Sony Xperia 1 VII vs Xperia 1 VI: Sony's last attempt?

The Sony Xperia lineup has been going through some difficult times recently, with the company scrapping the Xperia 5 series and postponing the official announcement of the flagship Xperia 1. Some Xperia fans were even concerned about the future of Xperia phones, but it seems that we're going to get at least one more Xperia 1 model.

The Xperia 1 VII is finally here and it will be interesting and important to compare the latest Sony flagship to its predecessor, the Mark VI device, as the latter brought some radical changes to the Xperia experience (what a tongue twister).

The Xperia 1 VI ditched the 4K display and the 21:9 aspect ratio in favor of a more traditional (or should we say widespread) 19.5:9 aspect ratio and an FHD+ resolution. This created a bit of a backlash from avid Sony fans, and Sony is sticking with the change in the Xperia 1 VII.

There are some minor differences, but all in all, the Xperia 1 VII is e slight evolution compared to the previous mode. Let's dig in.

Last year Sony changed the aspect ratio of the Xperia 1 VI, which led to a slightly different form factor. For better or for worse, the design remained unchanged for another consecutive year, and the phone carried Xperia's classic features—a flat rectangular design, some might even call it boxy.

It seems that the Japanese company is sticking to its guns, design-wise, when it comes to the Xperia 1 VII. The phone shows little to no difference to its predecessor.

We have the same rectangular design with two bezels on the top and bottom of the display. The camera bump looks almost identical to the one on the Xperia 1 VII as well, and the placement of the buttons is also exactly the same.

In terms of dimensions and weight, the Xperia 1 VII comes in at 162 x 74 x 8.2mm. That's identical to the previous mode. The weight of the new phone comes in at 197 grams, while the Xperia 1 VI weighs 192 grams, so no big difference there as well.

In terms of colors, there's nothing exciting about the last couple of generations. Sony has been pretty conservative with the flagship series, with some more vibrant color options coming to the budget Xperia 10 series instead. 

Sony Xperia 1 VI colors:

Xperia 1 VII colors:

The Xperia 1 VI downgraded the resolution to FHD+ (1080×2340) while keeping the 6.5-inch diagonal. This resulted in a rather mediocre pixel density of around 396 PPI. The aspect ratio was changed as well from 21:9 to 19.5:9, but on the positive side, the panel was a true LTPO with a 1-120 Hz dynamic refresh rate.

The Xperia 1 VII features largely the same display panel, with the same resolution, size and overall specs. The transition from 4K resolution to FHD allowed Sony to increase the brightness and also employ LTPO tech in the previous generation, and the same is true for the Xperia 1 VII.

Display Measurements:

The display tests show s slightly better brightness figures for the new model, and better minimum brightness, as well as color accuracy. These differences are miniscule, though, and for all intents and purposes, we can say that both phones have very similar displays. It's a tie.

The biometrics remain the same on the Xperia 1 VII, which means that the side-mounted capacitive fingerprint scanner is back for yet another year. Sony refuses to switch to under-display fingerprint readers for some reason, and even though the side-mounted capacitive variant caused Xperia phones some issues in the past, the ones on the Xperia 1 VI and Xperia 1 VII seem to work just fine. 

There are no big surprises on the hardware front. Sony traditionally equips its flagships with the latest Qualcomm silicon available, and this was the case with the Xperia 1 VI. Unsurprisingly, the Xperia 1 VII features the Snapdragon 8 Elite, which is the current top silicon from Qualcomm.

The previous model featured a redesigned vapor chamber, and it actually made a difference in the performance and temperature under load, and this has been carried over to the Xperia 1 VII as well. Let's check out the benchmarks.

GPU Performance

Nothing out of the ordinary with these results. The Xperia 1 VII performs in line with all other Snapdragon 8 Elite flagships with little to no deviations. The phone was able to hold a pretty high score during the stress test and didn't get too hot, so the vapor chamber works as intended on the new model as well.

In terms of RAM, the Xperia 1 VI launched with two memory options—12/256GB and 12/512GB—and we have the exact same options on the new model.

Software-wise, in the era of AI and LLMs, every smartphone manufacturer is pushing like crazy to create its own AI system. We have Galaxy AI, Apple Intelligence, Awesome Intelligence, Xiaomi's Hyper AI, and so on and so forth.

Sony seems to be taking a different approach, keeping the AI features and tools in the background. Now, while we think this might be the best way to do it in the long run (when the AI hype wears off, most systems will remain in the background doing what they're doing without much of a fuss and bombastic abbreviations), in the short term, Sony might suffer a bit.

There's a long overdue update to the software situation, though. The Xperia 1 VII will receive 4 major OS updates and 6 years of security patches. A little shy of the 7 years Samsung and Google are offering but still an improvement, compared to the 2/4 years scheme of the past.

The only hardware difference between the Xperia 1 VI and its predecessor in the camera department was the new 48MP sensor of the ultrawide camera. The ultrawide on the 1 Mark VI is in comparison 12MP. There are no changes to the main camera; it uses the same 1/1.35" Exmor T sensor for mobile with a 1.12 μm pixel size, sitting under a lens with an F1.9 aperture.

PhoneArena Camera Score:

The tests in the lab show a slight advantage for the Xperia 1 VII when it comes to the ultrawide camera performance, but it's not huge. It looks like the selfie camera on the new model performs better as well, while the main camera, surprisingly, yields lower result than the predecessor, if only by one point. 

Sony has been slapping front-facing stereo speakers on its phones for many generations now, and we really enjoy the experience of getting the sound directed toward you, especially when you're watching a movie or a clip.

There are no surprises here as well; we have a very similar audio system on the Xperia 1 VII as the one used on the predecessor. The latter features a quality pair of speakers, even though the loudness wasn't the best out there. 

One cool thing about Xperia phones is that Sony just refuses to retire the 3.5 mm headphone jack. It's a great feature and an added bonus to be able to plug in your wired audiophile headphones at will, and Sony indeed has kept the 3.5 mm jack present on the Xperia VII as well.

In terms of haptics, the vibration motor inside the Xperia flagships has always been on the weaker side, not anything drastic, but not as strong and snappy as some other flagships on the market.

Sony advertised last year's Xperia 1 VI as a "two-day phone" mainly because of the switch to a lower-resolution screen. Our tests showed a massive improvement in stamina compared to the Mark V, even though both phones come with the same 5,000 mAh battery.

So, what about the Xperia 1 VII? There were some rumors that Sony will embrace the new silicon-carbon battery tech and increase the capacity of the battery inside the Xperia 1 VII. Sadly, the phone features the same 5,000 cell as its predecessor.

PhoneArena Battery and Charging Test Results:

The battery test show a slight variation in the different components of the benchmark, but the overall score is very close. On the charging front, things seem to be frozen in time. The last model featured 30W wired charging, and the same charging speeds can be found on the Xperia 1 VII. 

Here's a quick preliminary specs comparison table for the number nerds.

Given the difficult market situation and the sales figures from the last two years (a 40% drop in sales for the Xperia lineup), the Xperia 1 VII might be one of the last attempts (if not the last) of Sony at the flagship smartphone idea.

There are some fundamental issues or should we say characteristics that prevent Sony flagships from challenging the more popular brands such as Samsung, Apple, and Google. The first one is the price - the Xperia 1 VII costs 1,499 euros and that's a lot. Not that there's anything wrong with the phone, it's on par with other big flagship models. It's just that the said models cost significantly less.

The other big hurdle is availability - Sony phones can't be found at any US carried and getting one there requires some serious logistical gymnastics. But even in Europe, Xperia phones are hard to come by. So, with all the above in mind, it's hard to recommend the Xperia 1 VII, especially if you own the previous model or even the Xperia 1 V.

If you come from a much older Xperia phone, or just want to go against the grain and get something unique (and the price doesn't bother you), the Xperia 1 VII can be good choice. But those are a lot of "if"-s.