Sony Xperia 1 VI release date predictions and its pricing, features, and specs

Sony Xperia 1 VI release date predictions and its pricing, features, and specs،

Believe it or not, Sony still makes phones and the Xperia line has grown in numbers over the past couple of years. We're now on the threshold of the Mark VI, and judging by the leaks and rumors surrounding the upcoming Xperia 1 VI, there will be some changes.

The rumor mill never stops and according to the latest leaks, we will have a phone quite different from all the Xperia models since the big Mark I redesign. Today we are going to summarize everything we know about the Xperia 1 Mark VI and try to see if Sony has something up its sleeve. Here's everything you need to know about the upcoming Sony Xperia 1 VI.

Latest Sony Xperia 1 VI news

Sony Xperia 1VI release date

We expected Sony to announce the Xperia 1 VI at MWC this year, but the announcement never came. If we take a quick look at the dates of Sony's previous announcements, we can see that what happened is nothing extraordinary. Yes, the first two Xperia 1 models were announced at the end of February, but since the gap between announcement and market release was significant and hurting sales, Sony decided to change the schedule. The Xperia 1 IV and Xperia 1 V were both announced in May, so now, after we didn't get anything in February, it's safe to assume that the Xperia 1 VI will most likely be announced again in May.

Device family	Announcement	Marketing
Sony Xperia1	February 25, 2019	May 30, 2019
SonyXperia 1II	February 24, 2020	May 22, 2020
Sony Xperia 1III	April 14, 2021	August 25, 2021
Sony Xperia 1IV	May 11, 2022	June 11, 2022
Sony Xperia 1V	May 11, 2023	July 28, 2023
Sony Xperia 1VI	May 2024*	July 2024*

* – probable dates

Sony Xperia 1 VI price

When it comes to pricing, Sony has a reputation for going too far with its flagship Xperia phones. The Xperia 1 IV, for example, cost a whopping $1,600 when it arrived in 2022.

After backlash from fans and critics and poor sales, Sony decided to try to rectify the pricing situation, lowering the price of the Xperia 1 V to $1,399. Although it was far from cheap, it was a step in the right direction.

Now, with the redesign we're expecting, we might also get another price cut for the Xperia 1 VI. The exact price of the phone remains a mystery, but we don't expect it to be higher than its predecessor, $1,399 specifically. For what it's worth, we might discount it even further if rumors of Sony removing features from the Xperia 1 VI turn out to be true.

Phone model	128 GB of storage	256 GB of storage	512 GB of storage
Xperia1	$949	–	–
Xperia1II	–	$1,199	–
Xperia 1III	–	$1,299	$1,399
Xperia 1IV	–	$1,599	$1,699
Xperia 1V	–	$1,399	–
Xperia 1VI	–	$1,399*	–

* – anticipated prices

Sony Xperia 1 VI camera

Sony Xperia 1 VI release date predictions and its prices, features and specifications

The camera system has been one of the most interesting areas of the last two Xperia 1 flagships. Sony has brought real innovation by bringing the true continuous zoom periscope system and the Exmor T dual-layer transistor pixel sensor .

This is why everyone is very excited about the Xperia VI and its rear cameras. According to the latest leak, the phone will feature three cameras on the back, all using 48MP Exmor T sensors.

The main one of the Exmor T mobile sensor trio features a size of 1/1.4 inches, a pixel size of 1.12 μm and an aperture of f/1.4. The main camera also supports full-pixel dual PD autofocus and 2x zoom via sensor crop.

The ultra-wide camera is believed to feature a 1/2.7-inch sensor with a pixel size of 0.6μm and Sony's 2×2 on-chip lens (OCL) technology, which improves sensitivity, capture resolution, dynamic range and speed.

The telephoto lens uses the same sensor as the ultra-wide, but the periscope lens system above can move between 70 and 135mm focal length equivalents. This is different from the first generation of the system, which offered 70 to 105 mm, and the last, from 85 to 125 mm.

Sony Xperia 1 VI expected camera system:

Main: 48MP Exmor T, 1/1.35″ (1/1.43″ in 4:3)
Ultra-wide: 48MP Exmor T, 1/2.7″, between 14 and 18mm (most likely 16mm)
Periscope zoom: 48MP Exmor T, 70-135mm (3x-6x zoom range)

Storage Sony Xperia 1 VI

Some of the first leaks regarding the Xperia 1 VI concern the memory situation and, more importantly, the RAM involved. There's no mention of storage variants, but the fact that there will be two RAM configurations suggests at least two onboard memory variants.

We can extrapolate storage configurations from past generations and this latest RAM rumor, but we still don't know for sure what the situation will be. We expect the Xperia 1 VI to have at least 256GB of base storage and another 512GB variant. But we can't say at the moment whether or not we'll see a 1TB version.

Sony Xperia 1 VI storage capacity:

Design of the Sony Xperia 1 VI

A big change is expected in the design department of the Xperia 1 VI. According to the latest leak, Sony will drastically change two distinct features that the Xperia line is known for. Both relate to display, and one of them will result in an inevitable design change.

Rumor has it that Sony will change the Xperia 1 VI's display aspect ratio from the 21:9 we're all familiar with to a 19.5:9 closer to Samsung's.

This will consequently make the device shorter and possibly wider if the screen sizes are maintained. The tall, narrow footprint of the Xperia phones was a feature that set Sony phones apart from the competition. However, outside of watching movies in the 21:9 cinema format, this form factor has proven to be rather impractical for other everyday tasks.

Aside from the new dimensions, we don't expect materials and other design elements to change much in the new Xperia 1 VI. We'll most likely get the same square design with a glass front and back and a pill-shaped camera bump.

Sony Xperia 1 VI screen

Sony was the first company to put a 4K display on a phone with the Xperia Z5 Premium in 2015, and now it looks like we're about to move to a lower resolution with the Xperia 1 VI. Sony's rumored switch to 19.5:9 aspect ratio contains another tidbit about the Xperia 1 VI's display. It will be a 2K screen, rather than a 4K screen. Information on other features and display specifications is scarce at the moment. In the past, Sony used OLED displays without cutouts or notches and with a high refresh rate, but these panels were not LTPO and were not capable of dynamically switching.

It is possible to see this feature on the Xperia 1 VI, along with improved brightness, as this is the display feature most manufacturers are focusing on today.

Sony Xperia 1 VI Battery

There is no information on the battery size inside the Xperia 1 VI at the moment. We can only assume that Sony will try to keep the 5,000mAh cell from the previous generation, which might prove difficult given the change in size.

We expect the phone to retain the wired and wireless charging speeds of its predecessor, namely 30W fast wired charging and up to 15W wireless charging. While this isn't surprising, especially compared to flagship phones from the Far East, these speeds are somewhat comparable to other, more conservative manufacturers.

We don't expect there to be a charger in the retail box, Sony has gone to such lengths that the company even removed the cable from the box of the Xperia 1 Mark V. This trend is not going to happen disappearing anytime soon, so we'll probably get the Xperia 1 VI in a recyclable cardboard box.

Sony Xperia 1 VI features and software

The world is now made up of AI, and all the major phone manufacturers are trying to integrate as much of it into phones as possible. Sony normally uses a fairly stripped-down Android distribution with a few goodies to make the most of the 21:9 display, but nothing too radical.

It will be interesting to see what direction the company goes with the Xperia 1 VI in terms of software and AI in particular. Would we see Xperia AI? Chances are we will. But at the moment we unfortunately have nothing on this subject.

Another big topic of discussion in the industry over the past few months has been software support. Google started a trend with seven years of major OS updates on the Pixel 8, and Samsung followed in its footsteps.

Xperia phones have always lagged behind in support, sticking to just two years of major OS updates, which, on a phone that costs $1,600, is pretty disappointing. We'll have to wait and see if there are any changes to the software support cycle for the Xperia 1 VI debut.

Sony Xperia 1 VI hardware and specifications

The Xperia 1 VI, Sony's true flagship, will come with the latest Snapdragon. No surprise here, the phone will sport a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 with enough RAM to support it. One of the leaks points to two RAM configurations: a 12GB version and a 16GB version. We expect the 12GB variant to come with 256GB of onboard storage, while the 16GB variant could be reserved for the 512 GB model or a version with 1 TB of storage (which is not implausible).

There are other specific parts and features that make an Xperia phone what it is, and the microSD card slot is one of them. We don't know if Sony will remove this, but it's not out of the question, especially if the company plans to introduce a 1TB version of the Xperia 1 VI.

The headphone jack is another part that Sony has nostalgically attached to over the past two generations of Xperia, and we hope it stays on the Xperia 1 VI, but again, with the big redesign, it might also work well.

Finally, the side-mounted capacitive fingerprint scanner has been present on Xperia phones for many years. This may or may not be replaced by an under-screen variant, but there's nothing concrete on that front as of yet.

Should I wait for the Sony Xperia 1 VI?

You should wait for the Sony Xperia 1 VI If you want to see what Sony has up its sleeve and are excited about the change coming to the Xperia in terms of design, features and price, most likely.

Don't wait for the Sony Xperia 1 VI either you're a die-hard Sony fan and love the Xperia phones as they currently are, or you don't care and prefer to stick with more popular brands like Samsung or Apple.