Sony's $1,200-worth flagship phone comes to US without 5G support
What's the story
Sony has launched its weirdly-named Xperia 1 II (pronounced Xperia 1 Mark 2) in the US. It comes at an eye-watering price of $1,200 (roughly Rs. 91,000) and offers a segment-leading 4K OLED screen, a quad rear camera, as well as top-tier internals. Unlike some of its newer rivals, the Sony flagship has a headphone jack but doesn't support 5G in the US.
Design and display
Sony Xperia 1 II: At a glance
The Xperia 1 II features a premium glass and aluminum construction with prominent bezels on the top and bottom. It gets IP68 rating (up to 1.5m for 30 minutes), Gorilla Glass 6 protection, and a side-mounted fingerprint sensor for biometric authentication. Further, it sports a 6.5-inch 4K (1644x3840 pixels) OLED display with a taller 21:9 aspect ratio and a pixel density of 643ppi.
Cameras
For the shutterbugs and selfie lovers
The Sony handset houses a quad rear camera setup comprising a 12MP (f/1.7) primary lens, a 12MP (f/2.4) telephoto sensor, a 12MP (f/2.2) ultra-wide camera and a 3D ToF sensor. On the front, it has a single 8MP (f/2.0) camera. The rear camera can shoot 4K videos at up to 60fps, while the front camera supports 1080p video recording at 30fps.
Internals
Under the hood
The Xperia 1 II is powered by a Snapdragon 865 octa-core chipset, coupled with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of expandable storage. Under the hood, it runs on Android 10 and packs a 4,000mAh battery with 21W fast charging and standard wireless charging support. The handset offers support for dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11a/x, Bluetooth 5.1, NFC, GPS, 4G (in the US), and a Type-C port.
Information
Pricing and availability
The Sony Xperia 1 II is priced at $1,199 (roughly Rs. 91,000) for the single 8GB/256GB variant. In the US, the pre-orders will start on June 1, and shipping on July 24. Those who pre-order before June 28 will get Sony WF-1000XM3 earbuds for free.