Last year's Sony Xperia 1 III is less prohibitive than ever after $300 discount
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Because old habits die hard and Sony doesn't exactly seem interested in truly competing against the likes of Apple, Samsung, or even Motorola as far as global smartphone sales are concerned, the ultra-high-end Xperia 1 IV is not shipping in the US several months after its announcement and will not begin to do so until September (at the earliest).
Not counting the obscenely expensive Xperia Pro-I, which is still prohibitively priced after a $200 discount, that makes the Xperia 1 III the latest Sony flagship the brand's hardcore fans can get stateside... starting at $999.99.
If that also sounds excessive, you might want to remember that the extra-tall 6.5-inch Snapdragon 888 powerhouse made its commercial debut at no less than $1,299.99 back in August 2021 following an official announcement more than four months earlier.
To our knowledge, said list price is marked down by a cool 300 bucks for the first time ever at a slew of major US retailers, including Best Buy and B&H Photo Video. The unlocked handset technically supports 5G speeds (although actual compatibility with the fastest networks around these parts is somewhat of a different story), and for your $999.99, you can get a fairly generous 256 gigs of internal storage space paired with a whopping 12GB RAM count.
In a way, the Xperia 1 III probably shouldn't be judged by "normal" 2022 high-end Android smartphone standards, looking like no other such device on the market right now and delivering unique photographic, content viewing, and content producing experiences with three different 12MP rear-facing cameras and a 120Hz OLED display sporting an unrivaled resolution of 3840 x 1660 pixels.
Is that enough to justify a $999.99 expense (along with "classic" features like microSD support and a headphone jack)? Most consumers might say no, but clearly, Sony is not very interested in what most people think and want... for better and for worse.
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