Sony Ups Its Camera Game With The Launch Of The Xperia 1 VII

The Sony Xperia 1 VI was an impressive phone with a good deal of battery life, versatile cameras, and a great overall user experience. However, it’s time to move on and focus our attention on its successor. Leading up to the launch, there have been multiple leaks and rumors about the Xperia 1 VII, but that no longer matters because Sony’s latest flagship has finally arrived. Here’s everything you need to know about the latest entry to the Xperia 1 series.

First things first, let’s start off with the design, which doesn’t make any drastic changes compared to the 2024 model. So, if you were holding out hope that Sony would try to shake things up, the Xperia 1 VII might be a disappointment from this standpoint. As such, we get the same slate-style phone with a familiar-looking triple rear camera setup and selfie camera. We also see the return of the headphone jack and textured sides.

Moving on to the front of the device, the 120Hz FHD+ HDR OLED display makes a return for another year. This is the second year Sony has strayed away from including a 4K panel. Despite that, the 6.5-inch screen still makes full use of Sony’s BRAVIA technology. An extra light sensor has been added to the back this time around to help with adjusting to lighting conditions. There’s also a “Sunlight Vision” feature to make sure your screen stays visible in direct sunlight.

The display is capable of reproducing high picture quality regardless of the environment

Switching over to the back, we have the triple camera array that consists of Exmor T and RS sensors. For these cameras, Sony says it collaborated with the engineers of its Alpha digital cameras team. Here, we do see an upgrade to the ultrawide shooter, which goes from 12mm up to 16mm with a larger 48MP 1/1.56-inch sensor. This is a little over two times larger than the previous model, allowing for clearer night shots with less noise and a wider dynamic range. Elsewhere, there’s the usual 24mm/48mm Exmor T sensor for the main camera and an 85-170mm Exmor RS telephoto lens with optical zoom.

In addition to the new ultrawide lens, Sony is also introducing two new camera features powered by AI. The first of which is called “AI Camera Work,” which is designed to help you create pro-level stable and framed videos. If you use this feature, the camera should be able to stay fixed on the subject even as you and the subject move. The other feature, called “Auto Framing,” lets AI track the subject and auto-crop the shot so the subject stays in the middle of the screen. This feature also lets you choose whether you want to show the whole scene or a cropped version of the video that focuses on the subject.

On the inside, you’ll find a Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, similar to the chip Samsung uses for the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Along with the chip is a 5,000mAh battery with Qi wireless charging, 12GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. You can also expand the storage up to 2TB with a microSDXC card.

Sony claims the Xperia 1 VII has the best sound quality to date

As this is a Sony device, it has a variety of gaming-focused features like Remote Play compatibility, DualShock 4/DualSense compatibility, Game enhancer, FPS Optimizer, and 240Hz touch scanning rate. Outside of gaming features, there’s also a range of audio features, including support for LDAC, DSEE, Dolby Atmos, 360 Reality Audio, and stereo speakers.

The Xperia 1 VII is available in three shades: Slate Black, Moss Green, and Orchid Purple. You’ll be able to order one for €1,499/£1,399 from Sony or select retailers. Unfortunately, the handset is once again skipping the US.

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