Sony Xperia 1 VIII Review

Sony announced the Xperia 1 VIII on May 13, 2026 and released it in June in Japan, Europe and parts of Asia, at 1,499 euros or 1,399 pounds for 12GB and 256GB. It keeps everything that makes an Xperia an Xperia, a headphone jack, a microSD slot, a dedicated shutter button and front facing stereo speakers, in a lighter, more compact body with a grippy textured finish, IP65 and IP68, and the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 behind a 6.5 inch FHD+ 120Hz OLED.

The camera change is the telephoto. Sony dropped its continuous zoom for a fixed 70mm lens on a larger 1/1.56 inch sensor, which GSMArena found better at native zoom, beside a 48MP main and a 48MP ultrawide, and every rear camera records 4K at 120 frames. The 5,000mAh battery lasts well and has excellent battery health features, but charges slowly at 30W. The software is clean Android 16 with useful Sony extras and little AI, with four major upgrades and six years of security patches promised.

The reviews keep coming back to the same word, niche. GSMArena called it good, but not among the best, a hard sell outside Sony's loyalists, citing heavy CPU throttling under load, a camera without the consistency of the top Ultras and a high price, and Notebookcheck found it lighter and smaller than the Galaxy S26 Ultra and Xiaomi 17 Ultra without quite earning its high end label. Almost everything is a B, performance and innovation sit at C, and it is a B.