Sony has just announced an event for May 11 that appears likely to be the unveiling of the next Xperia 1 flagship phone, with a promo video stating “are you ready for the next ONE” implying this to be the case. There is even a very quick glimpse at the upcoming phone in the teaser, showing that the design of the potential Sony Xperia 1 IV has followed on very closely from the Xperia 1 III, although there has been some argument that the top bezel has got significantly larger.
A well-known Xperia leaker, ZACKBUKS, has now posted an image that appears to be possibly the first real-world photo of the Xperia 1 for 2022, albeit encased in a black protective cover. But even with so little on show, there are still two takeaways to be had from this live photo (see below): Firstly, that the Google Assistant button has gone as had already been rumored, and secondly, that the Xperia 1 IV/V will unsurprisingly come in more color options than just black.
The Xperia 1 III gave buyers in certain markets the color choices of frosted black, frosted gray, and frosted purple. While it could be expected that the 2022 Xperia 1 will arrive in at least black and gray, the supposed live shot shows the power button/fingerprint sensor and camera button in more of a silver color. As pointed out by Smartphone Digest, the Xperia XZ2 Premium was offered in a Chrome Silver color that looks similar to what is on show here.
Source(s)
ZACKBUKS (Weibo - in Chinese) & Smartphone Digest (in Japanese) & Sony (YouTube) & Reddit