Flagships with crazy zoom tech
Sony launched the Xperia 1 II in early 2020 and followed suit with the Xperia 5 II in the second half of the year. But the company doesn’t wait in 2021 as it launches the Xperia 1 III and Xperia 5 III at the same time.
As we saw with Sony’s flagships last year, the Xperia 5 III is the one for you if you value a phone with a more reasonable size than today’s big flagships. In the meantime, the Xperia 1 III is a bit bigger and heavier and more in line with the flagship of the competition.
Xperia 1 III: The premium offer
The biggest difference between the two phones is in the screen category. The Xperia 1 III offers a 6.5-inch 4K OLED panel (21: 9), while the Xperia 5 III is equipped with a 6.1-inch FHD + OLED screen (21: 9). This difference is in line with their predecessors, which offered screens of the same size and largely similar dimensions. Fortunately, both panels deliver a refresh rate of 120 Hz, unlike last year when the Xperia 1 II stayed at a refresh rate of 60 Hz.
Other notable features of the Xperia 1 II that the smaller phone lacks include Gorilla Glass Victus (the Xperia 5 II gets Gorilla Glass 6 instead), wireless charging and reverse charging, better quality speakers, microSD support, and a 3D ToF sensor with real-time focus tracking.
The larger Sony phone also has 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage compared to 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB or 256 GB of fixed storage on the Xperia 5 II.
Xperia 1 III and 5 III: A ton of shared DNA
Otherwise, there are many features in common between the two phones. This means a Snapdragon 888 flagship processor, Sub-6 GHz 5 G (no mmWave here), a 4,500 mAh battery, 30 W cable charging, a side-mounted fingerprint scanner and protection class IP65 / 68.Sony also guarantees three Years of battery health when using the adaptive charge setting so you shouldn’t see any significant deterioration over time.
Sony’s flagships offer a similar camera experience with an 8-megapixel selfie camera in a thin bezel and three 12-megapixel rear shooters. The three rear cameras consist of a 12-megapixel main camera (1: 1.7, OIS), a 12-megapixel ultra-wide sensor (1: 2.2) and a rather interesting 12-megapixel periscope camera.
The latter camera has lens elements that can move to an aperture of f / 2.3 with a focal length of 70 mm (~ 3x) or an aperture of f / 2.8 with a focal length of 105 mm (~ 5X) , although they can not move to an intermediate aperture and focal length. In plain English, this means you have a periscope camera that can toggle between 3x and 5x zoom, which means fewer zoom-focused shooters are required. We’ve seen Oppo demonstrate such technology before, but Sony says this is a world first for commercially available smartphones. Either way, it’s a very clever addition and we’d love to try it out.
One potential problem with this periscope camera is that the zoom quality can suffer between 3X and 5X as the camera is unlikely to be able to combine footage from separate 3X and 5X shooters to get decent results. Presumably for this reason, Sony uses the AI-based zoom technology with super resolution, which also enables a focal length of up to 300 mm (approx.
| Sony Xperia 5 III | Sony Xperia 1 III | |
|---|---|---|
| display | 6.1 inch OLED Aspect ratio 21: 9 FHD resolution 120Hz refresh rate 240Hz touch sampling rate Gorilla glass 6 | 6.5 inch OLED Aspect ratio 21: 9 4K resolution 120Hz refresh rate 240Hz touch sampling rate Gorilla Glass Victus |
| processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 |
| R.A.M. | 8 GB | 12 GB |
| warehouse | 128 or 256 GB | 256 GB Support for microSD cards |
| power | 4,500mAh battery 30W wired charging Charger included No wireless charging | 4,500mAh battery 30W wired charging Charger included Wireless charging Reverse wireless charging |
| Cameras | Back: 1) 12MP main line (24mm) 2) 12 MP ultra-wide (16 mm) 3) 12MP Tele (70mm / 105mm) Front: 1) 8MP single | Back: 1) 12MP main line (24mm) 2) 12 MP ultra-wide (16 mm) 3) 12MP Tele (70mm / 105mm) 4) 3D iToF sensor Front: 1) 8MP single |
| Video | Cinema Pro 4K at 120 fps | Cinema Pro 4K at 120 fps |
| Audio | 3.5 mm headphone jack Dolby Atmos and DSEE Ultimate 360 surround sound | 3.5 mm headphone jack Dolby Atmos and DSEE Ultimate 360 surround sound |
| Connectivity | 5G support (only Sub6, no mmWave) Single SIM | 5G support (only Sub6, no mmWave) [SIM + SIM] or [SIM + microSD] |
| security | Side-mounted fingerprint sensor | Side-mounted fingerprint sensor |
| durability | IP65 against dust IP68 against water Gorilla glass 6 | IP65 against dust IP68 against water Gorilla Glass Victus |
| software | Android 11 | Android 11 |
| Dimensions and weight | 157 x 68 x 8.2 mm 168 g | 165 x 71 x 8.2 mm 186g |
| Colours | Black or green | Matt black Frosted purple |
The Japanese manufacturer has also paid attention to its Photo Pro mode by introducing a basic mode here. This basic mode offers features like panoramas, bokeh effects, portrait orientation and more.
Both phones also offer Zeiss lenses with the company’s special coating, 20 fps burst photography with auto focus / auto exposure and noise reduction, and eye auto focus for humans or animals. The devices also offer 4K / 120fps recording support, but we don’t see 8K recording here. The latter omission is expected as it requires a ~ 33 MP + camera to function and we only have 12 MP cameras here.
Last year’s Xperia 1 II and 5 II revived the headphone jack after disappearing on Sony’s flagships for 2018. Fortunately, the 3.5mm ports on the Xperia 1 III and 5 III are still there. The company also offers stereo speakers, 360 Reality Audio, 360 Spatial Sound, Dolby Atmos features and Hi-Res audio support. It’s also worth noting that the phones only offer Dual Shock 4 support instead of supporting Dual Shock 5 controllers.
Xperia 1 III and 5 III: Pricing and Availability
The Sony Xperia 1 III and 5 III will only be available to US customers in the summer of 2021. So you have a while to wait for these new phones. It’s unclear whether the industry-wide chip shortage is responsible for this long period between launch and availability, although Sony is no stranger to these events. In either case, the former model will be available in Frosted Black and Frosted Purple colors, while the latter device will be offered in black and green colors.
There’s no word on pricing either, but last year’s phones give us a rough idea of what to expect. The Xperia 1 II launched in the US for $ 1,199 and the Xperia 5 II for $ 949. So we hope that Sony will either stick to this price window or go a little lower.
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