Seeing as how highly anticipated products like Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Google's entire Pixel 10 family have essentially been leaked in all their glory many months before they're actually expected to go official, I can totally understand if you had a bad feeling about the Xperia 1 VII prior to today.
After all, the Xperia 1 VI is almost a year old already, and the silence on the rumor front regarding a prospective next-gen Android flagship from Sony was deafening. But at long last, the sixth sequel to the 2019-released Xperia 1 is in the spotlight, and at least according to the almost always reliable Steve Hemmerstoffer (aka Steve H.McFly, aka @OnLeaks) and the folks over at Xpertpick, this bad boy is set to look remarkably similar to its forerunners.
Sony will continue to swim against the tide
If you occasionally get the feeling that all the best phones right now (and even some not-so-great ones) look exactly the same, you just need to remember that Sony is still out there cranking out Android powerhouses with trend-defying bezels, lots of buttons, and headphone jacks.
Of course, the screen borders on the Xperia 1 VII are not massive by any measure of the word, but they're definitely visible (especially the top and bottom ones) and symmetrical, purportedly making the upcoming handset considerably taller than the 6.7-inch Galaxy S25 Plus, for instance, despite only sporting a display with an "approximate" size of 6.5 inches.
The Xperia 1 VII doesn't look like a lot of phones from other brands, but it strongly resembles the Xperia 1 VI.
At 74.5mm, the next member of the Xperia 1 family will at least be narrower than both the S25 Plus and S25 Ultra, but just a tad wider than last year's Xperia 1 VI. Interestingly, the Xperia 1 VII is also expected to bump its predecessor's 8.2mm profile up to 8.5mm (at its thinnest point), which might suggest a battery capacity increase is in the cards.
That would certainly help distinguish an otherwise very familiar-looking new device from the handset it takes after, perhaps justifying Sony's decision to stick with a design language that seems to have a lot of online fans... without converting many of those into buyers.
The Xperia 1 VI, remember, switched from its predecessor's niche 21:9 aspect ratio to a more universally accepted 19.5:9 that's likely to go unchanged on this year's Xperia 1 VII. Another surprising 2024 change saw the 4K (3840 x 1644 pixel) resolution drop to only 2340 x 1080 pixels, which is a move that many expect Sony to reverse for its 2025 super-flagship.
But that's far from guaranteed, which is obviously not what we can say about the three vertically aligned cameras on the back of the Xperia 1 VII and the fingerprint sensor-integrating power button and camera shutter button on the phone's side. Those are all clearly rendered today and pretty much etched in stone.
How much will the Sony Xperia 1 VII cost?
That, my dear readers and friends, is the million-dollar question, and unfortunately, the answer is unlikely to put smiles on the faces of many "regular" mobile consumers.
If the Xperia 1 VII will indeed come with a 4K-capable display, its US starting price is unlikely to sit below the $1,400 mark. That sounds ridiculous, but it's how much the Xperia 1 V used to cost stateside. Of course, the Xperia 1 VI never got an official US release, so don't be shocked if its 2025 sequel will meet the same fate.
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The Xperia 1 VII may or may not be released in the US at a high or... sky-high price.
Even if the Xperia 1 VII doesn't end up supporting 4K screen resolution, history suggests its price tag could be hard to swallow wherever the phone is released, with a Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, up to 16GB RAM and 512GB storage space, and a 48 + 12 + 12MP triple rear-facing camera system being likely to headline its top-shelf spec sheet.
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Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian's passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for 'adequate' over 'overpriced'.
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