The Sony Xperia 1 VIII suffered a mild leak last month, revealing quite a bit of its design. More recently it’s gotten a more substantial leak, and seemingly from a relatively official source – listings on Amazon UK and Germany. The listings have naturally been pulled since, but not before screenshots were taken.
As reported by Notebookcheck, the listings indicated that the Sony Xperia 1 VIII will have a 6.5-inch 120 Hz OLED screen. But it looks like rather than going back to its original 21:9 signature aspect ratio, it will be retaining the 19.5:9 of the past generation. The resolution will also be maintained at Full HD+. No mention on the chipset the phone will run, not the battery it will pack. For what it’s worth, there’s a mention of a “two-day battery” instead.
Similarly, the Amazon listings did not provide specifics on the triple camera setup, save one, bit of info. That being one of the three will make use of a “new telephoto lens”. And as you’d expect from a new phone of today, there’s an “Xperia AI” being mentioned as well. For now, there’s no indication of if it will be pervasive on a user experience level, or something that’s specific to its imaging tech.
Finally, there’s its price, purchase bundle and release date, which raise some questions on their own. All things considered then, the release date of 26 June seems like the minute of problems, even if it’s a bit later in the usual launch schedule. Beyond that though, the Amazon UK listing tags the Sony Xperia 1 VIII with GBP1,728 (~RM9,191), which is unnaturally high.
But on the flip side, it comes bundled with the WH-1000XM6, the brand’s latest consumer headphones. These things don’t exactly come cheap, and have in fact gone up in price gradually over the years. It’s possible that the listed price is just the price of the bundle, and it would be possible to buy the phone on its own. Or, the memory shortage crisis has finally hit Sony beyond the PlayStation department, with the bundle and pricing being mitigation tactics. Or, just as likely, that the price shown is a placeholder.
Separately, serial leakster @OnLeaks has shared some renders of the Sony Xperia 1 VIII via UK outlet MyMobiles. The latter claims that these are derived from factory CAD data, and so they should be indicative of the production model. Besides a clearer look at the phone, these renders also indicate that the phone will indeed still have its bezels. And that means stereo speakers are to stay, and no punch-hole for the front camera.
(Source: Notebookcheck, @OnLeaks via MyMobiles)
