Sony Xperia 1 IV: New camera flagship announced with true optical zoom at up to 8x magnification and a 5,000 mAh battery
Sony has unveiled the Xperia 1 IV, which arrives just under 13 months after the Xperia 1 III debuted. Thankfully, Sony will release the Xperia 1 IV much sooner than it did with the Xperia 1 III. For context, while Sony announced the Xperia 1 III in April 2021, it took the company until the end of August for it to release the handset. Unsurprisingly, Sony has equipped the Xperia 1 IV with a few upgrades over its predecessor, even if the Xperia 1 IV is the spitting image of the Xperia 1 III.
Specifically, the Xperia 1 IV features the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, currently Qualcomm's flagship mobile chipset. Additionally, Sony will offer the Xperia 1 IV with 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage. Unfortunately, it is unclear whether Sony will sell a 512 GB configuration, as it does with the Xperia 1 III. Still, the Xperia 1 IV has a 5,000 mAh battery, a 500 mAh upgrade on its predecessor. Supposedly, it should only take 30 minutes to recharge the battery from 0-50%, albeit only over a wired connection. Alternatively, the battery, which Sony rates for a 3-year lifespan, supports the Qi charging standard.
Moreover, Sony claims to have equipped the Xperia 1 IV with a 50% brighter panel than the Xperia 1 III. For reference, this year's Xperia 1 retains the 6.5-inch OLED panel from the Xperia 1 III, which outputs at 4K and 120 Hz in a 21:9 aspect ratio. Sony adds that the panel has a 240 Hz touch sampling rate too, along with support for Real-Time HDR.
Separately, Sony continues to include three 12 MP rear-facing cameras, consisting of wide, ultra-wide and telephoto lenses. While the wide and ultra-wide lenses continue to offer 16 mm and 24 mm equivalent focal lengths, Sony has upgraded the telephoto lens from last year's edition. Reportedly, the telephoto camera delivers 8x optical zoom with an adjustable 85-125 mm equivalent focal length. Sony states that it has based all cameras around Exmor RS sensors, which also have ZEISS T* coatings.
The Xperia 1 IV will start at €1,399 in the Eurozone and will come in black, purple and white colourways. According to Sony, the handset will be available at retailers from the middle of June; an exact release date yet remains unknown at this stage. However, the handset will be pre-orderable from Sony directly between May 11 and June 30, during which the company will bundle a pair of WH-1000XM4 over-ear headphones.
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Sony
