TechPhonesAndroid PhonesSony Xperia 1 VI review: finally a mainstream dream?Sony’s pricey new Xperia 1 VI mainstreams in a bid to widen the line’s appeal and upgrades the zoom cameraWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)T3 VerdictThe Sony Xperia 1 VI is a great phone in a bubble, combining excellent battery life with a quality display, booming front-firing speakers, ample power and impressive camera hardware. Its macro photo and video capabilities shine, and with no major chinks in its armour beyond pared-back photo processing, Sony’s made a great 2024 flagship. Costing more than an iPhone 15 Pro Max, though, the Xperia 1 VI remains a niche option.Reasons to buy+Front-firing speakers sound great+Very impressive macro camera+Great gaming performance+Excellent battery lifeReasons to avoid-Pricey-Slow charging-No pro-grade video on launch-Mediocre point-and-shoot cameraWhy you can trust T3Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about how we test.
TechPhonesAndroid PhonesSony Xperia 1 VI review: finally a mainstream dream?Sony’s pricey new Xperia 1 VI mainstreams in a bid to widen the line’s appeal and upgrades the zoom cameraWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)T3 VerdictThe Sony Xperia 1 VI is a great phone in a bubble, combining excellent battery life with a quality display, booming front-firing speakers, ample power and impressive camera hardware. Its macro photo and video capabilities shine, and with no major chinks in its armour beyond pared-back photo processing, Sony’s made a great 2024 flagship. Costing more than an iPhone 15 Pro Max, though, the Xperia 1 VI remains a niche option.Reasons to buy+Front-firing speakers sound great+Very impressive macro camera+Great gaming performance+Excellent battery lifeReasons to avoid-Pricey-Slow charging-No pro-grade video on launch-Mediocre point-and-shoot cameraWhy you can trust T3Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about how we test.
Sony’s pricey new Xperia 1 VI mainstreams in a bid to widen the line’s appeal and upgrades the zoom camera
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(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)T3 VerdictThe Sony Xperia 1 VI is a great phone in a bubble, combining excellent battery life with a quality display, booming front-firing speakers, ample power and impressive camera hardware. Its macro photo and video capabilities shine, and with no major chinks in its armour beyond pared-back photo processing, Sony’s made a great 2024 flagship. Costing more than an iPhone 15 Pro Max, though, the Xperia 1 VI remains a niche option.Reasons to buy+Front-firing speakers sound great+Very impressive macro camera+Great gaming performance+Excellent battery lifeReasons to avoid-Pricey-Slow charging-No pro-grade video on launch-Mediocre point-and-shoot camera
(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
T3 VerdictThe Sony Xperia 1 VI is a great phone in a bubble, combining excellent battery life with a quality display, booming front-firing speakers, ample power and impressive camera hardware. Its macro photo and video capabilities shine, and with no major chinks in its armour beyond pared-back photo processing, Sony’s made a great 2024 flagship. Costing more than an iPhone 15 Pro Max, though, the Xperia 1 VI remains a niche option.Reasons to buy+Front-firing speakers sound great+Very impressive macro camera+Great gaming performance+Excellent battery lifeReasons to avoid-Pricey-Slow charging-No pro-grade video on launch-Mediocre point-and-shoot camera
T3 VerdictThe Sony Xperia 1 VI is a great phone in a bubble, combining excellent battery life with a quality display, booming front-firing speakers, ample power and impressive camera hardware. Its macro photo and video capabilities shine, and with no major chinks in its armour beyond pared-back photo processing, Sony’s made a great 2024 flagship. Costing more than an iPhone 15 Pro Max, though, the Xperia 1 VI remains a niche option.
T3 Verdict
The Sony Xperia 1 VI is a great phone in a bubble, combining excellent battery life with a quality display, booming front-firing speakers, ample power and impressive camera hardware. Its macro photo and video capabilities shine, and with no major chinks in its armour beyond pared-back photo processing, Sony’s made a great 2024 flagship. Costing more than an iPhone 15 Pro Max, though, the Xperia 1 VI remains a niche option.
Reasons to buy+Front-firing speakers sound great+Very impressive macro camera+Great gaming performance+Excellent battery lifeReasons to avoid-Pricey-Slow charging-No pro-grade video on launch-Mediocre point-and-shoot camera
Reasons to buy+Front-firing speakers sound great+Very impressive macro camera+Great gaming performance+Excellent battery life
Front-firing speakers sound great
Very impressive macro camera
Great gaming performance
Excellent battery life
Reasons to avoid-Pricey-Slow charging-No pro-grade video on launch-Mediocre point-and-shoot camera
Pricey
Slow charging
No pro-grade video on launch
Mediocre point-and-shoot camera
Why you can trust T3Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about how we test.
Why you can trust T3Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about how we test.
Sony smartphones have niched down over the years, focusing on enthusiast camera features and cinema-wide 21:9 4K screens. But this year Sony seems to be going for the mainstream.
The Xperia 1 VI is, on paper, pared back in some aspects when compared to its predecessor, theXperia 1 V. Its screen is Full HD, not 4K, it misses out on pro video features as seen in theXiaomi 14 Ultraand past Sony phones – at least until a future update – and Sony has also ditched the 21:9 aspect ratio its phones have become known for in favour of a more traditional, squat 19.5:9 screen. What’s going on?
Yes, some aspects of Sony’s new superphone have taken a hit, but the Xperia 1 VI is also a very upgraded update in many respects. The zoom camera takes you all the 7.1x (an 85-170mm equivalent new zoom), it also takes seriously impressive macro shots, and the Xperia 1 VI is the first Sony phone with a vapour chamber cooling system.
Tried and tested Sony favourites are also back for 2024, including front-firing speakers, a selfie camera without a punch hole or notch for an uninterrupted screen, a headphone jack, a SIM tray you can pull out with your finger, and Sony’s trademark slimline design with no bulging camera bumps. Is all that enough to keep Sony’s die-hard Xperia fanbase on board?
Sony Xperia 1 VI: price & availability
Today’s best Sony Xperia 1 VI deals$1,279.99$1,044ViewWe check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
Today’s best Sony Xperia 1 VI deals$1,279.99$1,044ViewWe check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
Today’s best Sony Xperia 1 VI deals
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Just like the Xperia 1 V before it, the Xperia 1 VI is expensive at £1,299 for the 256GB option. While US and Australia pricing is unconfirmed, the Xperia 1 V launched at $1,399/AU$2,099, so we anticipate the 1 VI to match those numbers – unless either region ups the base storage to 512GB.
You can pre-order the Xperia 1 VI right now, with the phone hitting shelves at the beginning of June, and Sony is also launching a Style Cover with Stand in three colours – matching those of the 1 VI – Black, Khaki Green and Platinum Silver, costing an extra £34.99.
Sony Xperia 1 VI review: design & display
(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
While the overhauled screen shape and resolution might seem like Sony has totally reimagined its flagship, the reality is that the Xperia 1 VI is still a very Sony phone with flat sides, a flat front and back, and the same finishes we saw on the previous Xperia 1 V.
Weighing 192g and measuring 8.2mm thick, the Xperia 1 VI is relatively light for a high-end smartphone, and it isn’t too chunky either. So, while it doesn’t feel as slinky as some curved-screen phones like the Motorola Edge 50 Pro, the striated metal frame is grippy and a slight bevel masks a bit of thickness. This is matched with a very fine, dotted texture around the back, once again adding grip, and works well in the hand.
WithIP68 water and dust resistance, Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the front and Gorilla Glass Victus on the back, the Xperia 1 VI is relatively hardy, though there’s no pre-fitted screen protector or case in the box, which you do get with some competition.
(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
Speaking of the box, we have to commend Sony for making packaging minimal, even going so far as to manufacture a new material, SORPLAS, a flame-retardant recycled plastic within the phone itself. This minimal and eco-focused approach does extend to box contents, though, so don’t expect a charger or even a power cable with your pricey new Xperia phone.
The screen is a 6.5-inch Full HD panel with a resolution of 1080 x 2340, and a pixel density of 396 pixels per inch (PPI). If you’re a spec whisperer, you may be confused that a £1,299 flagship is packing these midrange screen credentials.
Last year’s Xperia 1 V has a pixel density of 643PPI, theiPhone 15 Pro Max’s display is 460PPI, while thePixel 8 Pro’s is 489PPI, and theGalaxy S24 Ultra’s is 505PPI. For Sony to go from 4K to Full HD is a bold move, but I really do think it sounds worse than it is.
(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
With a 1-120Hz variable refresh rate, the 1 VI looks smooth, packs great viewing angles and there are plenty of customisation options in the settings. Being an OLED panel, it’s also very punchy and deep, and the boosted brightness results in superior contrast ratios for HDR content.
Sony Xperia 1 VI: performance & battery life
(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
It fits like a glove in the BackBone One controller too. I used it with the 2nd Gen option, and the updated aspect ratio is better for native Android games and 16:9 PS Remote Play-style gaming than past-gen 21:9 Xperia handsets.
Older Sony phones like the Xperia 1 IV have been known to overheat, while more recent options like the 1 V have throttled aggressively to keep heat down. So it’s great to see the Xperia 1 VI strike a better balance of performance without scorching temperatures. It gets warm when gaming, but is never uncomfortable to use and keeps in-game frame rates high.
(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
Running Android 14 out of the box, Sony commits to three years of software updates and four years of security updates, adding roughly a year to its past update promise, though this still doesn’t compete with the seven-years-plus that Apple, Google and Samsung flagships carry.
What does compete much more aggressively with the competition is the Xperia 1 VI’s battery life. The 5000mAh capacity cell is unchanged compared to the Xperia 1 V, but I enjoyed much better battery from the 1 VI, likely owing to the move from a 4K to a Full HD display.
(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
With wireless and wired charging, but no fast-charging, the Xperia 1 VI powers up when you plug it in at 30W, hitting 50% after around 21 minutes, and a full charge after roughly 80 minutes.
Sony Xperia 1 VI review: cameras
Sony has recycled the main 48MP and ultra-wide 12MP cameras from the Xperia 1 V for a second innings, but theupgrade this year is to the zoom camera. Before explaining what’s new, it’s worth a quick primer on smartphone zooms.
Unless you have a Sony Xperia, your smartphone probably doesn’t have an actual zoom lens. Instead, it has multiple lenses at different fixed focal lengths, and it digitally zooms between them. Sony, however, pioneered an actual zoom lens for its Xperia 1 series, so the lens moves to magnify the image that falls on the sensor. The problem with past Xperia zooms was that while the tech was very impressive, the results weren’t, falling behind phones with multiple fixed-zoom cameras.
(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
Back to the new Xperia 1 VI: this is the first phone with Sony’s continuous zoom tech that’s actually good at zooming. More than just punching in on a subject, it’s also great at macro photography.
Sony has also ditched the three camera apps of past Xperia phones – Photo Pro, Cinema Pro and Video Pro – and consolidated them into one simple camera app, improving the bokeh mode and adding 48MP capture to the mix when shooting with the main camera.
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(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
Enthusiast photographers will be able to flex with the phone’s pro mode features, which are extensive. Beyond shutter speed and ISO sensitivity, there’s focus peaking, an on-screen histogram, drive mode, control over focus area, eye tracking, creative looks – and that’s before you even dive into the Pro settings. Once you do, you can change the peaking colour, add grid lines, change what volume button presses do and more.
The main limitations of the Xperia 1 VI’s photography are the small sensors powering the ultra-wide and zoom cameras, which cause image noise to creep in very readily.
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(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
Fortunately, footage captured on the phone does look great. Resolution options climb up to 4K 120fps across all four cameras – which is impressive for fans of slow-motion video – and the phone records HDR video too. Feed the phone bright environments, and the new zoom lens really showcases what it can do, but when the lights drop, only the main camera can hold its own without too much tinkering.
Another point to focus on is macro capture. When you fire up macro mode, it locks the telephoto lens to 120mm and gives you control over focus, locking on subjects as close as 4cm away with a roughly 5x zoom range. This unlocks insect, flower and fine fabric photography without you needing to get too close to whatever you’re snapping.
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The fact you can also capture 4K video at up to 120fps when using macro mode is unique to the Xperia 1 VI, making it the best option for macro photographers and videographers on the market.
Sony Xperia 1 VI review: verdict
(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
While Sony has mainstreamed aspects of the Xperia 1 VI and seriously improved the battery and zoom camera compared to past Xperia phones, the 1 VI is still a niche phone. This is mainly owing to its price now that its screen is a little less stretched than its predecessors.
If you specifically want front-firing speakers, a headphone jack, extensive manual photography control without heavy-handed AI photo processing and incredible macro photos and videos, then it could be yourbest phone of 2024. For most, however, there are better value alternatives out there that areeven more mainstreamthan Sony’s most mainstream flagship in recent years.
Also consider
If you like the idea of an all-round value champ with flagship specs, you may be better served with theOnePlus 12and its sharper screen, more computational photo processing and similarly excellent battery life.
For the best point-and-shoot Android camera phone, theGoogle Pixel 8 Prois cheaper and better than the Xperia 1 VI when you want your snapper to make all the decisions for you.
Gamers who don’t want to pay Sony prices should look to theRedmagic 9 Pro, costing less than half the price of the Xperia 1 VI.
Finally, for a winning balance of traditional photography and computational power, plus more reliable photo quality, look to the Xiaomi 14 Ultra.
Today’s best Xiaomi 14 Ultra, Sony Xperia 1 VI, Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, Google Pixel 8 Pro and OnePlus 12 dealsXiaomi 14 Ultra$1,079.50ViewSee all pricesSony Xperia 1 VI$1,279.99$1,044ViewSee all pricesSamsung Galaxy S24 Ultra$1,299.99$949.99ViewSee all pricesGoogle Pixel 8 Pro$999$599ViewSee all pricesDeal endsSun, Jan 26, 2025OnePlus 12$899.99ViewSee all pricesWe check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
Today’s best Xiaomi 14 Ultra, Sony Xperia 1 VI, Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, Google Pixel 8 Pro and OnePlus 12 dealsXiaomi 14 Ultra$1,079.50ViewSee all pricesSony Xperia 1 VI$1,279.99$1,044ViewSee all pricesSamsung Galaxy S24 Ultra$1,299.99$949.99ViewSee all pricesGoogle Pixel 8 Pro$999$599ViewSee all pricesDeal endsSun, Jan 26, 2025OnePlus 12$899.99ViewSee all pricesWe check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
Today’s best Xiaomi 14 Ultra, Sony Xperia 1 VI, Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, Google Pixel 8 Pro and OnePlus 12 dealsXiaomi 14 Ultra$1,079.50ViewSee all pricesSony Xperia 1 VI$1,279.99$1,044ViewSee all pricesSamsung Galaxy S24 Ultra$1,299.99$949.99ViewSee all pricesGoogle Pixel 8 Pro$999$599ViewSee all pricesDeal endsSun, Jan 26, 2025OnePlus 12$899.99ViewSee all pricesWe check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
Today’s best Xiaomi 14 Ultra, Sony Xperia 1 VI, Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, Google Pixel 8 Pro and OnePlus 12 deals
Xiaomi 14 Ultra$1,079.50ViewSee all pricesSony Xperia 1 VI$1,279.99$1,044ViewSee all pricesSamsung Galaxy S24 Ultra$1,299.99$949.99ViewSee all pricesGoogle Pixel 8 Pro$999$599ViewSee all pricesDeal endsSun, Jan 26, 2025OnePlus 12$899.99ViewSee all prices
Xiaomi 14 Ultra$1,079.50ViewSee all prices
Xiaomi 14 Ultra$1,079.50ViewSee all prices
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Sony Xperia 1 VI$1,279.99$1,044ViewSee all prices
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Sony Xperia 1 VI
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Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra$1,299.99$949.99ViewSee all prices
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Google Pixel 8 Pro$999$599ViewSee all pricesDeal endsSun, Jan 26, 2025
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Deal endsSun, Jan 26, 2025
Deal endsSun, Jan 26, 2025
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