Sony’s new Xperia 1 VI flagship zooms in on photography nerds

Sony has introduced the Xperia 1 VI, the sixth generation of the company’s flagship smartphone that could tempt photography enthusiasts away from rivaling iPhone and Pixel devices. Some of those perks include a true optical zoom, AI-assisted autofocus, and a unified app experience.

It has three cameras on the back: a 24mm main camera with a 48-megapixel Sony Exmor T sensor, a 16mm ultrawide, and an 85-170mm variable zoom telephoto camera that provides magnification around 3.5x to 7.1x that of the main camera. The Xperia 1 VI also utilizes this new telephoto camera for its macro mode.

The device comes with auto-focus “human pose estimation” AI technology that can recognize a subject’s body and head position and supports filming video in 4K HDR at 120fps that works alongside high-end color profiles like the S-Cinetone. Sony has also unified its various filming and photography features into a single camera app experience, preventing users from needing to jump between different software.

Inside the Xperia 1 VI, you’ll find the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, 12GB of RAM, and a choice between 256GB and 512GB of storage. Sony says its 5,000mAh battery should provide users with up to two days worth of juice on a single charge and that the device supports both 15W wireless charging and wireless battery sharing to other devices.

A few other changes have also been introduced besides the camera upgrades which might be a harder sell for some customers. The previously 4K display is now 2220 x 1080 and has been reduced from 7.1 inches down to 6.5 inches, taking the aspect ratio from 21:9 to a stouter 19.5:9. It does now have a variable refresh rate between 1Hz to 120Hz however, and Sony says the OLED display can achieve a 50 percent higher peak brightness than the Xperia 1 V.

The actual design remains fairly unchanged. It’s visually almost identical to the previous model, down to being released in the same three colors: black, silver, and khaki green. It also still comes with a dedicated shutter button and a 3.5mm headphone jack (a rarity in flagship mobiles these days), though Sony says the new “full-stage” speakers also provide improvements to “bass, clarity, and the spread of sound” for those who choose not to plug in.

Unlike previous releases in the Xperia 1 series, Sony isn’t planning to release the Xperia 1 VI in the US. The device can, however, be preordered now in the UK and across Europe for £1,299 (around $1,640) and €1,399, respectively, with deliveries starting from June 6th.