Xperia 1 V: focusing on where it makes the most sense

Few things are as baffling in the smartphone market as the apparent inability of Sony – a company enjoying considerable brand recognition and an unquestionably loyal following – to achieve the kind of commercial success its Xperia models often deserve in that space. Although these devices are absolutely great, even amazing on occasion, they can’t seem to stand out enough or excite enough or compete effectively enough to succeed in all three of the market segments they strive to address.

Being more expensive than most of its competition, it’s always been Sony’s flagship Xperia 1 in particular that seemed to be fighting an uphill battle year after year. But with so many brands offering so many smartphones in the $1200-$1800 range nowadays, that may not be the main problem anymore. Sony’s somewhat weak marketing efforts have probably something to do with it, too, but that’s neither here nor there: it’s hard to expect any corporation to routinely and heavily invest in a business unit that’s not turning a profit most of the time.

Promising camera upgrades in hardware and software

Whatever the case may be, the Japanese manufacturer seems determined to change all that this year with the Xperia 1 V, its top-of-the-line smartphone for 2023, by doing much more focused, comprehensive work on what has always been that model’s core strength: mobile photography and videography. Sony, after sticking with a three-camera array driven by 12 Megapixel sensors for many years, has finally joined the 50-Megapixel club: the main camera’s sensor has a 48-Megapixel effective area, so its 12-Megapixel photos are now the result of 4-to-1 pixel binning (which helps tremendously in low-light situations and retains a much higher level of detail across the board).

Other manufacturers have already used the same approach for the same reasons – hopefully, Sony will also provide the option of shooting at the full resolution of that sensor – to great effect, so the difference compared to last year’s Xperia 1 model should be readily apparent. Most importantly, though, the sensor driving the new main camera, the Exmor T, is completely redesigned and considerably larger, ensuring that it gets more light than ever to work with and that noise is kept to a minimum. Sony is even drawing parallels between the Xperia 1 V and its proper, famous mirrorless Alpha cameras in terms of photo clarity and detail, which could easily be dismissed as a predictable marketing trick but speaks volumes about the company’s confidence regarding its new smartphone.

The other two cameras at the back – the ultrawide and the zoom one, the latter offering variable zoom lengths like last year’s Xperia 1 IV – are driven by 12-Megapixel sensors, but Sony says that in actual use it expects “all three to work together” for maximum flexibility and the best results. The selfie camera relies on a 12-Megapixel sensor and appears to be identical to the capable one offered by last year’s Xperia 1.

What can also be taken as a clear sign of the fact that Sony means business this year when it comes to its best Xperia’s photo capture potential is the company’s focus on the software side of things. The Photo Pro and Cinema Pro apps have been redesigned, there’s a new Night Mode (at last!), there’s no TOF sensor because depth and distances are measured by AI algorithms, while AI functionality is helping out in general, in various ways, at various stages of the capturing process (hopefully without meddling with the actual photos too much).

Screen tall and crisp, design unchanged, power to spare

In terms of processing power, the Xperia 1 V is a proper 2023 Android flagship: it’s built around the SnapDragon 8 Gen 2 – so it will be as fast as most other smartphones sporting Qualcomm’s latest – along with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage (it seems to be the only available configuration but that’s probably for the best). Sony seems confident that the 5000 mAh battery inside the Xperia 1 V will offer considerably more talk, browsing and stand-by time than last year’s model thanks to the SD8 Gen 2’s higher power efficiency, which is reasonable (not to mention desirable since wired and wireless charging speeds are not higher).

Design-wise not much has changed since the Xperia 1 IV days, which is perfectly fine since the new model’s predecessor was among the best-looking smartphones around. Its tall aspect ratio may not be for everyone, granted, but the 21:9 screen is amazing for consuming content in landscape portrait and its pixel density means that a lot of information can be displayed with less scrolling in portrait. The screen is of the same tech, refresh rate, diagonal and resolution: OLED, 120 Hz, 6.5” and 4K (when displaying video) or 2560p (when displaying practically everything else). The front and back of Sony’s latest smartphone are protected by Corning’s Gorilla Glass Victus 2, but the back also sports a kind of matte texture for a better grip.

Sound is also expected to be much better this time around thanks to an integrated amplifier, speaker placement at both ends of the phone and extensive software support for all modern standards. Along with these, the Xperia 1 V retains a number of advantages over other current Android flagship smartphones, including a microSD card slot for expandable storage, a standard 3.5mm jack for wired headphones and a dedicated shutter button for capturing photos or videos without having to unlock the phone and run an app manually.

Impressive stuff, but will camera performance justify the pricing?

Sony also unveiled, along with the Xperia 1 V, its entry-level offer for 2023: the Xperia 10 V. It’s This smartphone is an improvement over last year’s model in a number of important ways and it should serve mainstream consumers well, despite the fact that at its $499 price there are a lot of quality alternatives out there already. It’s worth mentioning that the roadmap shown to journalists during the online presentation attended by yours truly did not include an Xperia 5 V model – but that may very well change later in the year.

The Xperia 1 V will be available to buy by June’s end for $1399, which is obviously not an inconsiderable amount of money even for a premium device such as this one. If Sony’s camera hardware and software improvements prove to be as substantial as the company promises, though – earning the Xperia 1 V a place among the best smartphones in terms of photographic capabilities as a result – then the Xperia 1 V’s price tag will be much easier to justify.