Sony's next flagship phone appears to have been leaked. Full renders of the fourth-gen Xperia 1 – allegedly called the Xperia 1 IV and the successor to the excellent Xperia 1 III – have shown up on GizNext.
The detailed images don't leave much to the imagination, so if they are to be believed, we now have a pretty good picture of Sony's next flagship device. The Xperia 1 IV looks to follow the same design language of its predecessor, with a long, slender, flat-edge design. GizNext reports that the dimensions are 164.7 x 70.8 x 8.3mm (or 9.5mm with the camera bump included) – only very slightly down from the Xperia 1 III.
We're pleased to see the continuation of a headphone jack on the renders, as well as the physical fingerprint sensor integrated on the power key. It seems like we're in for a triple-camera configuration with an LED flash once again, although the report doesn't speculate on whether the lenses will be superior to its predecessor's 12MP f/2.3 telephoto, 12MP f/1.7 standard and 12MP ultra-wide f/2.2 snappers.
Fingers crossed we do get a bump up there, though, because so far this seems very much like evolution over revolution for Sony's next flagship, with the Xperia IV also reported to have a 6.5-inch display, presumably of the OLED flavour again. That's not the end of the world, mind. The Xperia 1 III was our favourite phone of 2021, edging the iPhone 13 and Samsung Galaxy S21 on the audiovisual front. If Sony can move its range-topper along with a camera, battery and perhaps even a RAM upgrade, the Xperia could be the one to beat in 2022.
Earlier leaks have pointed to a May launch date for the next Xperia phone – a month later in the calendar year than the current one's arrival time.
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