Sony Xperia 1 VII The Sony Xperia 1 VII packs some of the most powerful photo and video features on the market into a robust build that finally sees a long-term update pledge to match. Sadly, the camera quality doesn't always live up to the promise, and it struggles to stand out on any other merits. It'll delight a niche audience, but it's far too average for such a high asking price for everyone else.
It’s been a little while since a Sony phone passed my desk, so I was chomping at the bit to get my hands on the brand’s 2025 flagship, the Xperia 1 VII. As has been the way with almost all Xperia handsets in recent generations, it is undeniably familiar — Sony is seemingly wedded to this hardware formula, for better or worse.
Still, the phone boasts some interesting upgrades on paper that aim to keep it battling out with the best Android rivals. AI — that most heinous buzzword — has made its way into Sony’s camera array, imbuing it with supposedly superior face and eye tracking, steadier videography, and auto-subject framing. There’s even a 2.1x larger ultrawide camera onboard for a minor hardware improvement, too.
The Xperia 1 VII has a few other tweaks, too, but you buy a Sony phone first and foremost for that Alpha camera goodness — and perhaps the headphone jack, if you still care about such things.
But before we get into that, the biggest news is that Sony promises four years of OS and six years of security updates. Finally! While not the absolute best update policy in the business, this does at least address our biggest gripe about its predecessors.
So, is this finally an Xperia that everyone should consider buying? Bluntly, no. The Xperia 1 VII has a very niche appeal for a few reasons, and it starts with those cameras…
Is the Xperia the best camera experience money can buy?
Robert Triggs / Android Authority
Priced at an eyewatering £1,399/€1,499 (that’s ~$1,900, but Sony seemingly isn’t launching this in the US), you’d really hope the Xperia 1 VII would go toe to toe with the best camera phones on the market. The hardware, at least, remains competitive on paper. The triple rear camera array comprises a 52MP 1/1.35-inch main lens (48MP effective), 50MP 1/1.56-inch ultrawide (48MP effective), and Sony’s novel 12MP 1/3.5-inch variable periscope camera, with a focal length and aperture that extends from f/2.3 at 85mm to f/3.5 at 170mm for an effective optical zoom of 3.5x to 7.1x.
Still, these are hardly the biggest sensors found in a phone at this price. The mightily impressive Xiaomi 15 Ultra, my favorite camera phone to date, packs a whopping 1-inch primary sensor and a 200MP, 1/1.4-inch 4.3x periscope zoom. Even the Pixel 9 Pro XL and Galaxy S25 Ultra have larger 1/2.52-inch zoom cameras, though their ultrawides aren’t quite as big.
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