Sony's Flagship Xperia 1 21:9 Smartphone Gets a Launch Date: July 12th for $950
by Anton Shilov on May 17, 2019 1:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Sony
- Mobile
- Xperia
- Snapdragon 855
- Xperia 1
Sony has finally given its flagship Xperia 1 smartphone an official launch date and price. The handset, which features a large 21:9 OLED display that supports wide color gamuts, will arrive on July 12th for $949.99.
First introduced back at MWC 2019, Sony's new flagship smartphone is a very strong play for the high-end mobile market. Without a doubt, the key feature of the Xperia 1 is its 6.5-inch OLED display featuring a 21:9 aspect ratio with a 3840x1644 resolution. The screen supports the BT.2020 and the DCI-P3 color spaces with the D65 white point, and Sony says that it reproduces colors so precisely that that one of its movie studios used the Xperia 1 to review its work on set. To properly display HDR content, Sony is further adopting some of their display algorithms originally designed for their Bravia TVs. Meanwhile, the display is protected using Corning’s Gorilla Glass 6.
Under the hood, the Xperia 1 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 SoC, which is paired with 6 GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 128 GB of NAND flash memory (which can be augmented via microSD cards). Like other high-end 4G/LTE smartphones launched this year, this one supports Gigabit 4G/LTE, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO, and other advanced features of the platform. The handset also supports Dolby Atmos via its USB-C headphone output, while its speakers were tuned by engineers from Sony Pictures Entertainment, according to Sony.
In addition to its advanced display, the Sony Xperia 1 also comes with a 12 MP triple sensor camera cluster, which is comprised of a 26-mm regular RGB camera, 16-mm wide-angle camera, and a 52-mm telephoto camera. The camera cluster incorporates several Sony camera technologies, including Eye AF technology to focus exactly to the level of eyes, burst shooting with up to 10 fps AF/AE tracking, and it can shoot in 4K HDR at 24 fps with different color presets. Meanwhile, there is an 8 MP camera for front-facing photos.
Overall, being one of the first 21:9 smartphones on the market, the Xperia 1 is unusually long, yet it still very comfortable to hold and use, as we discovered back at MWC.
When it hits the streets in mid-July, Sony will be offering the Xperia 1 in two colors: black and purple. All of the usual suspects will be carrying the phone, including Amazon, Best Buy, B&H Photo, and Focus Camera. Interestingly, the $949.99 price tag is actually a tad lower than the price Sony was floating in March, where at the time they were intending to launch it as a $999 phone.
As for international customers, it looks like they'll need to wait a bit longer; for the moment Sony isn't announcing a launch date outside of the US. But in traditional Sony fashion, it is likely that the company will try to launch its flagship smartphone across the world more or less simultaneously.
| The Sony Xperia X1 | ||||
| Specifications | ||||
| Display | OLED 6.5" 3840x1644 21:9 aspect ratio BT.2020, DCI-P3 color spaces with the D65 white point HDR 643 PPI Corning Gorilla Glass 6 |
|||
| SoC | Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 1x Kryo 485 cores at 2.84 GHz 3x Kryo 485 cores at 2.42 GHz 4x Kryo 485 cores at 1.80 GHz Adreno 640 GPU |
|||
| RAM | 6 GB LPDDR4X | |||
| Storage | 64 or 128 of NAND flash | |||
| Local Connectivity | Wi-Fi | 802.11ac Wi-Fi | ||
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth 5.0 | |||
| Data/Charging | USB 3.1 Type-C | |||
| Audio | No 3.5 mm jack | |||
| NFC | Yes | |||
| LTE | 4G/LTE | |||
| Navigation | A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO | |||
| Rear Camera | Wide: 12 MP, f/1.6, 26mm, 1/2.6", 1.4µm, OIS Ultrawide: 12 MP, f/2.4, 16mm, 1/3.4", 1.0µm Telephoto: 12 MP, f/2.4, 52mm, 1/3.4", 1.0µm, predictive OIS 1 × LED flash |
|||
| Front Camera | 8 MP, 1.0µm | |||
| Battery | Capacity | 3330 mAh | ||
| Expected Life | ? | |||
| SIM Size | Nano SIM | |||
| Sensors | accelerometer, gyro, proximity, barometer, compass | |||
| Biometric Security | Fingerprint | on the side | ||
| Facial Recognition | - | |||
| Dimensions | Height | 167 mm | 6.57 inches | ||
| Width | 72 mm | 2.83 inches | |||
| Thickness | 8.2 mm | 0.32 inches | |||
| Weight | 172 grams | 6.35 ounces | |||
| Colors | black, grey, purple, white | |||
| Protection | Drop | Protected | ||
| Water, Dust | IP67, IP65 | |||
| OS | Google Android 9.0 | |||
| Launch Countries | United States | |||
| Price | $949.99 for 128 GB version | |||
Related Reading:
- Sony Xperia 1, the Long 21:9 Smartphone, Available for Pre-Order
- The Sony Xperia 1: A Long 21:9 HDR 4K OLED Smartphone
- Sony Has a Prototype 5G mmWave Xperia Smartphone
- Sony Launches The Xperia XZ3: First Sony OLED Smartphone
- Sony Unveils Xperia XA2 Plus Mid-Range Phone: 6-Inch, 2160x1080, SD630
- Sony Unveils Xperia XA2, Xperia XA2 Ultra, and Xperia L2
- Sony Launches Xperia XZ Premium and Xperia XZs Phones For US Market
Source: Sony
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Teckk - Friday, May 17, 2019 - link
Ok, so on the heels of One Plus 7 Pro launch, this has less storage, less RAM, lower capacity battery and an insane price. Competing with Galaxy S10 in price and OP 7 Pro in feature?Was a Sony fan once upon a time, not worth it from quite some time. Maybe start a new brand, drop off Xperia...
A-Tech-fan-55 - Friday, May 17, 2019 - link
Yeah but when you buy sony you know it is good. who is OnePlus anyway? never even heard of them until all this buzz about their new OP7.shabby - Friday, May 17, 2019 - link
Never heard of them? Time to upgrade from that flip phone...Gastec - Monday, June 3, 2019 - link
Never heard of them either. I guess it's time to upgrade my Samsung Galaxy S7 to a OnePlus flip phone.Old_Fogie_Late_Bloomer - Friday, May 17, 2019 - link
Yeah, I'm gonna have to ask you to go downtown and turn in that user name, you are absolutely not qualified to use it.sonny73n - Saturday, May 18, 2019 - link
For 20 years or so I was a die hard Sony fan. I bought many thing Sony’s from TVs, laptops, headphones, phones... you name it. I thought they were the best until I had the chance to try others when the US market opened up with more varieties, especially online. However, the US market has not fully opened for fair competition. If it has, I don’t think Sony or Samsung would stand a chance against Chinese companies whose products can match their qualities but sold at a much more affordable price.Now before you shout more nonsense, please do some research first. For smart phones, you can go to website like gsmarena to compare Sony phones with others in their specs, technology advancements, price, release dates. To sum it up, Sony price their phones at premium but their phones suck in all aspects.
khanikun - Monday, May 20, 2019 - link
I won't say Sony phones aren't expensive, cause they are, but they hardly suck in all aspects. They slightly lag behind the other companies, while charging the same prices.Now if they were charging the same prices, while cramming midrange parts into their flagship phones, then I'd say they suck in all aspects.
imaheadcase - Friday, May 17, 2019 - link
Umm its a OLED screen, its not like its a battery killer. lol Storage is fine and ram is plenty. Basically you are paying for the screen which should of been obvious. Its a good phone if want the best screen in market.Teckk - Friday, May 17, 2019 - link
Screen on OP is good too. I'm not telling this is a bad product it's way too overpriced for what it gives. Even if the starting model is 99 bucks less 64 gb is not good enough. Sure you may pay 9 50 for the screen, individual choice 👍Teckk - Friday, May 17, 2019 - link
OP is OLED too @ 90Hz