Sony Xperia 1 IV launched with 85-125mm true optical zoom

The phone is priced at $1,599

Release Date
May 11, 2022
Starting Price
$1,599 / £1,299 / €1,399

Sony Xperia 1 IV is now official, and this is the company’s premium flagship for 2022. It is the successor to the Xperia 1 III and has some new tricks up its sleeves when we talk about the cameras. The highlight of Xperia 1 III was the variable optical zoom, where the focal length could switch between 70mm and 105mm, offering 2.9x or 4.4x optical zoom from the single telephoto lens. But, the Xperia 1 IV takes that one step further and offers a ‘True’ Optical Zoom lens on the phone.

Sony Xperia 1 IV

To understand that, we need to first understand the difference between a zoom lens and a telephoto lens. A telephoto lens has a fixed focal length, whereas a zoom lens offers a variable focal length. For example, take the Galaxy S22 Ultra as an example. It has a telephoto lens that offers 10X optical zoom, thanks to a fixed focal length of 230mm. Since the focal length is fixed, that means if you try to reduce the zoom (or increase the zoom) by pinching, that will revert to digital zoom. And we guess everyone knows how bad digital zoom is compared to optical zoom.

In the case of the Xperia 1 III of last year, the zoom lens could switch between two focal lengths – 70mm and 105mm. So, you could either take shots at 70mm focal length or 105mm focal length with the same lens. But still, in between those focal lengths, the phone reverted to digital zoom.

Sony Xperia 1 IV

With the Sony Xperia 1 IV, you have a true optical zoom camera. The focal length can be varied between 85mm to 125mm, and you can set the focal length to anything between 85mm and 125mm the camera will still use optical zoom because the lens physically moves inside the camera housing.

Speaking of the camera specs, the phone has three 12MP sensors on the rear. The primary camera has a 12MP sensor with an f/1.7 aperture lens and OIS. The secondary camera has a 12MP sensor with an ultrawide lens, and the third camera has a 12MP sensor with a zoom lens (85-125mm) + OIS. For selfies, there is a 12MP sensor that can shoot 4K HDR videos too.

All three cameras on the rear can shoot 4K videos at 120fps, and there are a ton of cameras features such as Eye AF, real-time tracking, SteadyShot, Videography Pro app, Cinematography Pro app, Music Pro app, up to 20fps AF/AE HDR burst shooting, ZEISS optics, etc.

Sony Xperia 1 IV

Speaking of other specifications, Sony Xperia 1 IV has a 6.5-inch 4K LTPO AMOLED with a 120Hz refresh rate and Gorilla Glass Victus protection. There is Gorilla Glass Victus on the back too. The phone retains a 3.5mm headphone jack and has front-facing stereo speakers. Under the hood, it packs the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SOC and a large 5,000mAh battery with 30W fast charging. The phone is IP68 certified.

Finally, Android 12 runs out of the box, and you can expand the storage via a microSD card.

Sony Xperia 1 IV

Sony Xperia 1 IV comes in Black, White & Violet. The price is $1,599 for the 12GB + 512GB variant in the US. In European market, the 12GB + 256GB variant is priced at £1,299 / €1,399. The shipping starts in June.