Sony Xperia 1 VIII goes official with upgraded camera hardware

Today’s smartphone market is somehow both the most impressive we’ve ever seen, and a shadow of its former self. While models like Samsung’s TriFold push the limits of what’s possible, long-time player Asus just dipped out of the game, and OnePlus may not be far behind, leaving us with less and less competition. With all that upheaval in mind, it’s almost shocking that Sony has kept at it for as long as it has. After last year’s Xperia 1 VII left us with mixed feelings, there’s more on the line than ever for a follow-up — and today Sony finally shows its cards with the launch of the Xperia 1 VIII.

Last year, the Xperia 1 VII did a lot right: It had a great screen, good audio, and even retained a few old-school features like microSD and wired headphone support. But so many Xperia users look to Sony for a really well-executed camera experience, and what the Xperia 1 VII brought to the table left them a little wanting. The good news is that Sony’s working hard to avoid another camera package that falls flat, and the biggest development here is a big new sensor.

We’re still looking at a three-camera array on the phone’s rear, but in addition to the tighter new arrangement of lenses on the Xperia 1 VIII, Sony’s also giving us a major upgrade to the telephoto camera, moving to a larger 1/1.56-inch sensor that’s roughly four times the size of the Xperia 1 VII’s telephoto camera — and correspondingly, that much better at sampling light. The 48MP 70mm telephoto sensor can crop to 12MP to effectively double your zoom.

The ultrawide is just like we had last time, remaining a 48MP, 1/1.56-inch component with an aperture of f/2.0, and the wide lens similarly repeats its 48MP performance from the VII.

That new shape for the cameras is just the start of changes to the phone’s exterior, and Sony also gives the phone a brand-new textured finish, one it’s calling “ORE” that’s meant to evoke natural stones. Even with this shake-up, though, Sony’s not abandoning the elements its users love, and in addition to the return of a physical shutter button for the camera and microSD slot for expansion, that 3.5mm jack is back and ready for your wired earbuds.

Speaking of audio, Sony’s also prioritizing the experience for those of us who aren’t rocking earbuds or headphones, and has designed the Xperia 1 VIII with matching, balanced left and right stereo speakers — no more having one channel sounding way different from the other.

Sony’s not changing what’s isn’t broken for the phone’s screen, sticking with another 6.5-inch FHD+ display. There’s Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protecting that panel, and frosted Victus on the rear.

Let’s get the bad news out of the way first — and it’s not even that bad: Sony’s sticking with the same power solution we had last time around, giving the Xperia 1 VIII a 5,000mAh battery with support for 30W charging. Even without a bigger battery, Sony still claims that users can expect two days of operation between charges.

The much more exciting advancements are on the silicon side, with Sony moving to the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. We’re also seeing a nice bump to memory and storage, but this one’s got a big asterisk next to it: While our base model has the same 12GB of RAM and 256GB storage as last year, Sony’s also releasing the Xperia 1 VIII in a new configuration with 16GB of RAM and a full 1TB storage — the only problem being that this one’s a Sony store exclusive.

Unsurprisingly, some of Sony’s most interesting software news is focused on camera performance (no pun intended). Since this is 2026, that obviously involves AI, but Sony’s solutions aren’t only the sort of dress-up-your-picture-with-fancy-processing ones we see elsewhere. Instead, the company also wants to use AI to have you starting out shooting your pics with the best possible camera settings, and its AI Camera Assistant is designed to help you with just that.

That’s built to give you a few good options to choose from as starting points, or if you’d rather just go full point-and-shoot, you’re free to keep things in auto mode.

Fans of RAW photography will want to check out Sony’s improved multi-frame processing, available across all the phone’s cameras.

Sony’s got your investment covered with support promising 4 years of Android OS updates, and 6 years of security patches.

Sony is less and less a smartphone brand for US shoppers as the years go on, and that’s not changing with this generation. Just like last year’s model, the Xperia 1 VIII has no formal plans to come to the US.

Shoppers in Europe, meanwhile, will be able to grab the Xperia 1 VIII starting at about €1,499 / £1,399 (~$1,760–$1,900). That’s blessedly not an increase from last year, but is still pretty pricy for a standard form-factor, non-foldable handset.

Pre-orders open today, and shoppers getting their pre-orders in are eligible to take home a pair of  WH-1000XM6 headphones. Color options include Graphite Black, Iolite Silver, and Garnet Red, plus that special Native Gold 1TB edition.