It has been some time since Sony has been top of mind when it comes to flagship smartphones. The Sony Xperia Z3 Compact was one of our favourite flagship devices of the time, but lately Sony has been launching drab, characterless slab of metal and glass. They are hoping to change that with the launch of their latest flagship, the Sony Xperia 1 II.
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The Sony Xperia 1 II will be officially launched in July, shipping to customers from the 24th of the month. It will cost the exuberant sum of $1,200 – an ambitious gamble for the Japanese tech giant. Also, don’t get us started on the confusing naming convention.
It comes with some of your flagship staples, such as a triple camera on the back. The new setup has been designed in cooperation with Sony engineers that cut their teeth on their impressive mirrorless camera range. All three shooters will have 12MP sensors – a main wide-angle, an ultra-wide and a zoom lens, although some details are still murky.
As with its predecessor, the Xperia 1 II has a big display with the unique 21:9 aspect ratio. Sony believes in this ear of media consumption the cinema-wide aspect ratio on its displays is the way forward. It will be fully 4K, with HDR capabilities as well. The OLED panel can also serve as an external display for some Sony DSLR or mirrorless camera models.
It will run the Snapdragon 865 chipset, like most other Android flagships of 2020, a 4,000mAh battery and still include a 3.5mm headphone jack (a rarity in flagships these days).
The Xperia 1 II will be Sony’s first 5G capable phone, only shipping the sub-6Ghz variety in Europe. You will have to wait for the Xperia Pro 5G that will include the full millimetre-wave functionality of true 5G.
Would you be interested in a Sony flagship smartphone again? Let us know in the comments below.
