Sony unveils Xperia 1 VIII with larger camera sensors

Sony has introduced its latest flagship smartphone, the Sony Xperia 1 VIII, featuring upgraded camera hardware, AI-powered photography tools and a redesigned rear camera layout.

The Xperia 1 VIII comes with Sony’s new AI Camera Assistant powered by Xperia Intelligence. The feature can automatically recognize scenes, subjects and weather conditions to suggest suitable color tones, lenses and bokeh effects for photography.

A major upgrade comes in the telephoto camera, which now uses a new 1/1.56-inch image sensor. Sony says the sensor is around four times larger than the one used in the previous model, allowing improved low-light photography and more detailed images.

The smartphone also supports RAW multi-frame processing, HDR and advanced noise reduction for low-light shots. Sony has redesigned the rear camera arrangement as well, moving from a vertical layout to a square-shaped camera module.

On the front, the device features a 12-megapixel selfie camera. The phone also retains a 3.5mm headphone jack, a feature now rarely seen in flagship smartphones.

The Xperia 1 VIII sports a 6.5-inch OLED display and runs on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 Mobile Platform. It will be available in Graphite Black, Iolite Silver, Garnet Red and Native Gold color variants.

Sony has priced the 12GB RAM and 256GB storage variant at €1,499 or £1,399, while the 16GB RAM and 1TB storage model will cost €1,999 or £1,849. Based on current exchange rates and unofficial market estimates, the base model could be priced at around Tk 1.9 lakh to Tk 2.1 lakh in Bangladesh, while the top-end version may exceed Tk 2.5 lakh if imported unofficially.

Pre-orders have already opened in Europe, with deliveries expected to begin in June. Sony currently has no plans to launch the handset in the United States.

Customers who pre-order the device will also receive Sony WH-1000XM6 headphones free of charge.