Just under a year since the launch of the Xperia 1 VI, Sony has just announced its 2025 flagship smartphone with the Xperia 1 VII.
Whether you already own the Xperia 1 VI and you’re debating an upgrade, or just want to learn more about the new Xperia, then you’ve come to the right place. We explain everything you need to know about the Sony Xperia 1 VII, from its price and availability to its technical specifications.
Read on to learn more about the Sony Xperia 1 VII. Once you’re finished here, make sure you visit our list of the best Android phones and best camera phones too.
Editor’s note: At the time of writing, Sony has not disclosed the exact release date for the Sony Xperia 1 VII. We’ll update this once we have confirmation.
Sony Xperia 1 VII pricing
Sony’s flagship smartphone has never been cheap; in fact, at £1,299, last year’s Xperia 1 VI was one of the most expensive non-folding phones on the UK market.
While we’d love to tell you that this year’s Xperia 1 VII is cheaper, it’s not. It’s actually even more expensive in the UK, coming in at an increased £1,399 once it goes on sale in the coming weeks.
Sony Xperia 1 VII design
Perhaps unsurprisingly, as it’s undoubtedly gunning for a spot on the best camera phones list, the Xperia 1 VII sports a dedicated shutter button designed to make capturing images a bit easier, as well as a 3.5mm headphone jack and microSD card slot.
Its IP65/IP68 rating remains unchanged from the Xperia 1 VI, and essentially means the Xperia 1 VII is water resistant, albeit not in sea, salt or chlorinated water, and is dust-tight.
Speaking of durability, the screen has a Gorilla Glass 2 coating which should survive “drops of up to one meter on a surface replicating concrete”. Although it’s not the latest Gorilla Glass available, having been seen across many of the 2023 flagship smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy S23 series, it’s still a solid choice.
Sony Xperia 1 VII screen
Like its predecessor, the Xperia 1 VII’s display is fitted with Sony’s Creator Mode which promises a more faithful reproduction of detail and colour, as the original creator intended.
Otherwise, the Xperia 1 VII promises up to a 20% increase in peak brightness and, thanks to two illuminance sensors, more accurate brightness adjustments too. These sensors, one on the front and one on the back, ensure better automatic brightness and colour adjustments when moving from different lighting conditions.
Sony Xperia 1 VII camera
The Xperia 1 VII sports lots of clever video recording technologies usually reserved for Sony DSLR cameras. There’s auto-framing, which allows the phone to generate different aspect ratios, to record in 16:9 and autocrop to 9:16, and AI Camerawork which ensures your video recordings remain stable while keeping the subject within frame too.
Not only that but the Xperia 1 VII camera is also fitted with human pose estimation technology, which recognises body and head positions to lock and track any subject, even if it’s facing away or partially obscured from view.
Finally, the Xperia 1 VII has ultra HDR support for capturing a wider range of tones and colours for richer details, and macro photography from both its ultrawide and telephoto macro lenses.
Sony Xperia 1 VII performance
Like most of the best Android phones of 2025, the Sony Xperia 1 VII is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset. The flagship processor, much like the Snapdragon X Elite computer chip, uses the Oryon CPU architecture which we found is capable of delivering some of the fastest speeds we’ve ever seen in a smartphone.
The processor works alongside the Xperia’s cooling chamber too, which promises to ensure the phone will never overheat, even in intensive use. This is the same with the Xperia 1 VI, which we found rarely became noticeably warm during its use.
While we haven’t reviewed or benchmarked the Xperia 1 VII yet, we have undoubtedly been blown away by the performance of Snapdragon 8 Elite, across the likes of OnePlus 13 and Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. Not only that but the chip powers some of the best gaming phones too, like the Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro.
Sony Xperia 1 VII battery
The Xperia 1 VII’s battery remains unchanged from last year’s, as both promise up to two days of life on their respective 5000mAh cell. While a 5000mAh cell might appear fairly standard, and one found in some of the best cheap phones, we were blown away with its efficiency in the Xperia 1 VI. Not only did the phone breeze through two days, but our review could even push it to the end of a third day, with light use.
With this in mind, we can at least expect the same for the Xperia 1 VII, as this is powered by the more energy-efficient Snapdragon 8 Elite.
Equally, both handsets are equipped with four years of Battery Care; Sony technology that ensures your battery isn’t overworked as it charges, to help keep it in good condition for longer.
