Sony has released the Xperia 1 VII, its newest flagship smartphone. This phone is in line with the company’s goal of making powerful tools for photographers and content creators. This sleek device was announced in May 2025. It has the same refined look and uncompromising features that have made the Xperia 1 line popular for the past seven years. But this version also has some problems, such as being expensive and not being available everywhere in the world.
Quality of Design and Build
The Xperia 1 VII keeps the unique rectangular design that Sony has worked on for generations. The phone is a good size between traditional glass slabs and very small devices. It measures 162 x 74 x 8.2mm and weighs 197 grams.
The look is still conservative but useful. The aluminum frame has ribbed accents that make it easy to hold, and the back panel is made of Gorilla Glass Victus 2 and has a finely textured surface finish that comes in black, purple, and green. The dimpled surface does a great job of keeping fingerprints off of it, which shows that Sony cares about how easy it is to use.
The Xperia 1 VII is different from other phones because it has everything. This phone has a 3.5mm headphone jack, which is not common in modern flagships. It also has a dedicated two-step camera shutter button on the right edge, along with the volume rocker and power button. The fingerprint scanner built into the power button works very quickly. There are very few bezels around the screen, but Sony keeps the bezels at the top and bottom visible. This is a design choice that shows the company’s philosophy of not sacrificing the placement of internal components for looks alone.
Technology for Displays
The OLED screen is 6.5 inches wide and has a 19.5:9 aspect ratio. It has a resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels. Sony’s implementation focuses on brightness and efficiency, even though 396 PPI may not seem like a lot of pixels compared to some competitors.
The panel has an adaptive refresh rate of 1 to 120 Hz that changes based on the content and the amount of light in the room. There are two color profiles available from Sony. The default one has bright, saturated colors that stand out, and “Creator Mode” changes the colors to more natural, lifelike ones that are made for visual professionals. Instead of making big claims about “peak brightness,” the company has focused on practical brightness levels that work in the real world.
Power and Performance
The Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset from Qualcomm powers the Xperia 1 VII, which comes with either 12GB or 16GB of RAM. You can choose between 256GB or 512GB of UFS 4.0 flash storage, and you can add more with a microSD card slot. This is a feature that is becoming less common in high-end devices.
The chipset gives flagship-level performance, and Sony’s thermal engineering is a big part of that. The device has a new vapor chamber that actively cools the device during heavy use, which keeps performance high while gaming, recording video, or using demanding apps. The Xperia 1 VII’s benchmark results put it right in line with other Snapdragon 8 Elite flagships, with no major differences.
During stress testing, the phone keeps its temperatures in check and gets high scores on all benchmarks. This shows that Sony’s focus on engineering leads to real-world reliability.
The camera system is the best part.
The most important new feature of the Xperia 1 VII is the three cameras on the back. Sony has always focused on “natural” photography that lets users edit their photos like professionals, but the company has learned that some computational photography is needed in a time when AI-powered editing is the norm.
The Main Camera is mostly the same as last year. It has a 1/1.35″ sensor with a 48MP effective resolution (cropped from 52MP). It can take still pictures with 8000 x 6000 pixels and 4K video at up to 120 frames per second.
The Telephoto lens is still the same: a 12MP periscope lens with a zoom range of 85mm to 170mm equivalent focal length. Sony’s stepless approach gives you more options than competitors that offer separate 3x, 5x, and 10x telephoto cameras. However, the quality of the pictures gets worse as the magnification increases.
Sony has put money into the Ultrawide. This lens now has a new 48MP camera with a large 1/1.56″ sensor, which is bigger than most ultrawide sensors on the market. Performance in low light is a big step up, with great detail, low noise, and colors and dynamic range that are true to life.
The software for the camera is based on Sony’s Alpha mirrorless camera line. Controls are like those on professional equipment, with green focus indicators, real-time tracking autofocus, and menu structures that Sony mirrorless users will recognize right away. AI takes care of eye autofocus for people and animals, recognizing the main subject, estimating the pose, setting the white balance, and optimizing the exposure.
New AI-powered video modes can automatically frame moving subjects, keeping the composition even when you’re moving along with the action. The phone can record 4K video at up to 120 frames per second from all of its back cameras. The front camera can record 4K video at 60 frames per second.
Audio and Battery
The Xperia 1 VII’s audio features are based on Sony’s Walkman heritage. The circuitry in the 3.5mm headphone jack is better than usual, and the solder is of higher quality. The phone can play Hi-Res audio, LDAC, and Dolby Atmos formats. It also has DSEE Ultimate AI-based upscaling for sources with lower bitrates. Stereo speakers get a bass boost that makes audio sound better for all kinds of media, including games.
The 5000mAh battery lasts a long time, but Sony’s cautious approach to charging speed means the phone doesn’t have the super-fast charging options that other companies do. The battery can be charged with a wire or wirelessly at 30W.
Software and Functions
The Xperia 1 VII comes with Android 15 and has already gotten the Android 16 update, which shows that Sony is serious about providing timely software support. The clean, almost stock Android experience means there isn’t much bloatware, and the unlockable bootloader gives advanced users more ways to customize their devices than competitors do.
Wi-Fi 7 support, dual Nano-SIM capability with eSIM support, full positioning (GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo, QZSS), NFC, and IP68 water and dust resistance are some of the other features.
Limitations and Drawbacks
Even though the Xperia 1 VII has some good points, it has some real problems. First, it isn’t sold in the US, which is a big problem for American buyers. Second, the phone costs €1,499 in Europe, which makes it a high-end luxury item. Some places sell Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones in bundles to make the price seem more reasonable.
There isn’t much in the box—just the phone and a USB cable. No charger, no extras, and no headphones are a letdown for the price.
The camera works better now, but it still doesn’t do as well as some competitors when it comes to automated photography. If you like automatic modes, you might find that the results are not always the same as those from Google, Samsung, or Apple. The Xperia 1 VII is for people who are willing to use manual controls and do post-processing.
Who Should Get This Phone?
The Xperia 1 VII is made for a certain group of people: photographers, videographers, and content creators who want professional-grade tools and manual control. People who use Sony mirrorless cameras will really like the ecosystem. The great display and processor performance make this a great editing and monitoring tool for professionals who want something small.
If you’re a casual user looking for a flagship phone that just works, Samsung, Google, or Apple phones might be more appealing and easier to use.
The decision
The Sony Xperia 1 VII is more of an improvement than a change. It builds on proven strengths over time while staying true to Sony’s idea of what a flagship should be: a full-featured tool that doesn’t skimp on things like expandable storage, headphone jacks, and manual control.
This device is very appealing to its target audience because it has a better ultrawide camera, better audio hardware, and a design that is still great. But because it costs a lot, is hard to find, and doesn’t have any big improvements over the last model, it’s more of a phone for fans than for everyone. In a smartphone market that is becoming more and more cookie-cutter, the Xperia 1 VII offers an amazing photographic and creative experience for those who are willing to spend time learning how to use it.
