Sony Xperia 1 IV Squeezes A Real Optical Zoom Into A Phone

Sony has today lifted the covers from its latest flagship phone, the Xperia I IV. Among all the bells and whistles that it brings to the table, the continuous optical zoom capability is something that smartphone photography enthusiasts will definitely want to experience, but not before paying a handsome premium of $1,600. Sony has armed the Xperia I IV with a variable focal length telephoto zoom camera that offers a seamless magnification experience with minimal loss in image quality.

The Xperia I IV comes equipped with a 12-megapixel telephoto camera backed by a 1/3.5-inch Exmor RS sensor and a periscope-style folded lens system. At the heart of this array are two lenses with f/2.3 and f/2.8 apertures that allow a lossless optical zoom adjustment between 85mm and 125mm. This is a continuous optical zoom output with moving lens elements, which means there is no digital cropping, and zooming in/out will be a lossless quality experience.

On the Sony Xperia 1 III, Sony fitted a variable focal length lens array, but the zoom value was fixed and there was no seamless transition. On the Xperia 1 IV, users can choose any focal length equivalent between 85mm and 125mm. When factoring in hybrid and digital zoom, Sony's latest flagship offers a zoom transition range between 16mm to 375mm. And to ensure that zooming in or out doesn't produce a blurry mess due to hand movements, the entire telephoto camera system is supported by optical image stabilization.

All three cameras — which include a 12-megapixel main snapper and another 12-megapixel camera for wide-angle photography — capture 4K HDR videos at up to 120FPS frame rate. The proprietary eye-tracking auto-focus system supports both human subjects and animals. Plus, the micro-HDMI output also allows the phone to be used as a viewfinder when connected to a DSLR camera for video capture or even live-streaming over a 5G mmWave network.

Sony has armed the phone with a 6.5-inch 4K HDR OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and a cinematic 21:9 aspect ratio. Qualcomm's top-tier Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 keeps things in motion inside paired with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of onboard storage. There's an SDXC card slot for storage expansion (up to 1TB) and a 3.5mm headphone jack is here, too. The Xperia I IV boots Android 12 out of the box and comes armed with a fairly large 5,000mAh battery that supports wireless charging, as well. 

The phone comes in two trims — black and violet — and is now up for pre-orders with a pair of WF-1000XM4 noise-canceling earbuds thrown in as a freebie. However, interested buyers will have to wait until September for the Xperia I IV to start shipping, which is quite a bummer. Plus, that $1,600 price tag is not easily palatable either, as it puts the device far ahead of what fairly capable phones such as the Galaxy S22 Ultra or the iPhone 13 Pro Max command.