follow the Xperia 1 IV, and we're expecting both phones to get announced fairly soon (though to only go on sale much later).

We've been hearing a few details about the former phone which, based on precedent, will be a smaller alternative to its big sibling. Specs have emerged via a regular leaker on Chinese social media platform Weibo.

According to the leaker, the new phone will have a 6.1-inch screen, three 12MP rear cameras (including a main, ultra-wide and 3x optical zoom telephoto), and a glass body. So far, so similar to the Xperia 1 III.

Some changes are also detailed: apparently the phone will use the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset, which is the new powerful processor for 2022, and it will also apparently have a battery capacity that's "increased a little" from the 4,500mAh one in the older Xperia, though an actual size isn't mentioned.

Previous generations of Sony phone have been unveiled in the first few months of the year, though typically gone on sale much later (the Xperia 5 III only went on sale in the US at the start of 2022) so, while we might see if these specs are correct soon, it might be a while before we can test out the new phone.

Analysis: a close Galaxy S22 rival

The Samsung Galaxy S22, which was launched recently, is a tiny bit smaller than its predecessor - at 6.1 inches, co-incidentally, so if this Sony rumor is true the phones could have similar sizes.

Similar, but not identical: the phones will have different aspect ratios for their displays, and the Xperia will likely be longer and thinner than the Galaxy.

Either way, these phones both seem targeted at users who don't want giant phones, and just want compact small little things.

The Sony Xperia 5 IV might have an advantage though: if this rumor is true, its battery capacity will be at least 800mAh more than the Galaxy S22 - that's a big enough difference to be noticeable. So the Sony might last quite a bit longer before needing to be recharged.

We'll have to wait for the Xperia to be announced before we decide which is best, but that might be a little while, so stay tuned for news and rumors in the meantime.

• Sony Xperia 1 IV rumors cover camera and other specs of the upcoming flagship

It looks likely that we'll be seeing the Sony Xperia 1 IV at some point this year – perhaps as early as next month – and we've got some new rumors to report that cover the camera configuration and other specs that could be in the pipeline for this flagship phone.

These rumors come via the usually reliable Zackbuks on Chinese social media site Weibo (via Notebookcheck). First up is the processor: like a lot of top-end Android phones scheduled for 2022, the Xperia 1 IV is being tipped to feature the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset from Qualcomm.

The RAM options will apparently be 12GB and 16GB – which is a lot – and the storage choices are tipped to be 256GB and 512GB. On top of that, the same source says the phone will have upgrades to the main lens and telephoto lens this time around.

More info

Another tidbit revealed here is the battery capacity: 5,000mAh and a 45W charging rate. There's also talk of improved brightness for the screen, and perhaps a design overhaul, although this seems less certain from the information posted online.

We described the Xperia 1 III as "Sony's best phone for quite some time". It had a triple-lens 12MP+12MP+12MP rear camera, and Sony will probably keep the same megapixel ratings while upgrading the lens technology. The internal specs were a Snapdragon 888 CPU and up to 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.

The Xperia 1 III came with a 4,500mAh battery and 30W charging, so if this leak is true then we're looking at substantial upgrades here. We'll have to wait and see whether or not that translates into a major improvement in the phone's battery life.

Analysis: another big year for Sony phones

As we've said, we were impressed by what the Sony Xperia 1 III had to offer – but down the years, positive reviews haven't really led to bumper sales for Sony's smartphone division, and that's the challenge that the Sony Xperia 1 IV is going to be up against.

We know that Sony can do cameras very well – it sells its sensors to many other smartphone manufacturers – and of course it has plenty of experience in displays thanks to its television business. That's two key areas of a smartphone where you know that a Sony handset is going to excel.

Typically it's been high prices that have made it difficult for the Sony Xperia series to get a foothold, and these phones aren't quite as high profile as those made by Google, Samsung or Apple either – even if they deserve to attract more fans through their combination of hardware and software.

We'll have to wait and see what the Xperia 1 IV brings with it. If it follows the schedule of its predecessor then it's going to appear in April, but we also know that Sony likes announcing products at MWC – so it might show up in February at MWC 2022.

• Best Sony phones 2022: find the right Xperia for you

Two-minute review

Sony’s flagship smartphones, like the Sony Xperia 1 III, have always had their focus fixed firmly on photography purists. While Apple, Google, and Huawei were boosting shadows and creating night modes that made evenings look like mornings, Sony was sticking to its guns. If you’re taking a backlit photo with a Sony phone, it will produce a dramatic silhouette. If you’re shooting at midnight – it will look like nighttime. 

This purist photo processing has divided smartphone enthusiasts into two camps: the Sony camp and the 'everyone else' camp. It’s also resulted in Sony fans on social media being among the most vocal and impassioned, defending the Japanese tech brand to the digital death. 

The Xperia Pro-I was born against this backdrop. While Sony’s been piling on camera apps that have mirrored its compact and film camera lines for a couple of years now, starting with the Xperia 1, the Pro-I is the first to feature hardware that’s directly trickled down from Sony imaging; specifically, the sensor.

Sony’s popular RX100 line features a 1.0-type sensor. While this became synonymous with being one inch, on the Xperia Pro-I, the 1.0 type sensor doesn’t measure up. Instead, it uses a portion of the 1-inch sensor – 12MP of it to be precise.

So while the Xperia Pro-I features a large sensor by smartphone standards, its size is nothing we haven’t seen before, with the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra’s sensor being larger, and the Galaxy S21 Ultra’s matching it.

So who in their right mind would pay a premium price for a smartphone with hardware that wasn’t treading new turf? Three groups of people: Sony fans, photography purists, and videographers who aren’t in a monogamous relationship with Apple.

With that all accounted for, the Sony Xperia Pro-I is a good phone across the board. Its design is very Sony, and also flagship with premium glass and metal matched with welcome photography-focused accents like that shutter release and textured frame. Its screen is also punchy and sharp, albeit a little dull in direct sunlight. As for Sony’s UI, it’s reliably clean and just a couple of degrees off stock Android. 

With flagship power, 512GB storage, SD card support and nippy 5G data speeds, there’s very little missing from the Xperia Pro-I – wireless charging is the main feature that springs to mind. That said, whether or not you should buy this expensive camera phone will, for the most part, depend on your taste in image processing. Do you pick the very best in Sony-style traditional photo processing and dedicated manual photo and video apps, or alternatively, a modern point-shoot-and-share camera? 

Sony Xperia Pro-I release date and price

The Sony Xperia Pro-I is available to buy in the US for $1,799 and the UK for £1,599. Australian availability hasn’t been confirmed, but it is available to import for approximately AU$2,600.

Launched in December 2021, it’s the second Pro series phone from Sony, and the first to feature a new camera system. The phone is only available in black with 512GB of storage. That puts the Xperia Pro-I at around $400/£200 more than a 512GB iPhone 13 Pro Max.

Sony Xperia Pro-I design

The Sony Xperia Pro-I is a Sony phone through and through. It has that tall physique we’ve grown used to since the original Xperia 1 launched three years ago. There’s no notch in sight, and the stretched 21:9 display makes for a slender impression. 

The frame of the phone is blasted metal, with a hefty chamfer around the front and back sandwiched between two panes of glass: Gorilla Glass Victus on the front and Gorilla Glass 6 around the back. Adding to the hardy factor of the Xperia Pro-I is  that, unlike the Pro, it’s water-resistant with IP68 certification.

Sony also made the Xperia Pro-I easier to grip than most metal-framed phones, with the Pro-I’s frame sporting a groove that bands all around it. This makes extra surface for your fingers to grip onto available, and we enjoy both the visual and tactile detail this adds. 

Alongside an iPhone 13 Pro Max and Pixel 6 Pro, the Xperia Pro-I is without a doubt the most secure in the hand. It’s also the easiest to grip, given its slender 72mm width, and is almost the lightest, weighing 211g, versus the iPhone’s 240g, and the Pixel 6 Pro’s 210g.

Around the back of the phone, a centered camera surround is the star. The primary camera protrudes the most, with stepped secondary cameras – an ultra-wide camera above, and a telephoto (portrait) camera below. The matte glass back feels much more premium than the original Xperia Pro, and its satin finish is reminiscent of the best from Apple and Samsung.

On the top side of the Xperia Pro-I, a 3.5mm headphone jack is poised to please audiophiles, while a USB-C port lives at the bottom of the phone. This isn’t just for data and charging – the USB-C port can turn the phone into an external monitor for your camera with the right adapter, making the original Xperia Pro seem redundant.

As far as buttons go, there are plenty of them, with a volume rocker, fingerprint scanner/power button combo, shortcut key, and camera key all on the right side. 

The camera key on the Xperia Pro-I is unlike anything we’ve seen on a phone. First, it’s large, in contrast to the tiny nub that subtly pokes out of the Xperia 1 III and Xperia 5 III. It’s also textured with a fine criss-cross ridged pattern. This makes it easy for a fumbling finger to identify. Surprisingly, it’s also very spongy, which is a strange move. Despite being two-stage when pressed – half-press to focus, press all the way to capture – it doesn’t have a satisfying half-press resistance which we would have preferred.

Ultimately, the Xperia Pro-I’s design comes together well, and while it isn’t as visually elegant as a Google Pixel 6 Pro, or as striking to look at as an iPhone, it feels excellent, and looks classic. 

Sony Xperia Pro-I screen

The Xperia Pro-I’s display is a 10-bit OLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate. This is already a great start, and with HDR and BT.2020 color space support, it aligns the phone’s screen with top-tier Sony phones of old, including the original Pro. This also tees the phone up for filmmakers.

With a 4K resolution and a pixel density of 643 pixels per inch, on paper, nothing out of the Sony camp comes close when it comes to clarity, though the screen runs at a virtual resolution of 1096 x 2560 most of the time, so you’ll seldom see a true 4K image being displayed, especially when working your way through the interface.

Despite this downsampling, the Xperia Pro-I still delivers a better quality display than much 1080p hardware might owing to the pentile sub-pixel formation of AMOLED displays. So with a true pixel density of over 400 pixels per inch, everything looks very sharp. 

A tall 21:9 aspect ratio matched with a 6.5-inch size makes the whole phone long and narrow, and easier to hold than much of the competition. Its height means thumbing from the middle to the top will require a stretch or be a two-handed job. It’s also worth noting, it doesn’t have any notches or punch-hole cameras. Instead, the bezel above the display is a bit chunkier to accommodate that 8MP selfie camera.

The sheer display quality is excellent on the Xperia Pro-I. Whether watching movies, playing games, browsing a site, or swiping through an app, blacks are deep, colors are punchy, and there’s a degree of customization in the settings to change the look, warm things up or cool them down.

Viewing angles from all sides are strong; however, the Pro-I can struggle in very bright environments, especially off-angle. This isn’t a deal-breaker, and just continues a trend – the entire Sony Xperia 1 line hasn’t been able to keep up with iPhones and Samsung Galaxy flagships when it comes to brightness. 

Sony Xperia Pro-I cameras

The Xperia Pro-I only uses a 12MP crop of its 1.0-type Exmor RS sensor, which in reality means it's closer to a 1/1.33in sensor.

Still, it delivers a pixel size of 2.4μm, which is still huge for smartphones, with the iPhone 13 Pro Max’s 12MP sensor featuring 1.9μm pixels. This means that, while it falls behind the binned pixels created by the Nokia Pureview 808 and Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra’s oversampled sensors, it still sports larger individual pixels than any other mainstream smartphone sensor on the market.

The Xperia Pro-I’s primary camera also enjoys a variable aperture which can be set to f/2 or f/4. As for the secondary cameras, there’s a 12MP, 1/2.5-inch, f/2.2, 16mm ultra-wide, and a 12MP, 1/2.9-inch, f/2.4, 50mm portrait lens (2x zoom equivalent). The primary camera and portrait lens enjoy OIS.

If you think the Xperia Pro-I features the best cameras Sony makes for mobile, you’re only partly right. While the primary camera is indeed mighty with that large sensor, the Pro-I’s telephoto camera is modest with a 50mm focal length, versus the Xperia 1 III and Xperia 5 III, which reach as far as 105mm. As for the ultra-wide and selfie cameras, they are the same across all three phones, with fixed-focus lenses. 

The Xperia Pro-I’s secondary cameras are clearly beaten when it comes to ultra-wide shots by the likes of the Oppo Find X3 Pro, and telephoto capture by the Pixel 6 Pro, Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, and other periscope cameras. That’s a shame, given the phone’s punchy price.

Where Sony really stands out with its imaging is the camera interface on the Xperia Pro-I. It’s the only manufacturer to ditch smartphone-style photography in favor of a more camera-esque UI that relies on the physical shutter release and features on-screen capture information when taking photos, and sports extensive film-grade control over video capture. 

While Sony’s out-of-the-box apps are great for photography and video capture – and they really are for enthusiasts – most are available on the Xperia 1 III and 5 III. Additionally, Filmic Pro is available for iOS and Android for a pretty nominal cost, unlocking pro-grade manual video control. So while Sony offers something unique, it isn’t as head and shoulders above what’s out there if you don’t mind working with third-party apps.

As for photo quality, Sony's cameras produce classical and natural-looking photos. If we opened up a photography magazine in the 80s or 90s, we’d have expected to see a similar photo style to that which Sony’s Pro-I captures.

The contrast in Sony’s processing is healthy and dodges the HDR-esque boosted shadows and brightened-up dark spots you get in Galaxy or Pixel photos. The camera can capture a great deal of information – take the raw photo above with a shutter speed of two seconds on ISO 100, steadied on a tripod. The JPEG intentionally downplays the shadows, while the RAW offers up plenty of detail to boost. 

As for backlit subjects captured in automatic mode, the Xperia Pro-I isn’t precious about foreground detail unless it clearly detects a face. While the drama in its photos is undeniable, the below example shot on the Pixel 6 Pro instantly highlights the limitations of Sony’s photo processing versus a camera that relies on more aggressive HDR techniques. The background isn’t blown out in Sony’s photo, sure, but it’s an unusable image for the average smartphone user, and even pros won’t be able to pull out usable detail from the cat’s features. 

Once we were familiar with its quirks, we really got into our groove with the Xperia Pro-I. We took the camera on a city break and it felt like a compact camera at times. It can capture a pleasing amount of bokeh, there’s a subtlety to its processing that keeps images looking tasteful – far removed from the radioactive processing of some smartphone makers like Realme.

When left in automatic mode for most of the time, it captures modest amounts of noise and exposes photos less than the competition, making for more atmospheric shots. 

Compared to another big sensor smartphone – the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra – the Pro-I is also more versatile. 

With its slightly smaller sensor and variable aperture, you aren’t forced to capture bokeh when you don’t want to, with Xiaomi’s shallow depth of field being overkill at times. The Xperia Pro-I’s processing is also more natural, though the Mi 11 Ultra’s secondary cameras are superior.

The Pro-I focuses quickly and eye-tracking does a good job. When capturing photos indoors, however, photos can be a little soft when cropping in. 

Colors captured by the Pro-I are generally accurate, and skin tones have an almost Canon-like warmth to them under incandescent light, and a natural coolness in fluorescent light. 

More impressive is the fact colors across all three cameras are consistent. Even when there’s a light source introduced as you switch to a wider lens, there aren’t the huge color shifts seen in some competing cameras – though there are obvious exposure changes.

From a usability point of view, the camera forced us to use the physical shutter release for photo capture in all modes other than Basic which takes some getting used to. When we handed it to a stranger to take a photo, they had no idea what to do with a physical shutter key on a phone.

Quirks aside, the Sony Xperia Pro-I is a capable camera phone for photography. We enjoyed the traditional focal lengths – 16mm, 24mm, and 50mm. That said, it isn’t the technical showpiece Sony’s pricing suggests it is – instead, it’s another very good Sony camera phone that costs a lot of money. 

As for video capture, once you’ve decided which of the three apps you’ll use to capture it, results look good.

What’s great about the Xperia Pro-I is that all three cameras are available for video capture across all three apps. Feed them balanced lighting, and you can capture some stunning footage with impressive detail. 

The camera has reliable exposure, and its colors look natural. We also salvaged significant shadow detail when we took the video into an editing suite, which isn’t bad going for a smartphone. However, dark environments overwhelm it, resulting in noise – especially when using the ultra-wide camera. 

As for the selfie camera, the 8MP hardware is unremarkable. It’s the same 1/4-inch sensor we saw on the original Xperia 1 three years ago, matched with a 24mm f/2 fixed-focus lens. In turn, it’s sufficient for a front camera – video calls and casual selfies are fine, but we avoided it for the most part. Sony has made an external monitor available for vlogging, making rear camera selfies simpler, and it costs $200 or £169.

Performance and specs

Unlike the original Xperia Pro, the Pro-I features the latest widely available flagship chipset – the top-end Qualcomm Snapdragon 888, which is matched with 12GB of RAM. It also sports an ample 512GB of storage, and you can expand on it via the microSD slot.

In everyday use, the Pro-I delivered top-tier smartphone performance, able to run any game you’ll find on the Google Play store while delivering smooth interaction and 4K video playback. 

Sony’s latest Pro runs Android 11, which isn’t the newest version of Google’s OS. That said, Sony has historically been reliable when it comes to updating its phones, and Android 12 will be rolling out to the Pro, along with Android 13 in due course. 

The Xperia 1 III scored an average of 3474 in our Geekbench 5 testing, which is exactly what we’d expect from a top-end phone in 2021. The Samsung Galaxy S21 scored 3367 and the OnePlus 9 Pro beat that with 3630.

We found 5G connectivity to work well, with the strength and reliability of the signal being comparable with other handsets of this type. In a borough of London with 5G connectivity, we were able to achieve speeds of 320Mbps down and 50MP up on EE, which is the same speed reached on the Google Pixel 6 Pro and an iPhone 13 Max.

Battery life

Sony included the same battery in the Pro-I as it did in the Xperia 1 III, which means more of the same great battery life.

The Pro’s 4,500mAh cell isn’t huge on paper, but the phone’s screen doesn’t actually have as much surface area as some other handsets given its 21:9 narrow dimensions. Nevertheless, it will need a nightly charge, especially if using the camera a lot. 

At the end of a full working day, we had around 20% to 30% charge remaining after moderate use, so if you’re careful and turn it off at night, you might be able to eke two days out of it, but you’ll more likely get one.

The phone can charge at up to 30W, and the charger ships with the phone, powering it up by 50% in 30 minutes. This isn’t the fastest charging we’ve seen, falling behind OnePlus and Xiaomi, however, it beats Apple’s smartphone standard charging speeds.

Frustratingly, wireless charging isn’t available on the Pro-I. This is a real head-scratcher, given the tech is on the Xperia 1 III, and it’s also ubiquitous now, with charging spots in coffee shops and furniture far and wide.

Should I buy the Sony Xperia Pro-I?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

• These are the world's best camera phones

It's finally happened – Sony's Xperia, Cyber-shot and Alpha teams have teamed up to make a phone that, for the first time, Sony considers a worthy member of its camera lineup. That phone is the Sony Xperia Pro-I, and it's a symbolic moment that's been a long time coming. But it's also a phone that feels out feels out-of-step with its computational point-and-shoot rivals.

There's nothing wrong with being out-of-step, but the Xperia Pro-I feels less Nintendo Switch and more retro camera emulator. It's certainly unique, combining a 1-Inch sensor, variable aperture and Alpha-style tracking autofocus, which makes it the phone equivalent of the Sony RX100 VII. Yet those features are designed to appeal to traditional photographers and Sony fans, rather than the average person.

I'm glad Sony has made the Sony Xperia Pro-I. It brings new ideas to camera phones, and ones that come from its excellent Cyber-shot and Alpha cameras. But computational photography, like the new tricks seen on the Google Pixel 6, has changed the game for pocket cameras. And that, plus the limitations of physics, means the Xperia Pro-I is destined to be a niche curiosity, rather than an Alpha-style disruptor. 

• Read our in-depth Google Pixel 6 review

High contrast

The timing of the Xperia Pro-I's arrival, exactly a week after the Google Pixel 6, makes its old-school approach feel particularly stark. 

The Pixel 6 leans heavily into Google's machine learning to deliver some original point-and-shoot tricks like 'Magic Eraser' and 'Action Pan'. These automate traditional tools and techniques, like panning and Photoshop's 'Heal brush', for people who don't want to learn photography.

The Xperia Pro-I (the 'I' is for Imaging) takes the opposite approach. It's built on Sony's hardware power, like large sensors, Bionz X processors and glass aspherical lenses, to create an experience that's a cross between its Cyber-shot and Alpha cameras. It even has the same shutter module as Sony's RX100 series cameras, which means you half-press the button to autofocus – an addition that'll have camera fans coo-ing.

What this adds up to, though, is a phone that'll likely need to be used like a traditional camera, rather than a point-and-shoot. How many people want to mount their phone on a tripod for long exposures? Or use a camera interface that's covered in strange numbers and symbols? Probably only existing photographers, and they may well already own a powerful travel camera.

Pesky physics

There's an additional drawback to this approach, too. Phones like the iPhone 13 Pro and Google Pixel 6 have drawn on silicon and incredible multi-frame processing to evolve beyond the laws of physics. 

Features like Night Modes and Apple's Cinematic Mode are making, for most people, traditional image quality factors like sensor size and even autofocus irrelevant. Almost every camera setting and photographic effect is now simulated and adjustable after you've hit the shutter.

For photographers, many of these modes are still too artificial and error-prone to rely on. That's why the Xperia Pro-I could hold some unique appeal. But the Xperia Pro-I's reliance on traditional hardware power means that squashing an RX100 VII into phone form brings some bottlenecks.

For example, it's only able to use a 12MP area of its 1-Inch 20MP sensor for stills. Combine that with a small, f/2.0 lens, and you can still expect cameras like the RX100 VII (and even other phones) to produce superior raw quality, particularly at longer focal lengths.  

These physical constraints also mean the Xperia Pro-I lacks a macro mode or a telephoto lens, with its three lenses offering equivalent focal lengths of 16mm, 24mm and 50mm. So while it has impressive camera chops and a pro-friendly interface, it also isn't as versatile as rivals like the iPhone 13 Pro or Google Pixel 6 Pro. Still, it does have one additional trick up its sleeve – and that's video.

Vlog star

Given its video skills, I'm surprised that Sony hasn't marketed the Xperia Pro-I as the phone equivalent of its Sony ZV-1 vlogging camera rather than the RX100 series (perhaps that's coming next). After all, it's the first phone with a 4K/120p slow-mo video mode, and also the first to include Eye AF tracking in video.

The fact that the Xperia Pro-I's lenses are all relatively wide also makes it perhaps more suited to vlogging than traditional photography – and this feeling is strengthened by Sony's release of an optional Vlog Monitor accessory ($199 / £169, or around AU$265) to go with the phone. 

That 3.5in screen attaches magnetically to the back of the Xperia Pro-I, and solves a genuine problem for YouTubers who want to use their phone for videos – having to use the front-facing camera if they also want to see their screen. Combine the Vlog Monitor with Sony's GP-VPT2BT Bluetooth shooting grip, and you have a compelling (albeit expensive) all-in-one vlogging setup.

It's here where the Xperia Pro-I starts to make more sense – Sony is one of the most (if not, the most) popular camera brands among YouTubers, so a phone that slots neatly into their setup offering a similar interface and color science could prove tempting. But that'd also likely mean giving up many of the computational tricks of today's best camera phones, which are ideal for posting on social media. 

• Read our in-depth Sony ZV-1 review

On the fringes

The Sony Xperia Pro-I certainly carries the swagger of its impressive cameras, but it has the more niche appeal of an Xperia phone in Alpha fancy dress. The limitations of physics mean it doesn't eclipse the Sony RX100 VII, but nor is it likely to have the computational power needed to match the iPhone 13 Pro or Google Pixel 6.

That doesn't make it irrelevant – some photographers will definitely enjoy its more traditional experience and unwillingness to cake their photos in too much processing. Vloggers, too, could well see it as the ideal, pocketable complement to their Sony A6400 or Sony A7 IV.

But in this sense, the Xperia Pro-I is more like an Apple Watch for existing Sony camera fans, rather than an attempt to steal market share from the likes of Apple, Google and Samsung in the camera phone wars. 

That's okay, but the more exciting launch for photographers would likely be bringing phone-style computational photography to a camera like the RX100 VII, rather than the other way around.

• These are the best Sony cameras you can buy right now

The Sony Xperia Pro was released in January as a device for video professionals, and now a new version – the Sony Xperia Pro-I – has been announced as a phone that's custom-made for vloggers. The phone will be available for preorder starting October 28 and will be sold unlocked starting in December 2021 in the US, though availability in other regions hasn't been announced. 

The Xperia Pro-I (‘I’ for imaging) has nearly all the perks of its predecessor and a few improvements of its own at a lower price – $1,799 / £1,599 (around AU$2,400), compared to the staggering $2,500 (around £1,830 / AU$3,245) price tag of the Xperia Pro. The new Pro-I doesn’t have the HDMI port central to the Xperia Pro’s use as an external display for expensive professional cameras, so it’s more a general use phone built for videographers. 

The Xperia Pro-I does have an improved main camera with a 1-inch sensor. It’s one of the first mainstream phones to have a sensor of that size (and the first coming to the US), which enables better low-light performance, dynamic range, and more natural depth-of-field compared to the computational bokeh seen in phones with smaller sensors. The main camera's dual aperture lens, which lets you switch between f/2.0 and f/4.0, gives you added control over this background blur.

The megapixel count hasn’t changed from the Pro – all three rear cameras are 12MP, so the main, telephoto, and ultra-wide cameras aren’t improved in that regard. But the Xperia Pro-I has other improvements on the standard Pro, like having 315 points of autofocus (the green grid of boxes shown when taking photos) covering 90% of the viewfinder, compared to 247 points on the Xperia Pro covering 70% of the viewfinder. The phone can also take burst shots up to 20 frames per second with autofocus, as well as improved anti-distortion over earlier Xperia models.

Other than its rearranged rear camera block, the Xperia Pro-I is physically similar to the Xperia Pro, though it does bump the chipset up to the Snapdragon 888 found in this year’s flagship Android phones. It has the same 6.5-inch OLED display as the Xperia 1 III, though that should be fine for most smartphone owners – its 4K resolution (3840 x 1644) is rare among modern smartphones. 

It packs a 4,500mAh battery and 30W charger, as well as the Xperia I III’s front-facing speakers as well as a 3.5mm headphone jack. It has a shortcut button that can be set to open any app, and the dedicated shutter button has the same shutter switch module as Sony's RX100 series compact cameras. There’s even a little hole to secure a wrist strap.

And, crucially, the Xperia Pro-I can record video – which the Xperia Pro couldn’t. But there’s more for the modern vlogger that Sony’s new phone can offer.

Xperia Pro-I: what’s here for video fans?

The Xperia Pro-I is dedicated to video recording, with some firsts in the world of smartphones: it’s the first to natively record 120fps – and saving every frame, unlike other phones that record at that speed, but save in 30 or 24fps to play back in slow motion at a specific speed. Saving every frame means users can choose whatever slow-mo rate they want.

There’s also new software, Video Pro, which offers a similar level of manual control and editing as Sony’s Cinema Pro app that came with the Xperia Pro. The phone’s wide 21:9 screen enables the phone to show the viewfinder in 16:9 with enough room on the side for manual video controls. With software called Optical Steadyshot and StableEye that stabilizes the footage and tracks moving subjects, the phone promises a lot for action videographers.

There’s also an optional $199 / £169 (around AU$265) Vlogging accessory – a 3.5-inch external display that can magnetically mount on the back of the Xperia Pro-I to show what’s recording from the rear cameras. And for those who want to protect their phone in style, a $90 (around £65 / AU$120) leather case.

Analysis: A significant moment for camera phones 

The Sony Xperia Pro-I has a few 'world first' claims, but perhaps the most significant is that Sony has officially called it a part of its camera lineup. Considering that lineup contains some of the world's best cameras, it's a symbolic moment for camera phones  – and for premium compact cameras, too.

That's because the Xperia Pro-I is effectively the phone equivalent of the Sony ZV-1 and Sony RX100 VII. Those two compact cameras are built on a similar 1-inch sensor and Bionz X processors. Until now, they've also held an advantage over the Xperia range (and most other smartphones) when it comes to sensor size and professional features.

The Xperia Pro-I sees Sony effectively abandon any concerns about cannibalization in favor of making a smartphone that can compete, on paper, with its best compact cameras for stills and video. It also sees Sony tread a very different path to its big camera phone rivals like Apple, Google and Samsung. While the latter are now largely focused on computational point-and-shoot photography, the Xperia Pro-I is a pro-focused camera that's built on Sony's more traditional advantages in sensors, lenses and real-time tracking autofocus.

Traditional cameras, like the Sony RX100 series, do still hold some advantages in areas like lenses. Despite the Xperia Pro-I's inclusion of a glass Zeiss Tessar lens, size constraints do still limit what's possible in a smartphone – so we'll have to see how that plays out in some real-world tests.

But there's no doubt that the Xperia Pro-I is a bold statement of intent from Sony, which is the only smartphone maker that also makes world-class standalone cameras. The question is how many people, other than Sony camera fans, want that type of experience in a phone, compared to the more beginner-friendly smarts of the best camera phones.

• Best camera phone 2021: our picks for the best smartphone cameras right now