Sony Xperia 1 VI: latest news, rumors, and everything we know so far

You’ve got to admire Sony’s commitment to doing things its own way, rather than simply following current trends. It did so with the Sony Xperia 1 V – a phone with a 21:9 4K screen, sizable bezels, and a continuous optical zoom lens – and it will likely do the same with the Sony Xperia 1 VI, as well.

There are both up and downsides to this approach, but it certainly helps Sony’s flagship phones stand out from the crowd.

With the Sony Xperia 1 VI now fast approaching, we've heard a number of things about it, including the possibility of significantly upgraded cameras. You'll find all of that information below, and we'll add to this article whenever we hear more.

In the meantime, we know exactly what we want from the Sony Xperia 1 VI, so jump to the second half of this article for information on that.

Cut to the chase

• What is it? The next flagship Sony phone
• When is it out? Possibly May
• How much will it cost? Likely at least $1,399 / £1,299 / AU$2,099

Sony Xperia 1 VI: rumored release date and price

The Sony Xperia 1 V was announced in May 2023, but didn’t go on sale until late June in the UK and late July in the US. This big wait between the announcement date and the on-sale date isn’t unusual for Sony, however, even if it's a little unorthodox by industry standards.

With the Sony Xperia 1 IV also being announced in May of its release year, it would make sense to see the Sony Xperia 1 VI in May of this year (2024).

In fact, the last two models were both unveiled on May 11 of their release years. Now, that’s a Saturday in 2024 so is unlikely as a date, but something close to that around mid-May is probably likely.

We've also now heard from a leaker posting on Weibo (a Chinese social media platform) that a May launch is planned.

Of course, you’ll likely then have to wait until at least June to get your hands on it, based on past form.

As for the price, the Sony Xperia 1 V starts at $1,399 / £1,299 / AU$2,099, so the Sony Xperia 1 VI will probably cost at least that much, which is a shame, as that’s an extremely high price.

Sony Xperia 1 VI: design and display

According to a leaker posting on Weibo, the Sony Xperia 1 VI will have a 6.9-inch screen, up from 6.5 inches on the Xperia 1 V. This is a surprising claim, as due to the expected 21:9 aspect ratio, that could make the phone extremely tall.

That could mean the aspect ratio is changing, or that Sony will use a punch-hole selfie camera, rather than housing that camera in the top bezel as it has done previously.

But NotebookCheck suggests that instead, Sony might use 'ultra-micro-hole camera technology', allowing it to still house the selfie camera in the top bezel, but with a much smaller lens. This change was at one time rumored for the Sony Xperia 1 V, so it's possible it was simply delayed until now.

However, leaker Zackbuks posting on Weibo has now said to expect an aspect ratio change, from 21:9 to 19.5:9. They also claim that the Sony Xperia 1 VI will have a 2K+ screen resolution rather than the 4K display of its predecessors. So in that sense the screen might actually be a downgrade.

Sony Xperia 1 VI: camera and battery

The biggest Sony Xperia 1 VI leak so far details its camera, which will apparently include a 48MP main camera, a 48MP ultra-wide one, and a 48MP telephoto camera, offering 3x optical zoom, and reaching 6x zoom through a sensor crop.

For comparison, the Xperia 1 V has a 48MP main camera, a 12MP ultra-wide, and a 12MP telephoto, topping out at 5.2x optical zoom. So there will be far more megapixels for the ultra-wide and telephoto cameras to play with this year if this leak is right.

Another leak from a less known source posting on Reddit also pointed to a 6x zoom for the Sony Xperia 1 VI.

Also on the subject of photos, Japanese site SumahoDigest reports that the Sony Xperia 1 VI will add a 'digital signature' to images, which will act as a way to verify that the photos were taken with this camera and not tampered with, which could be all the more useful in the age of completely fake AI generated images.

Sony Xperia 1 VI: specs and features

SumahoDigest reports that the Sony Xperia 1 VI might come with a choice of 12GB or 16GB of RAM. All versions of the Sony Xperia 1 V have 12GB, so the top model could have 4GB of extra RAM this year.

Another possible feature of the Sony Xperia 1 VI is a 3.5mm headphone port, as Sony has tweeted that it will ensure all Xperia phone lines continue to have this.

One thing that will almost certainly change though is the chipset, with Sony likely to move from the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, so expect the Sony Xperia 1 VI to be more powerful than the Xperia 1 V.

Sony Xperia 1 VI: what we want to see

The Sony Xperia 1 V is a decent phone, but it’s one with plenty of room for improvement, as our Sony Xperia 1 V review attests. Here’s what we most want to see from the next model.

1. Crisper zoom shots

The star feature of the Sony Xperia 1 V is arguably its telephoto camera, which can move between optical zoom levels of 3.5x and 5.2x, rather than being locked at one zoom level like most smartphone telephoto cameras or having two separate sensors at two different zoom ranges, like the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra (which sports both 3x and 10x telephoto sensors).

However, in our review, we found that the resulting images are ever so slightly soft. This is one hazard of offering a continuous optical zoom, rather than having a fixed focal length (the same is true with conventional cameras), but we hope it’s something Sony can improve for the Xperia 1 VI; so that zoom shots are completely sharp and crisp.

2. Better heat management

In our Sony Xperia 1 V review, we noticed that the phone could get surprisingly warm, even when doing very little. On a likely related note, we found – when using an app called CPU Throttling Test – that its performance would drop quite rapidly when the phone was being pushed.

So with the Sony Xperia 1 VI, we’d like better heat management, so the phone stays cooler and hopefully the performance therefore won’t get throttled as much.

3. Faster charging

While the Sony Xperia 1 V has fairly decent battery life, its charging speed is much less impressive than many of its competitors, topping out at 30W. Now, that’s still slightly faster than you’ll get with an iPhone, but given that we’ve seen phones like the OnePlus 10T offer 150W charging, and loads of handsets allow for charging at upwards of 60W, providing only 30W charging doesn’t really cut it in 2023/2024.

Therefore, we want to see a boost with the Sony Xperia 1 VI. At the very least it should be capable of 45W charging, like the Galaxy S23 Ultra, but ideally we want it to charge faster still.

4. A better fingerprint sensor

One of the many unusual choices Sony makes with the Xperia 1 V is putting a capacitive fingerprint sensor on the side, set into the power key, rather than using a – nowadays – more conventional under-display sensor. This isn’t in itself a problem – though it is a little old fashioned – but in our review we found that the sensor was slower, less responsive, and less reliable than those in most phones.

At this price, that’s unacceptable, so we want to see big improvements with the Sony Xperia 1 VI’s fingerprint sensor, wherever Sony chooses to put it.

5. A lower price

The Sony Xperia 1 V has all sorts of interesting features and high-end tech, but there’s no escaping just how expensive it is.

With a starting price that’s even higher than the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra or iPhone 14 Pro Max, this is never going to be anything other than a niche entrant in the high-end smartphone space, but we’d love for the Sony Xperia 1 VI to be a more mainstream prospect. For that, the price needs to be lower. Not drastically, but it should at least undercut the aforementioned phones.