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Last-minute Xperia 1 III leak gives off mixed vibes

By JC Torres/

With LG officially bowing out of the smartphone market, eyes will be turning to the other ailing Android OEMs and what they will do next. While HTC remains mostly silent, Sony actually has an event this week where it will attempt to prove that it's business as usual for its own mobile business. Its next Xperia product is just around the corner but a fresh dump of unofficial details seems to paint a picture of an Xperia 1 III that is teetering between past and future.

We've already seen leaks of the Xperia 1 III's appearance before and AndroidNext's blurry images don't exactly change the impression in a major way. That said, it even seems to make matters worse by suggesting that bezels will still be rather wide, just as it was with last year's Xperia 1 II. It even raises some doubts whether this year's premium Sony phone will even have a punch-hole cutout as previously leaked.

The most worrying observation that the site makes, however, is that there doesn't seem to be a periscope-style zoom camera. Of course, blurry images can hardly be used as a credible reference but, if true, it would be a disappointment for those hoping that Sony's phones will finally catch up to its rivals in terms of photography.

As far as the rest of the rumored specs go, however, the Xperia 1 III might be up there with the big guys. Of special note is the 6.5-inch display that may be the first and only 4K phone screen capable of 120Hz refresh rates. Whether users will actually be able to run the screen at 4K resolution and 120Hz refresh rate, however, is still under question.

Sony will be holding its online Xperia event on April 14 at 4:30 PM JST (3:30 AM ET). Sony will most likely still play on the phone's multimedia capabilities, especially with 360 Reality Audio, but it's a tune it has been singing for the past two Xperia 1 generations now. That, so far, hasn't really changed the market performance of Sony's smartphones but, unlike LG, it doesn't seem to be quite bothered about it.

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