Sony places the highlight on digicam upgrades with Xperia 1 VIII launch

At this time’s smartphone market is by some means each probably the most spectacular we’ve ever seen, and a shadow of its former self. Whereas fashions like Samsung’s TriFold push the boundaries of what’s attainable, long-time participant Asus simply dipped out of the sport, and OnePlus is probably not far behind, leaving us with much less and fewer competitors. With all that upheaval in thoughts, it’s nearly surprising that Sony has saved at it for so long as it has. After final yr’s Xperia 1 VII left us with blended emotions, there’s extra on the road than ever for a follow-up — and in the present day Sony lastly exhibits its playing cards with the launch of the Xperia 1 VIII.

Final yr, the Xperia 1 VII did lots proper: It had an excellent display screen, good audio, and even retained a couple of old-school options like microSD and wired headphone assist. However so many Xperia customers look to Sony for a extremely well-executed digicam expertise, and what the Xperia 1 VII dropped at the desk left them a bit wanting. The excellent news is that Sony’s working arduous to keep away from one other digicam bundle that falls flat, and the largest improvement here’s a huge new sensor.

We’re nonetheless taking a look at a three-camera array on the cellphone’s rear, however along with the tighter new association of lenses on the Xperia 1 VIII, Sony’s additionally giving us a significant improve to the telephoto digicam, shifting to a bigger 1/1.56-inch sensor that’s roughly 4 occasions the scale of the Xperia 1 VII’s telephoto digicam — and correspondingly, that a lot better at sampling mild. The 48MP 70mm telephoto sensor can crop to 12MP to successfully double your zoom.

The ultrawide is rather like we had final time, remaining a 48MP, 1/1.56-inch element with an aperture of f/2.0, and the extensive lens equally repeats its 48MP efficiency from the VII.

That new form for the cameras is simply the beginning of modifications to the cellphone’s exterior, and Sony additionally provides the cellphone a brand-new textured end, one it’s calling “ORE” that’s meant to evoke pure stones. Even with this shake-up, although, Sony’s not abandoning the weather its customers love, and along with the return of a bodily shutter button for the digicam and microSD slot for enlargement, that 3.5mm jack is again and prepared on your wired earbuds.

Talking of audio, Sony’s additionally prioritizing the expertise for these of us who aren’t rocking earbuds or headphones, and has designed the Xperia 1 VIII with matching, balanced left and proper stereo audio system — no extra having one channel sounding means completely different from the opposite.

Sony’s not altering what’s isn’t damaged for the cellphone’s display screen, sticking with one other 6.5-inch FHD+ show. There’s Gorilla Glass Victus 2 defending that panel, and frosted Victus on the rear.

Let’s get the unhealthy information out of the best way first — and it’s not even that unhealthy: Sony’s sticking with the identical energy resolution we had final time round, giving the Xperia 1 VIII a 5,000mAh battery with assist for 30W charging. Even with out a larger battery, Sony nonetheless claims that customers can count on two days of operation between fees.

The far more thrilling developments are on the silicon facet, with Sony shifting to the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. We’re additionally seeing a pleasant bump to reminiscence and storage, however this one’s bought an enormous asterisk subsequent to it: Whereas our base mannequin has the identical 12GB of RAM and 256GB storage as final yr, Sony’s additionally releasing the Xperia 1 VIII in a brand new configuration with 16GB of RAM and a full 1TB storage — the one downside being that this one’s a Sony retailer unique.

Unsurprisingly, a few of Sony’s most attention-grabbing software program information is concentrated on digicam efficiency (no pun meant). Since that is 2026, that clearly includes AI, however Sony’s options aren’t solely the form of dress-up-your-picture-with-fancy-processing ones we see elsewhere. As an alternative, the corporate additionally desires to make use of AI to have you ever beginning out capturing your pics with the absolute best digicam settings, and its AI Digicam Assistant is designed that can assist you with simply that.

That’s constructed to offer you a couple of good choices to select from as beginning factors, or if you happen to’d reasonably simply go full point-and-shoot, you’re free to maintain issues in auto mode.

Followers of RAW pictures will need to try Sony’s improved multi-frame processing, accessible throughout all of the cellphone’s cameras.

Sony’s bought your funding lined with assist promising 4 years of Android OS updates, and 6 years of safety patches.

Sony is much less and fewer a smartphone model for US buyers because the years go on, and that’s not altering with this technology. Identical to final yr’s mannequin, the Xperia 1 VIII has no formal plans to come back to the US.

Consumers in Europe, in the meantime, will be capable of seize the Xperia 1 VIII beginning at about €1,499 / £1,399 (~$1,760–$1,900). That’s blessedly not a rise from final yr, however remains to be fairly pricy for the standard form-factor, non-foldable handset.

Pre-orders open in the present day, and buyers getting their pre-orders in are eligible to take house a pair of  WH-1000XM6 headphones. Colour choices embody Graphite Black, Iolite Silver, and Garnet Purple, plus that particular Native Gold 1TB version.