So the good news is that Sony’s impressive new phone with a big, wide, high-res display is coming to the United States in July. The less good news is that while the Sony Xperia 1 has top-tier specs, it also has a top-tier price.
Sony says the smartphone will sell for $950 when it goes on sale at Amazon, Best Buy, B&H, and Focus Camera.
That’s not exactly a shocking price. Over the past few years we’ve seen the prices of flagship phones creep upward, and Sony’s never been particularly competitive when it comes to pricing for its high-end phones. But it’s still likely to limit the appeal of this otherwise interesting smartphone.
If you need a refresher, here are some of the Xperia 1’s key specs:
- 6.5 inch, 3840 x 1644 pixel HDR OLED display with a 21:9 aspect ratio
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor
- 6GB of RAM
- 128GB of storage
- Triple 12MP rear cameras (primary + wide-angle + 2x zoom)
- 8MP front camera
- Side fingerprint sensor
- 802.11ac WiFi
- Bluetooth 5.0
- GSM & CDMA network support (for Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint)
- NFC
- Stereo speakers and Dolby Atmos sound
- IP65/68 rated
- 3,300 mAh battery
The phone supports slow motion video recording at 960 frames per second and it can shoot 4K HDR video as well.
My previous phone was a (2014) OnePlus 1 (was $350) and I currently use a (2018) Sony Xperia XZ2 (was $300). What baffles me is the asking price of the Xperia 1 vs the OnePlus 7 Pro. For $950 the performance specs of the Sony are the same (855 CPU, 6GB RAM, 128GB storage) as the $670 base model OnePlus 7 Pro. OnePlus ups the ante with the 8GB/256GB for $700 and 12GB/256GB for $750. Oh and it has 3 rear Sony camera modules, too – one is 48MP. My Xperia shoots 24MP from one camera… Isn’t that good enough? 3x 12MP sensors doesn’t feel like enough for your phone at such a high premium.
Motorola has their wacky Z series with modular attachments like a bigger sensor camera. Google offers carrier-hopping hardware for their meta-carrier (Project Fi). Samsung hits 5G with a new antenna and puts their selfie cam behind the LCD without taking away pixels.
Of course I’m ignoring the 48MP / 10x optical zoom OPPO Reno for about $710 + someone to ship you the phone from China. That also has the Snapdragon 855 / 8GB / 256GB.
My question is: Why buy the $950 Sony? What differentiates it?