The Sony Xperia 1 IV was in many ways one of the most interesting phones of 2022, as it has features that you won’t find anywhere else.
But it’s also a flawed phone and one with an extremely high price, so there are certainly changes that we want to see for the Sony Xperia 1 V, and we’ve listed these below.
Before that though we’ve included details on when the Sony Xperia 1 V might launch, how much it might cost, and what specs and features it might have. We haven’t heard much yet, but as more leaks and rumors roll in, we’ll be sure to keep this article updated.
Cut to the chase
- What is it? The next Sony flagship phone
- When is it out? May 11
- How much will it cost? Expect a very high price
Sony Xperia 1 V: release date and price
Sony has confirmed that it will be announcing the Sony Xperia 1 V at 9pm PT on Wednesday May 10, which is 12am ET / 5am GMT / 2pm AEST on Thursday, May 11.
The event will be held in Japan but it’s going to be streamed live on YouTube, so you can watch it for yourself – or just read all the details and our analysis on TechRadar at a more sociable time.
That date is no surprise, as the Sony Xperia 1 IV was also announced on May 11 last year, and a release date leak previously suggested the Xperia 1 V would be announced in May and go on sale in June.
However, the US didn’t get the Sony Xperia 1 IV until September 1 of last year, and Australia didn’t get it at all. So some regions may have a while to wait again this year (if they get the Xperia 1 V at all).
So while we know the announcement date, the actual release date remains tough to guess, since there’s sometimes a long delay after the announcement. But some regions might get the Xperia 1 V in or around June, and Australia probably won’t get it at all.
For price, the Sony Xperia 1 IV costs $1,599 in the US, which gets you a model with 512GB of storage. In the UK there’s only a 256GB version available, and this costs £1,299.99.
So the Sony Xperia 1 V might have a similar price, but we’re not sure. Hopefully, it won’t be any more expensive anyway, as the Xperia 1 IV is already one of the most expensive non-foldable phones you can buy.
Sony Xperia 1 V: news and leaks
One thing we know about the Sony Xperia 1 V is that it will have a “next-gen sensor” for its camera and “next-gen imaging”, as Sony has said as much. The company didn’t get more specific than that, but a teaser video shows the phone taking a picture in low light, suggesting that it will excel at that. This in turn suggests it might have a bigger sensor.
As for leaks, we’ve seen a leaked image that purportedly shows the back of the phone. You can see this below and it looks a lot like the rear of a Sony Xperia 1 IV, except that this time all the camera sensors are housed in the camera block.
There are changes to the selection of available lenses and sensors too. It’s still a triple-lens camera but those lenses look bigger, so some or all of them could be new.
There’s also now a hole for what’s presumably a microphone, but there’s no sign of the RGB IR sensor or the ToF (time-of-flight) sensor found on the Xperia 1 IV. We would however take this image with a pinch of salt.
We’ve also been treated to some unofficial renders of the phone in black and purple, which you can see below. A reliable source posted several images and a video of the Sony Xperia 1 V, matching up with the leaked image we’ve already mentioned.
Again, it doesn’t look as though much is changing from a design perspective. The same source also mentioned a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, 16GB of RAM, a 6.5-inch flat display, and a 5,000mAh battery capacity.
Camera details were also leaked, with a 48MP main sensor apparently set to be joined by two 12MP ones – with a third 12MP camera on the front. That’s somewhat similar specs to the Xperia 1 IV, except the main camera there was only 12MP, and it had less RAM at 12GB. The chipset of course is also new.
Sony Xperia 1 V: what we want to see
There are a few key things Sony can do to make the Xperia 1 V significantly better than the Sony Xperia 1 IV. They include the following.
1. A lower price
The Sony Xperia 1 IV is an astonishingly expensive phone, coming in at an even higher price than the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra and iPhone 13 Pro Max.
While it has some specs and features that Samsung and Apple’s phones lack, it’s also inferior in some ways, and certainly priced in such a way that it’s never likely to be a truly mainstream handset.
So for the Sony Xperia 1 V we want to see a lower price. This will obviously still be an awfully expensive phone, but if Sony can knock a couple of hundred dollars/pounds off the price then it could shift a lot more units.
2. A better fingerprint sensor
Paying big money doesn’t guarantee you a good fingerprint sensor, and such is the case with the Sony Xperia 1 IV, which has a sensor that in our review we found to fail more times than it succeeded.
On top of that, the phone doesn’t even have an in-screen one – it’s side-mounted, which feels a bit dated. So for the Sony Xperia 1 V we want the fingerprint sensor to be much more reliable, and preferably also to be built into the display.
3. More polished software
In our review of the Xperia 1 IV we found that the software wasn’t quite as polished as the hardware, with apps crashing, an unfortunate amount of bloatware, and – worst of all – video playback simply not functioning on some of the video recording apps.
This stuff can all be fixed with updates of course, but for the Sony Xperia 1 V we want a slick and smooth experience out of the box.
4. Faster charging
The Sony Xperia 1 IV supports charging at up to 30W, which isn’t terrible – in fact, it has Apple and most Samsung phones beat, but it pales in comparison to many other handsets, some of which can now reach up to 150W.
So for the Sony Xperia 1 V we want a charging power boost. We’re thinking at least 60W, but the more the better, so we can juice the phone up quickly.
5. Longer distance zoom
One of the star features of the Sony Xperia 1 IV is its continuous optical zoom – letting you zoom to anything between 3.5x and 5.2x. This isn’t something you’ll find on other phones, but with such a fancy feature we’d like to see Sony make the most of it and increase the zoom level to around 10x, like the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra.
That phone offers optical zoom at 3x or 10x, but if Sony can offer optical zoom at every level within that range, then it will have Samsung – and every other phone maker – beat on that front.
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