Skip to main content

The Xperia 5 IV shows Sony isn’t done making small phones

Sony today debuted at IFA 2022 the Xperia 5 IV, a new compact smartphone. Like all of Sony’s smartphones, the company highlights its camera capabilities with a laser-sharp focus on its videography features. It goes on sale in Europe and the U.S. at the end of September and October respectively.

The Xperia 5 IV ships with a compact 6.1-inch OLED display capable of a 120HZ refresh for smooth scrolling and  240Hz Motion blur reduction for gaming. Sony says this is its brightest Full HD display yet and up to 50% brighter than the Xperia 5 III. There’s a 3.5mm headphone jack that supports high-quality audio, as well as the newest Bluetooth LE (Low Energy) Audio standard, though that will come in a future update.

As far as cameras go, the Xperia 5 IV sports a triple set of cameras. All three cameras support object tracking and Eye AF (autofocus). Sony also touts support for 4K HDR and 120fps video capture for super slow motion cinematography. All this is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 paired with 8GB of RAM and a 5,000mAh battery.

Sony's Xperia 5 IV in an exclusive green color.
Sony

“We are thrilled to introduce the new Xperia 5 IV as a continuation of our Xperia series. We are always listening to our customers to develop cutting-edge technology that meets their needs as creators, gamers, and music and video enthusiasts,” said Yang Cheng, Vice President, Imaging Solutions, Sony Electronics Inc in a release. “The Xperia 5 IV is a powerful and compact tool that is perfect for anyone looking for the best technology in a small, sleek form factor.”

Compact phones have been going extinct for a while now. Apple is expected to drop the iPhone Mini with the iPhone 14 series, and Google’s Pixels have steadily inched up in size. Only the Asus Zenfone 9 alongside Sony’s phone now service this small market. Although Sony’s phone features a somewhat standard 6.1-inch diagonal screen size, the company’s choice of aspect ratio means that its phones are thinner and narrower than rival products.

Sony’s certainly charging a pretty penny for it. The Xperia 5 IV will go on sale at the end of October in the U.S. for $1,000. Pre-orders open on September 1, with pre-order bonuses being available in the form of Sony’s WF-1000XM4 true wireless noise-canceling earbuds.  It’ll cost 950 British pounds in the U.K. and availability will start earlier on September 23.

Editors' Recommendations

Michael Allison
A UK-based tech journalist for Digital Trends, helping keep track and make sense of the fast-paced world of tech with a…
Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S8 shows why Android 12L isn’t enough
Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra with keyboard.

Android tablets have usually fallen behind iPads and Windows tablets when it comes to offering good tablet experiences. With Android 12L, Google is taking that particular bull by the horns. The update will roll out to Pixel phones starting next month, but Samsung's recent announcement of the Galaxy Tab S8 casts a shadow over what should be a revival for Google's tablet ambitions because it shows that the problem with Android tablets isn't really with the interface.
What's Android 12L?
To quickly recap, Google last year announced Android 12L, an initiative the company is using to make Android a better experience on tablets and foldables. The company will continue this work through Android 13 and has hopes for app developers to step in line and create apps that would work better with Android going forward. The big issue here is that Android 12L is redundant for the most part -- and the Tab S8 is a reminder of that.

Android 12L, as far as focusing on bigger screen devices goes, amounts to pretty much a user interface revamp. There's a new multi-pane interface for the lock screen and the notification center, and there's support for a dock for productivity scenarios. But none of this actually fixes problems that exist for users. If you've done any shopping for Android tablets recently, you'll notice that companies like Samsung that actually sell Android tablets have pretty much always had their device software competently tablet-optimized.
Android tablets already have optimized interfaces
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPGzX_y8ccM

Read more
Sony Xperia 5 III is a $1,000 flagship in 2022 with hardware from 2021
sony xperia 5 iii

Sony is finally bringing the Xperia 5 III to the U.S. market, eight months after the phone was officially introduced to the world. Sony phones and delayed releases have been somewhat of a recurring theme lately. The $2,500 Xperia Pro 5G was launched in February of 2020 but only arrived in January of 2021. The Xperia 1 II flagship also took a few sweet quarters before making it stateside.

The latest case of a delayed Sony phone is the Xperia 5 III. It’s not a bad phone. Actually, far from it. It just doesn’t belong to the year 2022, especially with that handsome $1,000 asking price. It will be available unlocked from authorized retail partners, but only in its Frosted Black trim. If you’re eyeing the stunning green color, only the official Sony online store has it.

Read more
Sony’s $1,800 Xperia Pro-I phone shares features with RX100 VII compact camera
Xperia Pro-I phone

The Sony Xperia Pro-I is the latest smartphone from the company for the camera-features-focused niche Pro audience. The $1,800 phone sports a 1-inch stacked CMOS sensor with built-in memory and phase-detection autofocus. It is the same as the one inside Sony's RX100 VII compact camera which we proclaimed one of the best point-and-shoot cameras in our review. The smartphone comes with a dedicated shutter button on the right edge, and Zeiss Tessar calibrated optics.

In the name Xperia Pro-I, the "I" stands for Imaging. It features a 6.5-inch 4K HDR (3840 x 1644 pixels) OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, 240Hz touch sampling rate, a 21:9 aspect ratio, and 100% DCI-P3 color gamut. It is powered by the Snapdragon 888 chipset, paired with 12GB RAM and 512GB storage, which is expandable up to 1TB. It packs a 4,500mAh battery with support for 30W fast charging.

Read more