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More than two months after unveiling, Sony is finally preparing to sell its latest flagship, the Xperia 1 III. According to a listing on Sony USA’s official website, the device will be available for pre-order from July 1st, 2021. It will cost $1,300.
The asking price might put some potential buyers off but Sony is offering a decent set of specs on its defense. The Xperia 1 III boasts a few firsts on a smartphone. To begin with, it is the world’s first globally available (it will sell globally, it seems) smartphone to feature a 120Hz 4K OLED display. It also brings a variable telephoto lens and Dual PD sensor for the first time on a smartphone. Lastly, the new Sony flagship promises 360 Reality Audio as well.
The rest of the specs aren’t disappointing either. You get a big 6.5-inch display that supports HDR with 240Hz motion blur reduction and 240Hz touch scanning rate. Under the hood is Qualcomm’s latest and best Snapdragon 888 processor paired with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. You can further expand the storage capacity by another 1TB via a micro SD slot.
For imaging, there are three 12-megapixel cameras on the back of the Xperia 1 III. The primary camera has an f/1.7 aperture and offers optical image stabilization (OIS). The telephoto lens, of course, has a variable focal length and offers 3x/4.4x optical zoom with OIS. Lastly, the ultrawide lens offers a 124-degree field of view. There’s also a 3D ToF (time of flight) depth sensor. The front-facing camera is an 8-megapixel sensor.
The Sony Xperia 1 III gets a metal body with Gorilla Glass Victus front and Gorilla Glass 6 back. It features IP65/IP68 rating for protection against dust and water. The device packs a 4500mAh battery and supports 30W USB PD fast charging. Other miscellaneous features include a 3.5mm headphone jack, Bluetooth 5.2, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6, GPS, NFC, wireless charging and reverse wireless charging, side-mounted fingerprint scanner, and Android 11-based software.
Sony Xperia 1 III is finally going up for pre-order
Sony has lately made a habit of announcing new phones without pricing and availability details. The company often makes fans wait for months to know the prices. By then, the hype and excitement around the devices die down. No wonder the Japanese giant is struggling in the smartphone market.
However, this strategy from Sony is seemingly here to stay. After months of waiting, the company’s latest flagship, the Xperia 1 III, is finally going up for pre-order in the US next week. That said, we still don’t know when the device will start shipping. Hopefully, Sony will not make buyers wait much longer.
If you remember, Sony had also announced a mid-ranger dubbed Xperia 5 III alongside the new flagship back in April. This device has yet to go on sale. We will let you know as and when information about its pricing and availability surfaces.