Sony officially launched the Xperia 1 VIII today, opened pre-orders at £1,399, and is giving away a pair of WH-1000XM6 noise-cancelling headphones that is worth £349 to every buyer who pre-orders before May 31. Units ship June 19, there is no US launch, and the camera setup has changed significantly from last year's model.
If the Xperia line is new to you, Sony has spent years building a phone for photographers and audiophiles who refuse to give up the hardware features that every other flagship quietly dropped. The Xperia 1 VIII is that phone taken to its biggest upgrade yet. Here is everything confirmed today.
Sony Xperia 1 VIII Price: Two Confirmed Options, No US Launch
The 256GB model with 12GB RAM is priced at £1,399 in the UK and €1,499 in Europe. The 1TB model with 16GB RAM comes in at £1,849 and €1,999, exclusive to the Native Gold colour and sold only through Sony's online store. Sony has not announced a US dollar price and has not launched an Xperia 1 flagship in the United States since 2023.
Pre-Order Before May 31, Get Free Headphones Worth £349
Pre-orders are open now on Sony's UK and European websites. Every qualifying pre-order placed before May 31 includes a free pair of Sony WH-1000XM6 wireless noise-cancelling headphones, worth £349. Units ship June 19.
The Biggest Design Change Sony Has Made in Six Years
The Xperia 1 VIII is the most visually different Xperia 1 since the line launched. The vertical camera strip that ran down the back of every previous model is gone, replaced by a square camera island in the upper-left corner, with an angled side that slopes toward the frame. Sony calls the new surface texture "ORE," inspired by rough stone, applied across the aluminium frame and frosted glass back.
The phone measures 162 x 74 x 8.3mm, weighs 200g, and carries IP65/IP68 water resistance. It comes in four colours at launch: Graphite Black, Iolite Silver, Garnet Red, and Native Gold, with the gold option exclusive to the 1TB model.
The Headphone Jack, the MicroSD Slot, and 3TB of Local Storage
The 3.5mm headphone jack and microSD slot both return, with the card slot supporting up to 2TB of additional storage. Pair the 1TB internal model with a 2TB microSD card and you are carrying a combined 3TB of local storage on a single device.
The Camera Change: What Sony Swapped and What You Get Instead
This is where Sony made its most significant call on the Xperia 1 VIII, and it cuts both ways. The continuous optical zoom telephoto from the Xperia 1 VII, which ranged from 85mm to 170mm, is gone. In its place is a fixed 70mm prime telephoto paired with a 1/1.56-inch sensor that is roughly four times larger than the sensor in the previous model. You lose the extended zoom range and the 4cm super-macro capability, but you gain a telephoto that handles low-light and background separation at its native focal length considerably better than the previous design could manage.
All three rear cameras deliver 48MP effective resolution with Zeiss T* anti-reflective coating. The main camera uses Sony's larger 1/1.35-inch Exmor T sensor, a meaningfully different and larger unit than the two 1/1.56-inch Exmor RS sensors used in the telephoto and ultrawide. RAW multi-frame processing now extends to all three lenses, where it previously only applied to the main camera. The front camera is 12MP with an f/2.0 aperture.
A new AI Camera Assistant reads the scene and suggests adjustments like lens selection, colour tone, or bokeh settings. It runs on-device and can be turned off entirely.
Display, Processor, Battery, and Specs
- Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
- Battery: 5,000mAh, USB Power Delivery fast charging, Qi wireless, reverse wireless charging
- Software: Android 16, four major Android updates, six years of security patches
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0, USB-C 3.2, NFC, 5G
- Audio: Front-firing stereo speakers, 3.5mm headphone jack, Walkman audio tuning, aptX Adaptive, Hi-Res Audio, Dolby Atmos
- Biometrics: Side-mounted fingerprint sensor in the power button
- Display: 6.5-inch LTPO OLED, 1080 x 2340, 120Hz adaptive refresh rate, Gorilla Glass Victus 2
