Sony Xperia 1 III, Xperia 5 III With Variable Telephoto Lenses Launched; Xperia 10 III Debut As Well

Sony Xperia 1 III, Sony Xperia 5 III, and Sony Xperia 10 III were unveiled on Wednesday. While Sony Xperia 1 III is designed as the company's flagship phone of 2021, the Xperia 5 III brings some of the flagship's features to a wider customer base and the Xperia 10 III is specifically aimed at the mid-range market. Sony Xperia 1 III carries a variable telephoto lens developed by Sony's Alpha camera engineers. The Sony phone also has continuous autofocus, dual phase-detection technology, and a dedicated shutter button to attract mobile camera enthusiasts. Sony Xperia 5 III also shares some similarities with the Xperia 1 III. These include the presence of the variable telephoto lens and dual phase detection, among others. Both Sony Xperia 1 III and Sony Xperia 5 III also feature 360 Spatial Sound for a surround sound experience.

Sony Xperia 1 III, Sony Xperia 5 III, Sony Xperia 10 III price, availability details

Sony Xperia 1 III, Sony Xperia 5 III, and Sony Xperia 10 III price details are yet to be revealed. However, all three phones will go on sale in select markets in early summer. The Xperia 1 III will be available in Frosted Black, Frosted Grey, and Frosted Purple colour options, while the Xperia 5 III will debut in Black, Green, and Pink shades. Sony Xperia 10 III will come in Black, Blue, Pink, and White colours.

Sony Xperia 1 III specifications

The dual-SIM (Nano) Sony Xperia 1 III runs on Android 11. It features a 6.5-inch 4K (1,644x3,840 pixels) HDR OLED CinemaWide display with a 21:9 aspect ratio and 120Hz refresh rate. The display also has 100 percent coverage of DCI-P3 colour gamut, 240Hz motion blur reduction, and 240Hz touch sampling rate as well as Corning Gorilla Glass Victus protection (Gorilla Glass 6 is also available at the back). Under the hood, the phone comes with an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 SoC, along with 12GB of RAM.

For photos and videos, Sony Xperia 1 III has a triple rear camera setup that houses a 12-megapixel primary Exmor RS for mobile sensor with an f/1.7 lens and a 12-megapixel secondary Exmor RS for mobile sensor with the variable telephoto lens that offers f/2.3 (70mm) and an f/2.8 (105mm) aperture. The setup also has a 12-megapixel camera with a wide-angle f/2.2 lens that comes with a 124-degree field of view. The camera setup on the Xperia 1 III sports Zeiss optics.

The Xperia 1 III also comes with an 8-megapixel selfie camera at the front with an f/2.0 lens.

Sony has provided preloaded features such as Real-time Eye AF (Human, Animal), Real-time tracking, 3D iToF, Dual photo diode, RGB-IR, Hybrid zoom 12.5x (based on Wide camera 24 mm), AI Super Resolution Zoom, and High Dynamic Range (HDR) photo. For videography, there are also features including Cinematography Pro powered by CineAlta, 4K HDR Movie recording along with up to 120fps slow-motion, Optical SteadyShot with FlawlessEye, and Sony's SteadyShot with Intelligent Active Mode.

The Xperia 1 III has 256GB and 512GB of UFS storage options that are expandable via microSD card (up to 1TB). Connectivity options include 5G, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, GPS/ A-GPS, NFC, and a USB Type-C port.

There is a side-mounted fingerprint sensor as well. The phone packs a 4,500mAh battery that supports Xperia Adaptive Charging and Qi Wireless charging. There is also a Battery Share function to share power with other supported devices.

Sony Xperia 1 III also comes with an IPX5/ IPX8 water-resistant design that is also dustproof (IP6X). The phone measures 165x71x8.2mm and weighs 187 grams.

Sony Xperia 5 III specifications

The dual-SIM (Nano) Sony Xperia 5 III runs on Android 11. It features a 6.1-inch full-HD+ (1,080x2,520 pixels) HDR OLED CinemaWide display with a 21:9 aspect ratio, 120Hz refresh rate, and 100 percent DCI-P3 colour gamut. The display is also protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 6. The Xperia 5 III is powered by the Snapdragon 888 SoC, coupled with 8GB of RAM.

Sony Xperia 5 III features a 6.1-inch full-HD+ (1,080x2,520 pixels) HDR OLED CinemaWide display
Photo Credit: Sony

In terms of optics, Sony Xperia 5 III has a triple rear camera setup that has the same sensors and lenses that are available on the Xperia 1 III. The Xperia 5 III also has a similar 8-megapixel selfie camera at the front.

On the storage front, Sony Xperia 5 III offers 256GB of internal storage that is expandable via microSD card (up to 1TB). Connectivity options include 5G, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, GPS/ A-GPS, NFC, and a USB Type-C port. There is also a side-mounted fingerprint sensor.

Sony Xperia 5 III packs a 4,500mAh battery that supports Xperia Adaptive Charging. The phone measures 157x68x8.2mm and weighs 169 grams.

Sony Xperia 10 III specifications

The dual-SIM (Nano) Sony Xperia 10 III runs on Android 11. It has a 6-inch full-HD+ (1,080x2,520 pixels) HDR OLED display with a 21:9 aspect ratio and Corning Gorilla Glass 6 protection. The phone is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 690 SoC, paired with 6GB of RAM. It comes with a triple rear camera setup that comprises a 12-megapixel primary Exmor R for mobile sensor and an f/2.8 lens, an 8-megapixel secondary sensor with an f/2.4 macro lens, and an 8-megapixel tertiary sensor with an f/2.2 ultra-wide-angle lens.

Sony Xperia 10 III has a full-HD+ HDR OLED display
Photo Credit: Sony

For selfies and video chats, Sony Xperia 10 III has an 8-megapixel camera sensor at the front with an f/2.0 lens.

Sony Xperia 10 III has 128GB of onboard storage that supports expansion via microSD card (up to 1TB). Connectivity options include 5G, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5.1, GPS/ A-GPS, NFC, and a USB Type-C port. The phone also has a fingerprint sensor. Further, it packs a 4,500mAh battery that supports 30W fast charging. The phone measures 154x68x8.3mm and weighs 169 grams.

Why did LG give up on its smartphone business? We discussed this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Later (starting at 22:00), we talk about the new co-op RPG shooter Outriders. Orbital is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.