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Sony Xperia 1 V
Good potentialThe Sony Xperia 1 V is the company's latest flagship device, bringing a number of improvements over the Xperia 1 iV, including a new camera sensor and chip.
Pros- Upgraded camera sensor
- 3.5mm and microSD
- Waterproof design
Cons- Too soon to tell
- Expensive
- Similar design
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Sony Xperia 5 IV
Good compact optionThe Sony Xperia 5 iV is smaller than the Xperia 1 V and runs older hardware but it's a great compact option and good for the advanced camera user.
Pros- Solid design
- Battery life
- Wireless charging
Cons- Gets a little warm
- Expensive
- Camera favours advanced users
Sony has updated its smartphone portfolio with the Xperia 1 V and Xperia 10 V, both of which succeed the Xperia 1 iV and Xperia 10 iV that arrived in 2022. They also join the Xperia 5 iV, which was also released in 2022, though towards the latter half of the year, around six months after the Xperia 1 iV and Xperia 10 iV.
It's expected that an update will also arrive for the Xperia 5 iV, but for now, it's the 2022 model that remains in the portfolio of Xperia smartphones. If you're trying to decide whether the Xperia 1 V or the Xperia 5 iV is right for you, you've come to the right place. Here is how the Xperia 1 V compares to the Xperia 5 iV.
Price, availability and specs
The Sony Xperia 1 V won't be available to buy until late June 2023, but it will cost around £1299 in the UK and around $1399 in the US, so it's on the pricier side of flagship smartphones, falling into the same price bracket as the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra and Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max. It will come in Black, Khaki Green and Platinum Silver colour options.
The Sony Xperia 5 iV meanwhile, is a little cheaper, though not by much. It starts at £949 in the UK and $999 in the US so you save a little bit of money opting for this slightly smaller model, though it is worth remembering that it will likely be replaced in six months and it is running older hardware than the Xperia 1 V. In terms of colour options, it comes in Green, Ecru White and Black.
Aside from their chipsets, there are a few other differences in the specs offered by the Xperia 1 V and the Xperia 5 iV. We've run up a spec table below, but if you want more details on how the two models compare, keep reading.
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Sony Xperia 1 V
- SoC
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
- Display
- 6.5-inch, OLED, 3840 x 1644, 120Hz, 21:9
- Battery
- 5000mAh, Fast charging, Wireless charging
- Ports
- USB-C, 3.5mm jack
- Operating System
- Android
- Front camera
- 12MP
- Dimensions
- 165 x 71 x 8.3mm, 178g
- Colors
- Black, Platinum Silver, Khaki Green
- IP Rating
- IP65, IP68
- RAM and Storage
- 12GB / 256GB, microSD up to 1TB
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Sony Xperia 5 IV
- SoC
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1
- Display
- 6.1-inch, OLED, 2520 x 1080, 120Hz. 21:9
- Battery
- 5000mAh, Fast charging, Wireless charging
- Ports
- USB C, 3.5mm jack
- Operating System
- Android
- Front camera
- 12MP
- Dimensions
- 156 x 67 x 8.2mm, 172g
- Colors
- Green. Ecru White, Black
- IP Rating
- IP65, IP68
- RAM and Storage
- 8GB, 128/256GB, microSD up to 1TB
Design and build
The Sony Xperia 1 V and the Sony Xperia 5 iV offer a similar design language, though they aren't identical. For starters, the Xperia 1 V is larger than the Xperia 5, with the latter being the more compact device. Both have a tall and slim build though, offering the 21:9 aspect ratio that Sony Xperia smartphones have offered since the Xperia 1 launched in 2019.
They also both have a neat and tidy pill-shaped camera housing positioned in the top left corner of the rear and a flat-slab design, which we've come to expect from Xperia smartphones. The two devices also have bezels at the top and bottom of their displays, and a dedicated camera shutter button on the right edge.
Where they differ, apart from physical size, is the Xperia 1 V has a textured rear with Corning Gorilla Glass Victus protection, while the Xperia 5 iV has a smooth finish, though with the same protection. The Xperia 1 V also has ridged edges while the Xperia V iV has smooth edges, though both are flat. Both also offer IP65 and IP68 water and dust resistance, and they both have a physical fingerprint sensor on their right edges.
Display
The Sony Xperia 1 V has a 6.5-inch OLED display that sports a 4K resolution at 3840 x 1644 pixels, which results in a pixel density of a whopping 643ppi. The Xperia 5 iV meanwhile, is smaller at 6.1-inches and it has a Full HD+ resolution at 2520 x 1080 pixels, which delivers a pixel density of 449ppi.
All those numbers mean you will get a sharper and more detailed experience on the Xperia 1 V, if you are running the display at its full capacity. What is worth bearing in mind is that the 4K resolution will use more battery so you may choose to opt for Full HD+ by default, unless you are watching a UHD film for example.
Elsewhere on the display front, the Xperia 1 V and the Xperia 5 iV offer 120Hz refresh rates and they both have a 21:9 aspect ratio as we briefly mentioned, meaning watching movies is a great experience.
In terms of protection, the Xperia 1 V has Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection, while the Xperia 5 iV has Corning Gorilla Glass Victus protection so the Xperia 1 V should be slightly more resistant to scratches and drops than the Xperia 5 iV.
Hardware and battery
Under the hood, the Sony Xperia 1 V runs the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 platform, which naturally delivers a speed bump over the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 that the Xperia V iV runs on.
There's also more RAM support in the Xperia 1 V, with 12GB and 256GB of storage compared to 8GB and storage variants of 128GB and 256GB in the Xperia 5 iV. What's great though is that both the Xperia 1 V and the Xperia 5 iV have microSD support for storage expansion up to 1TB - something the majority of flagship smartphones no longer offer. The two devices also offer a 3.5mm headphone jack - another detail many flagship smartphones miss off their lists these days.
When it comes to battery, the Xperia 1 V and the Xperia 5 iV both have a 5000mAh battery on board, though as we said, the Xperia 1 V has a higher resolution display and a larger display so this will have an impact on battery life. The two devices do both support Sony's Stamina Mode though, and they also both have wireless charging and Battery Share. We were impressed with the Xperia 5 iV's battery life so we'd hope to be impressed by the Xperia 1 V too as Sony devices typically do well in this department.
Cameras
It's the camera department you will see the biggest differences between the Sony Xperia 1 V and the Sony Xperia 5 iV. Both have a triple rear camera, but the Sony Xperia 1 V has what Sony calls an Exmor T for mobile sensor. It's a stacked CMOS sensor that splits the photodiode and the transistor layers, designed to reduce noise and improve low-light results.
The new main sensor on the Sony Xperia 1 V is a 52-megapixel sensor, though with a 48-megapixel effective area, and it offers a f/1.9 aperture and OIS. There's also a 12-megapixel ultra-wide sensor with f/2.2 aperture and a 12-megapixel zoom sensor with an aperture between f/2.3-2.8 and focal length between 85-125mm. It offers optical zoom between 3.5x and 5.2x.
The Xperia 5 iV meanwhile, has a 12-megapixel main sensor with f/1.7 aperture, a 12-megapixel ultra-wide sensor with f/2.2 aperture and a 12-megapixel telephoto lens with an aperture of f/2.5. It delivers 2.5x optical zoom, and as you might notice, it doesn't have the variable focal length like the Xperia 1 V.
On the front, the Xperia 1 V has a 12-megapixel front camera, as does the Xperia 5 iV. In terms of results, the Sony Xperia 5 iV offers decent results and some good improvements on its predecessor, though many of the features are aimed more at advanced photographers, rather than the classic point and shoot method delivered by the iPhone 14 Pro for example, or Samsung's Galaxy S23. We suspect the same will be said of the Xperia 1 V, though hopefully the new sensor will offer better low light photography compared to the Xperia 5 iV. We will update this feature when we have reviewed it in full.
Conclusion
The Sony Xperia 1 V is the winning device on paper, offering a more advanced mobile platform, more RAM, more storage, a larger and higher resolution display and a more promising camera system.
Sony Xperia 1 V
The Sony Xperia 1 V is the company's latest flagship device, bringing a number of improvements over the Xperia 1 iV, including a new camera sensor and chip.
It is significantly more expensive though and the Xperia 5 iV is a more compact option, whilst still offering a great battery life, solid design and features like wireless charging.
We will update this feature once we have reviewed the Xperia 1 V in order to add more experience, though for now, if you want the best Sony has to offer, it's looking like the Xperia 1 V is the model to choose. If you want a powerful Sony device for a cheaper price though, the Xperia 5 iV is a great option.
