Sony's latest flagship smartphone is up for preorder, with the Xperia 1 III promising some serious display and camera tech for those willing to think - and spend - outside of the iPhone and Galaxy mainstream. Announced back in April, the new Android handset debuts the world's first variable telephoto lens, with a zoom that can flip between two focal lengths for different image and video results.
LG may have quit the smartphone market but it is hardly the only phone maker with revenue problems in that area. HTC hasn't even launched that many phones last year and Sony, despite having more, continues to lose money over its mobile business. The latter, however, is no longer true after the company finally reported its first profits in the mobile business in years. That said, the reasons for the positive figures that surprised even Sony itself might not exactly be what you think.
Sony unveiled a trio of new smartphones today, and one of the offerings is the Xperia 5 III. It's almost identical in features to the Sony Xperia 1 III that we mentioned earlier this morning. One of the smartphone's big highlight features is the variable telephoto lens paired with a dual PD sensor. The smartphone offers object tracking in photography mode.
Sony has revealed its latest Android flagship smartphone, and the Sony Xperia 1 III 5G continues the company's push to make photography its biggest selling point. Tapping features previously only offered on Sony Alpha cameras, along with a 6.5-inch 120Hz 4K OLED 21:9 display, the Xperia 1 III also introduces the world's first variable optical telephoto lens.
Sony plans to reveal its latest Xperia phone on April 14, the company has confirmed, though as for what the big launch may be there are a few different rumors circulating. The company most recently debuted a fairly niche smartphone even by its own standards, with the Xperia Pro aiming to give a twist on 5G use-cases for those who focus on upload speeds more than downloads.
Sony's Xperia Pro is up for sale, but there's more than just the $2,499.99 price tag to set this particular Android smartphone apart from the crowd. Previewed back at MWC 2020 last February, the Xperia Pro taps its 5G connection to share content as quickly as possible for serious photo and video creators, as well as functioning as a 4K external monitor.
With very few smartphones released each year, you'd think that Sony would have a handle on getting Android updates out fast. Its reported timetable for Android 11 rollout, however, didn't give that much hope. Now it seems that Sony is picking up the pace and has just started pushing the latest Android version to its nearly two-year-old smartphone, perhaps sparking hope that the company is indeed turning over a new leaf.
It's getting harder and harder to root for Sony's Xperia smartphones. Despite their pedigree, the company has consistently failed to push out devices that would make consumers remember its place in mobile market history. And while it continues to stand by its Open Devices program to woo developers, Sony has been relatively slow in pushing out updates to its already small number of devices. As if to assure its customers that it hasn't forgotten about them yet, the company has reportedly confirmed when it will be pushing out Android 11 to its five most recent models.
This week a device appeared on an auction site with the title "Xperia Play2". This device is not a PSP, nor is it a handheld gaming device made by Sony with any other name. Instead, this would appear to be a real prototype of a device that'd be a direct follow-up to the original PlayStation phone: Sony Xperia Play.
Samsung, Apple and Google get most of the attention when customers are in the market for new phones today. These phones are great, but there’s plenty of innovation happening around the dimmer corners of phone stores. Away from the limelight are Sony Xperia phones, which have had a quietly impressive year with plenty of interesting features in hopes of finding a niche of its own. There is something for binge-watchers, tiny hands and people who are just a little tired of the mainstream offering. Could Xperia be for you?
Sony isn't giving up the fight, at least not yet. It is stubbornly holding on to what little it has left in the market, making sure that it launches a phone even twice a year. For 2019, that's the Xperia 1 and its smaller doppelganger, the Xperia 5. Unfortunately, if this is the best that Sony has to offer, it might not last long in that game, especially if it can't even hold a candle against more affordable smartphones with better front-facing cameras for taking those oh so popular selfies.
Today, Sony unveiled the Xperia 5, the latest in its line of flagship phones. In some ways, the Xperia 5 is a successor to another phone in Sony's lineup, as the company says that it brings "key technologies from Xperia 1 into a compact, stylish and sleek smartphone design." We're not far out from release either, as Sony is gearing up to launch this phone in October.