Serious About Photography? Check Out The Xperia 1 VII Camera

These days, when we look at phones, raw power isn’t quite as important as other features. This is because we’ve reached the point where almost every chip offer decent-to-great performance. This means we turn to other features, like batter cameras, as a way of judging a phone, and the Sony Xperia 1 VII aims to be one of the best exponents of this.

Hardware camera changes

The Xperia 1 VII is the latest Sony flagship smartphone. For the most part, it looks like its predecessor, the Xperia 1 VI. However, the camera aspect is a key difference as Sony has opted for a better ultrawide sensor. Instead of a 12MP ultrawide, Sony has bumped it to a 48MP. The company has also given it a wider aperture of f/2.0, a slight upgrade over the Xperia 1 VI, which had an aperture of f/2.2. This will help the sensor capture more light, so it should offer better performance in night, indoor and low-light scenarios.

It’s not just a bump in megapixels, though. It’s a bump in physical size. Sony says that the new ultrawide sensor is 2.1x bigger than the previous model.

While Apple made a big deal about its physical Camera Control button on the iPhone 16, companies like Sony beat Apple to the punch ages ago. In the Xperia 1 VII, Sony has increased the size of the dedicated shutter button to make it easier to press. It is a 2-stage shutter button, where a light press will focus the subject, and a deeper press will take the photo. The button also acts as a way for users to quickly launch the camera, even when the phone’s display is turned off.

AI photography features

In addition to hardware, Sony is introducing new software camera features in the Xperia 1 VII. Being a flagship phone in 2025, Sony is going in with AI. This includes AI Camera Work, which helps create pro-level, stable, and framed videos. It helps keep the subject fixed in the center, even when you’re walking around. There’s also a new Auto Framing AI feature that can track subjects and automatically crop them to keep them centered. The company is also leveraging AI for real-time tracking and real-time eye AF.

The Sony Xperia 1 VII is available for pre-order, priced starting at 1,499 euros.