We don’t blame you if you didn’t know that Sony still makes phones. Once a bestselling Android phone maker - who before that made amazing phones in the 2000s as part of the Sony Ericsson partnership - Sony is still releasing Xperia smartphones in 2024. It has just announced the Sony Xperia 1 IV, a £1,299 handset that has a standout design and interesting cameras.

For the first time, this Xperia 1 doesn’t have a 21:9 screen. That’s the odd aspect ratio Sony had given to its top end phone to make it the same ratio as a cinema screen so that video content filled it when landscape with no black bars. Now, the 1 VI has a 6.5-inch screen that is 19.5:9, so not quite as tall.

Another change is this display tops out at FHD+ resolution so is the first Xperia 1 for a while without a 4K panel. Debatably this was never needed as hardly any content is available to display on a 4K screen that small, but it’s worth noting.

The phone runs the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, the same chip found in the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and OnePlus 12, with 12GB and even a headphone jack capable of Hi-Res audio built in, a rarity on high-end modern phones.

Sony highlights the camera smarts on offer for the Xperia 1 VI with a main 48MP sensor joined by a 12MP ultra-wide and unique 12MP telephoto that has a continuous optical zoom, something you won’t find on other phones. Sony is porting its Alpha camera tech over to the Xperia line and we are fans, though being able to zoom from 3.5x to 7.1x isn’t as drastic as you might think - nevertheless it should give buyers some versatility to shooting photos.

Sony has also decided to condense all its camera features into one camera app - yes, like all other phones. On previous Xperia 1 phones, there were at least three different camera apps to get everything done. Sony says that you’ll still be able to shoot pro-quality video, and there’s also a music recording app with studio-like tools on offer. You can even plug the phone into your Sony camera and use it as an external monitor.

All this shows Sony is hoping to appeal to creative professionals with its phone, a lot like Apple does with its iPad Pro. The difference is it doesn’t feel like regular consumers will be tempted to buy the Xperia 1 VI over other Android phones, especially as it’s £1,299.

Sony promises the battery on the phone will power it for two full days though, a claim we’d like to test, and said battery is supposed to last with most of its original capacity for four years. Disappointingly, the phone will only get three years of Android version updates and four years of security updates. That’s not good enough at this price, especially when Samsung and Google offer seven years for all updates on its latest phones, even including the new £499 Google Pixel 8a.