Sony's Xperia is mutating. Is it out of desperation?

It's easy to go in full owl mode and "Who? Who? Who?!" endlessly – and I do appreciate your sarcastic puns – but Sony still makes phones.

Sure, it's kind of difficult to spot those in an ocean full of Galaxy, iPhone and Pixel devices (not to mention the countless cool models by Xiaomi, Honor, Oppo and OnePlus), but we shouldn't ignore Sony just because the company can't produce a global handset hit. Sony is Sony. Their cameras and TVs are super popular.

The next Xperia 1 and its design

We have a total of seven Xperia 1 phones right now. The Xperia 1 VIII is expected at a point in the near future (in 2026).

We just got the first unofficial renders of the phone, and it looks… well, radically different:



Even if you're not a hardcore Sony fan, you can tell that something's way off. Yup, that square-ish camera island looks nothing like the ones we're used to seeing on Xperia 1 models throughout the years.

Usually (and I mean always), the Xperia 1 came with a neat vertical-aligned camera setup on its back panel.

The first iteration had it positioned in the upper center. Since the Xperia 1 II, the vertical camera island is to be found in the upper left corner. Almost a trademark move.

If the aforementioned leaks turn out to be true, this design will be no more. I won't go down the "Is it pretty or not?" type of argument right now – to each his own, but I want to highlight that the renders don't emit that "premium" or "flagship" vibe. Just like the OnePlus 15 is more of a mid-ranger than a flagship in my book.

But why the change?

Sometimes, a change is needed for the sake of the change itself – nothing stays the same forever. Even the iPhone 17 Pro managed to stir things up (which was a mild shock for me, I didn't expect Apple to be this bold and change the camera island after "only" six years of rehashing the same design).

But there could be another factor behind the redesign. What if, and that's a big if, we'll be getting a major camera boost?

Word on the street is that we'll be getting a telephoto snapper that's packing a physically larger sensor than before. That's great news, since the higher megapixel count can impress some people for some time, but a big sensor thrills everybody, left and right.

The 2025 Xperia 1 VII comes with a 12 MP dedicated zoom on its back. But the sensor is just 1/3.5-inches in size. For reference, the Vivo X300 Ultra just launched with a 200 MP Samsung-made 1/1.4-inch sensor.

That makes the Vivo X300 Ultra's telephoto camera sensor roughly 2.5 times larger in size and over 16 times higher in resolution.

Let that sink in.

The sticker shocker

The price is another major liability with the Sony Xperia 1 phones.

The model from 2024 was sold for €1,399, while last year's model arrived at €1,499 ($1,728 and $1,613), respectively.

OK, these are nice phones with mighty cool displays, decent battery life and optimal performance (they usually pack the latest Snapdragon flagship silicon), but the camera front is where the phone lags. For the price, this is ridiculous, as I can point you in the direction of flagships that are $1,000 cheaper and will surely take better photos than the Xperia 1 VII.

Oh, the irony

This is the irony – the whole selling point of the Xperia 1 series is that it comes with a great camera setup – after all, we've all come across spectacular pictures taken with dedicated Sony cameras.

It'd be great if Sony pushed the envelope and gave us something to truly appreciate and drool about. But it might have to ditch that trademark-like vertical camera alignment. I'm fine with that if it means microscopic sensors will be a thing of the past.