Sony Xperia 1 V: Specs, pricing, availability, and more

Sony launches the Xperia 1 series of flagship Android phones every year, offering a high-end, premium-priced experience. In 2022, we saw the Japanese tech giant deliver perhaps its most compelling Xperia 1 device yet in the Xperia 1 IV. But the company has one-upped itself with the Sony Xperia 1 V. Here’s everything you need to know about Sony’s new flagship.

Sony Xperia 1 V: Release date, price, and availability

Staying true to its reputation, Sony revealed the Xperia 1 V on May 11 and will force consumers to wait a while before getting their hands on it. When it’s available will ultimately depend on where you’re located in the world. Pre-orders in the UK are scheduled to open up on June 14, with June 29 being the launch date. The US, on the other hand, can start pre-ordering now, but it won’t ship before July 28.

The Xperia 1 saw a pretty steep jump in price between the III and the IV, going from $1,299 to $1,599. Sony has embraced a premium strategy for its smartphones, prioritizing high prices and a premium experience over a volume-driven approach. The new Xperia 1 will still cost you an arm and a leg, but the company did bring the price down by $200.

Sony’s Xperia line is high-end in both the build and price, and that’s no different this time around. While this may be a bit much for some consumers, Sony knows its audience. If the Xperia 1 IV didn’t scare you away, the Xperia 1 V won’t either.

If waiting doesn’t bother you, then you can get the 258GB model for $1,399.99 in black or khaki green (only available from Sony’s store). Sony mentions a platinum silver colorway in the specs, but it’s not listed as available. In the UK, however, you can expect the price to be £1,299.

Sony Xperia 1 V specs

Similar to other premium flagships, the Xperia 1 V houses a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC. This processor reduces as much as 20% of the power consumption when using the camera, according to Sony. Heat efficiency has as been improved by 60% compared to the last generation.

Moving on to the display, the phone features a 6.5-inch 4K/120Hz OLED screen. This is the same display that appeared in last year’s model if you’re keeping track. It offers 12GB of RAM and 256GB of expandable storage, supporting microSD cards up to 1TB. And it’s powered by a trusty 5,000mAh battery.

Other notable specs include Gorilla Glass Victus 2, a 30W charging speed, and an IP65/68 rating. It also comes complete with dual stereo speakers, a shutter key, and sub-6GHz 5G with no mmWave.

Sony Xperia 1 V features

One of Sony’s strong suits is gaming, and it used that knowledge to turn the Xperia 1 V into a mobile gaming machine. While it’s no ASUS ROG Phone, Sony made its handset capable of taking advantage of its PlayStation ecosystem. It can pair with a DualShock 4 and DualSense controller, and it’s compatible with live streaming and PS Remote Play. The Xperia 1 V also utilizes a game enhancer feature that offers the following:

• 120Hz refresh rate
• 240Hz motion blur reduction
• 240Hz touch scanning
• audio equalizer
• 20Hz recording
• audio mixer

To enhance the immersion, the device uses full-stage stereo speakers with high-resolution audio and Dolby Atmos. It also provides Sony’s Digital Sound Enhancement Engine (DSEE) and a dynamic vibration system. In a move that’s a bit of a rarity these days, at least in flagship phones, Sony kept the audio jack around for another year.

Some other notable features include Bluetooth LE 5.3, NFC, Google Cast, a fingerprint sensor (combined with the power button on the side), and a USB-C port. Now that’s out of the way, let’s move on to the meat and potatoes of the Xperia 1 V.

Cameras

Although the design language stayed mostly the same, that can’t be said for the cameras. One of the biggest changes to the Xperia 1 V is the main sensor. Sony dropped the old 12MP shooter in favor of a 52MP Exmor T series sensor (ƒ/1.9, 1.12-micron pixels). The new sensor is better equipped to handle low light than the main camera on the Xperia 1 IV.

It’s important to note that while the main camera is a 52MP shooter, the phone only uses 48MP for photos and videos with its 4.3:3 aspect ratio. However, you can still take videos with a 4:3 aspect ratio.

The other two cameras remain the same, however. It has both a 12MP telephoto camera and a 12MP ultrawide. The telephoto camera is a variable sensor (1/3.5-inch, ƒ/2.3, 1.0μm) that’s capable of 85mm to 125mm shots (3.5x to 5.2x). While the ultrawide has a sensor size of 1/2.5 with an aperture of ƒ/2.2. As for the front camera, it gets the 12MP treatment as well (1/2.9, ƒ/2.0, 1.22μm).

For the other half of the picture equation, Sony is bringing plenty of software features to the phone. You can expect HDR, a night shooting function, image stabilization, and focus peaking. There are also two features called S-Cinetone and Creative Look. S-Cinetone is a function that helps with optimizing skin tones while providing a film-like color to videos. While Creative Look is a collection of 10 presets that change color tone, saturation, contrast, sharpness, brightness, and other image elements.

Do these changes translate into improved performance? In our Sony Xperia 1 V review, we found that this phone’s camera setup can live with the best in the market when its hardware and software come together.

Performance

Last year, the Xperia 1 shipped with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor. It had no trouble handling everyday tasks, but it often ran hot. The handset also handed in one of the lowest performances we’ve seen for a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 phone in system-wide Antutu and PCMark benchmarks. But this year, Sony gave the Xperia 1 a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is the latest and greatest mobile chip to come from Qualcomm. This is the best chip available right now in the Android world and has found its way to the Galaxy S23 series, OnePlus 11, ASUS ROG Phone 7, and more. Based on how the chip performed in other phones, we expect the Xperia 1 V to strike a harmonious balance between power and efficiency.

The Galaxy S23, specifically, topped out at a CPU clock speed of 3.36GHz. However, Samsung gave its Galaxy S23 series an overclocked version of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. So we can expect that Sony’s phone won’t outperform this benchmark. But stay tuned for our full review where we’ll benchmark the phone and give you much more concrete data.

Display

Perhaps the most notable Xperia 1 feature is the 6.5-inch 4K/120Hz OLED screen. Sony has once again gone with the same display, offering 240Hz motion blur reduction and touch scanning. Even if you’re not watching native 4K content, the phone has 4K upscaling to enhance your viewing. Additionally, it also has HDR remaster which adjusts the color and contrast of objects on the screen.

Our main complaint with the Xperia 1 IV and III was that the phone didn’t offer a dynamic refresh rate. You were either stuck with 60Hz all the time or 120Hz all the time. Our hope was that a dynamic option would be added that automatically switches between various refresh rates as needed, but it wasn’t listed in Sony’s official spec sheet. We’ll know for sure if the feature is still missing once our review goes up.

Design and build quality

Despite looking the same, there are slight changes to the weight and depth, but they are mostly negligible. The biggest difference in appearance is the available colors, which include Black, Khaki Green, and Platinum Silver. Outside of that, there’s not really much else to say about the design.

As for the build quality, the Xperia 1 should be a fairly solid phone. It will be able to take some abuse with the help of Gorilla Glass Victus 2. This is the latest protective glass from Corning, and it covers the front of the device. The back, however, relies on Victus 1, which was used in last year’s model.

You can expect there to be a decent level of water and dust resistance. Specifically, this phone comes with a dust and water resistance rating of IP65/IP68. In regards to dust, this rating means this Xperia 1 is dust-tight. As for water, the rating suggests the device is protected from jets of water from all directions; and it could be protected from long periods of immersion in water under pressure (about 4.9 feet for up to 30 minutes).

Battery

When it comes to the battery, you can pretty much expect to get the same amount of battery life as the Xperia 1 V’s predecessor. This is because this year’s model also houses a 5,000mAh battery. You can expect about 20 hours of continuous playback time with 4K settings and upscaling. And it will retain its 30W wired charging and 15W wireless charging speeds from the past. However, Sony does mention something interesting about its battery.

A few additional battery specs to keep track of include battery sharing, adaptive charging, STAMINA mode, fast charging, and Battery Care. If you’re unfamiliar with STAMINA mode, it’s a power-saving feature on Xperia phones that pauses Wi-Fi, data traffic, and several power-consuming applications when your screen is inactive. As for Battery Care, it adjusts the charging rate similar to the Adaptive Charging feature on Pixel phones.

Where can you buy the Sony Xperia 1 V?

If you’re a part of Sony’s target audience and you want to pick one up for yourself, it is available right now on Sony’s website. The Xperia 1 V comes with Sony’s LinkBuds, but the company is also offering a $50 coupon and five times Sony reward points. At the moment, the phone is only available in Khaki Green and Black.

Additionally, you can also get an optional case, featuring a thicker chin for a camera-like grip. This grip also contains a kickstand inside the chin, enabling you to prop the phone up in portrait or landscape orientations.