Sony Xperia 1 V vs Sony Xperia 1 IV: What’s new with Sony’s 2023 flagship?
5 min read
Sony has lifted the lid on its newest flagship smartphone, the Sony Xperia 1 V. Changing the outgoing Sony Xperia 1 IV, what’s new with this yr’s mannequin?
Whereas the 2 look related (learn: virtually an identical) there are a number of key options that separate the Sony Xperia 1 V from its Xperia 1 IV predecessor, not solely by way of digital camera {hardware} however processing energy and, arguably most significantly, thermal efficiency.
The latter was an enormous situation with the Xperia 1 IV and Sony has labored laborious to ensure it’s not the identical story this yr, although that’s one thing we’ll need to confirm as soon as we get a pattern in for evaluate.
So, with all that in thoughts, listed below are a number of key variations between the £1,299 Sony Xperia 1 V and the Sony Xperia 1 IV forward of its full launch in June. When you’re interested in the way it stacks up towards the flagship competitors, we evaluate the Sony Xperia 1 V and the Samsung Galaxy S23 Extremely individually.
The Sony Xperia 1 V has an improved rear digital camera setup
The primary distinction between this yr’s Sony Xperia 1 V and 2022’s Xperia 1 IV is the digital camera setup, and extra particularly, the rear important lens. It has not solely seen a bump in decision however the underlying digital camera sensor tech too.
Whereas we thought the principle 12MP lens of the Xperia 1 IV was superb however not fairly as succesful because the spec sheet would counsel, notably with hit-and-miss publicity and unintelligent image processing, however that shouldn’t be the case with the brand new Xperia 1 V.
That’s as a result of the Xperia 1 V contains a model new 52MP Exmor T sensor with a CMOS with a singular two-layer transistor that Sony claims is twice nearly as good at capturing evening pictures in comparison with its predecessor.
That’s additionally helped by the truth that the sensor is 1.7x bigger than that of the Xperia 1 IV, and Sony claims that when mixed with its extra superior computational images, it may seize pictures on a par with a conventional DSLR. That’s a mighty daring declare that might make it among the finest digital camera telephones round, and one we’ll be placing to the take a look at as soon as we get a pattern in for evaluate.
Relating to the ultrawide and zoom lenses, there’s little or no – if any – distinction. Each fashions sport a 12MP f/2.2 ultrawide and a 12MP 85-125mm f/2.3 – 2.8 telephoto with optical picture stabilisation.
Sony Xperia 1 V boasts a top-end chipset
On the coronary heart of the Sony Xperia 1 V, you’ll discover Qualcomm’s newest and biggest chipset, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.
Whereas we’ve not examined the Xperia 1 V simply but, we’ve used loads of Snapdragon 8 Gen 2-equipped smartphones over the previous few months together with the OnePlus 11 and Xiaomi 13 Professional and all have delivered blisteringly quick speeds each in real-world circumstances and benchmark assessments. We count on the identical right here.
That’s to not say that the Sony Xperia 1 IV is gradual, sporting the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset that was the perfect within the biz again in early 2022. The truth is, we thought the Xperia 1 IV was super-capable in our evaluate, and that hasn’t modified up to now yr. Nonetheless, it’s not the very newest chipset and as such gained’t be capable to beat newer 2023 flagships in benchmarks.
No matter which you select, you’ll get an accompanying 12GB of RAM and both 256GB or 512GB of storage relying on the choice you go for.
The Sony Xperia 1 V shouldn’t overheat as simply
If there was one phrase to explain the Xperia 1 IV, it’d be “scorching” – and no, we’re not speaking a few pleasing aesthetic. We imply it actually received scorching, very often, to the purpose the place the excessive warmth alert would seem and disable sure options.
This wasn’t all the time triggered by high-end gaming both, with the alert generally triggering when performing fundamental duties like downloading recordsdata whereas searching the web. That sort of thermal efficiency meant the chipset can be throttled a lot of the time, and that’d have a knock-on impact on general efficiency however notably in video games.
We suspected it was extra to do with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset than the general {hardware} because the chipset has fairly a repute for operating scorching, but it surely appears Sony isn’t taking any possibilities with the Xperia 1 V this yr.
In addition to the extra power-efficient Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 below the hood, the telephone sports activities a warmth diffusion sheet 60% bigger than that of its predecessor, and the digital camera module is claimed to make use of 20% much less energy too, so hopefully the overheating points might be a factor of the previous.
The Xperia 1 V ought to last more on a single cost
The Xperia 1 V shares the identical 5,000mAh battery capability as its predecessor, which ought to counsel a parity in battery efficiency between the 2, however the Xperia 1 V’s extra power-efficient Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset will probably see it draw back in real-world assessments – however we’ll have to attend and see as soon as we get a pattern in for evaluate.
Regardless, Sony claims that it’s able to 20 hours of 4K video playback, or for the much less video-inclined, a complete day of mixed-use, barely greater than you’ll get from the Xperia 1 IV.
The charging isn’t fairly as spectacular, nonetheless, with the identical 30W charging as its predecessor. That’s superb, but it surely’s removed from fast in comparison with the 125W charging of the Xiaomi 13 Professional which gives a full cost of its 5,000mAh cell in simply 24 minutes.
Wi-fi charging has made a return, as has reverse wi-fi charging to top-up equipment, however neither is any sooner than that of the Xperia 1 IV.
