Sony's hot new Xperia 5 IV goes up for US pre-orders with free WF-1000XM4 earbuds
You know how it took Sony an absurd nine months or so to start shipping the Xperia 5 III stateside after the April 2021 announcement of the "compact" 6.1-inch Snapdragon 888 powerhouse? While it might not be wise to celebrate ahead of time, it sure doesn't look like the hot new Xperia 5 IV will follow a similarly embarrassing US release schedule.
Formally unveiled just yesterday, the upgraded 6.1-inch phone with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor under the hood is already up for pre-order from its manufacturer with a not-so-distant (by Sony standards, at least) October 27-28 "estimated delivery" date.
Get your Xperia 5 IV and WF-1000XM4 right here
By no means conventionally affordable, at $999.99 a pop, this bad boy is considerably cheaper than the larger, sharper, and overall more sophisticated Xperia 1 IV... while also including a nice pair of noise-cancelling WF-1000XM4 true wireless earbuds as a pre-order gift.
Those are some of the very best AirPods Pro alternatives money can buy right now, mind you, normally fetching a whopping $279.99 by themselves and rarely dropping below 230 bucks or so at major retailers in brand-new condition.
In other words, you're looking at an extremely valuable gift and a pretty awesome deal sweetener for a good but not great new high-end Android phone that seems to lack a certain je ne sais quoi to be able to extend Sony's typically limited mobile audience.
Of course, while the charger is missing from the handset's retail box, the aforementioned Qualcomm SoC lacks the Plus boost of Samsung's Galaxy Z Flip 4 and Z Fold 4, and the OLED screen is nowhere near as impressive as the one sporting an unrivaled resolution of 3840 x 1644 pixels on the Xperia 1 IV, the 5 IV does get plenty of things right as well.
You get a hefty 5,000mAh battery, for instance, squeezed into largely the same body as the 4,500mAh-packing Xperia 5 III, not to mention added wireless charging capabilities. All three 12MP rear-facing cameras come with 4K HDR video recording at 120fps, as well as many other neat tricks up their sleeves for vloggers and content creators, while the connectivity suite includes everything from a 3.5mm headphone jack to a microSD card slot.
Bottom line, the Sony Xperia 5 IV is definitely not a dud, and with probably the best wireless earbuds around bundled in at no extra cost, its $999.99 list price almost seems reasonable.
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