Sony Xperia 1 III & Xperia 5 III launched with “Variable Optical Zoom”

The Focal Length can vary between 70mm & 105mm!

Release Date
April 14, 2021

In February last year, Sony launched the Xperia 1 II, featuring a triple 12MP camera setup, ZEISS optics, Snapdragon 865, a 4K HDR OLED panel, and more. Today, we got the Sony Xperia 1 III, the successor of Xperia 1 II, along with the Sony Xperia 5 III, the successor of Xperia 5 II. One thing that makes these two phones unique is that both of these have a telephoto camera that has a variable Optical Zoom. So, the focal length can switch between 70mm and 105mm, which means you get from 2.9X to up to 4.4X optical zoom.

Sony Xperia 1 III

Since there isn’t much difference between this year’s and last year’s models, let’s talk about the cameras first since those are the USPs of these two phones. Starting with the Xperia 1 III first, it has three cameras on the rear that include a primary 12 Megapixel shooter with a 1/1.7″ sensor and f/1.7 aperture, a secondary 12 Megapixel ultrawide camera with 124-degree FOV and 1/2.5″ sensor, and a third 12 Megapixel Zoom lens featuring a variable focal length of 70mm (f/2.3) and 105mm (f/2.8). There is ZEISS T* Coating, Real-time Eye AF thanks to the 3D iTOF sensor, OIS for the primary and zoom cameras, 4K HDR video recording at up to 60fps, and more.

Sony Xperia 5 III

The Sony Xperia 5 III has the same set of cameras as on the Xperia 1 III except for the Time of Flight sensor that it misses out on. Both the phones offer an 8 Megapixel camera for selfies. Both phones can also shoot 4K HDR 120fps slow-motion videos.

There is the same 4,500mAh battery for both devices, but the Sony Xperia 1 III supports Wireless Charging, whereas the Xperia 5 III doesn’t. Both phones support USB Power Delivery fast charging.

Performance-wise, both are powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 SOC, and while the Sony Xperia 5 III has 8GB RAM paired with 128GB storage, the Xperia 1 III has 12GB RAM paired with 256GB storage. There is microSDXC card support for both phones up to 1TB (Hybrid SIM slot).

The display is different on the two phones as well. Sony Xperia 1 III has a 6.5-inch 21:9 4K HDR OLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate, 240Hz touch-response rate, and Corning Gorilla Glass Victus protection. The Xperia 5 III has a 6.1-inch 21:9 Full-HD+ HDR OLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate, 240Hz touch-response rate, and Gorilla Glass 6 protection. Both phones have 3.5mm headphone jacks, too, as well as LDAC and Stereo speakers.

Both the phones are IP65/68 rated and have Gorilla Glass 6 on the rear. The Xperia 1 III also has a Frosted back panel, something that the Xperia 5 III misses out on.

Sony has not yet revealed the pricing of the phones, but the company says the sales will begin in early summer. The color options for the Xperia 1 III are Frosted Black, Frosted Gray, and Frosted Purple, whereas those for the Xperia 5 III are Black, Pink, and Green.