Sony Mobile has already announced two smartphones this year - the Xperia 1 II and the Xperia 5 II - but rumours have already started appearing for the next generation of Xperia 1, due in early 2021.

According to AndroidNext, the Xperia 1 III will feature improvements to both the front camera and the display.

The report suggests the display will have a 15 per cent bump in brightness compared to the Xperia 1 II, whilst also offering a higher refresh rate.

In terms of the front selfie camera, it's claimed the Xperia 1 III will have a wider aperture, which would allow more light to reach the sensor, theoretically improving low light shots. 

We'd still expect to see a 4K resolution on the Xperia 1 III's display, along with a 21:9 aspect ratio and support for HDR. It would be great to see the bezels at the top and bottom of the display reduce for the third generation of the Xperia 1 though.

There's no detail on the sensor size for the Xperia 1 III's front camera but the Xperia 1 II has an 8-megapixel sensor so it might be that the successor offers the same but with a wider aperture only. 

Typically, the Sony Xperia 1 III would be unveiled in February 2021 at Mobile World Congress. The Barcelona trade show has been postponed until later in 2021 however so it's currently not known if Sony will still launch the Xperia 1 III in the early part of the year, or wait until the trade show.