Sony has finally given its flagship Xperia 1 smartphone an official launch date and price. The handset, which features a large 21:9 OLED display that supports wide color gamuts, will arrive on July 12th for $949.99.

First introduced back at MWC 2019, Sony's new flagship smartphone is a very strong play for the high-end mobile market. Without a doubt, the key feature of the Xperia 1 is its 6.5-inch OLED display featuring a 21:9 aspect ratio with a 3840x1644 resolution. The screen supports the BT.2020 and the DCI-P3 color spaces with the D65 white point, and Sony says that it reproduces colors so precisely that that one of its movie studios used the Xperia 1 to review its work on set. To properly display HDR content, Sony is further adopting some of their display algorithms originally designed for their Bravia TVs. Meanwhile, the display is protected using Corning’s Gorilla Glass 6.

Under the hood, the Xperia 1 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 SoC, which is paired with 6 GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 128 GB of NAND flash memory (which can be augmented via microSD cards). Like other high-end 4G/LTE smartphones launched this year, this one supports Gigabit 4G/LTE, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO, and other advanced features of the platform. The handset also supports Dolby Atmos via its USB-C headphone output, while its speakers were tuned by engineers from Sony Pictures Entertainment, according to Sony.

In addition to its advanced display, the Sony Xperia 1 also comes with a 12 MP triple sensor camera cluster, which is comprised of a 26-mm regular RGB camera, 16-mm wide-angle camera, and a 52-mm telephoto camera. The camera cluster incorporates several Sony camera technologies, including Eye AF technology to focus exactly to the level of eyes, burst shooting with up to 10 fps AF/AE tracking, and it can shoot in 4K HDR at 24 fps with different color presets. Meanwhile, there is an 8 MP camera for front-facing photos.

Overall, being one of the first 21:9 smartphones on the market, the Xperia 1 is unusually long, yet it still very comfortable to hold and use, as we discovered back at MWC.

When it hits the streets in mid-July, Sony will be offering the Xperia 1 in two colors: black and purple. All of the usual suspects will be carrying the phone, including Amazon, Best Buy, B&H Photo, and Focus Camera. Interestingly, the $949.99 price tag is actually a tad lower than the price Sony was floating in March, where at the time they were intending to launch it as a $999 phone.

As for international customers, it looks like they'll need to wait a bit longer; for the moment Sony isn't announcing a launch date outside of the US. But in traditional Sony fashion, it is likely that the company will try to launch its flagship smartphone across the world more or less simultaneously.

The Sony Xperia X1
   Specifications
Display OLED
6.5"
3840x1644
21:9 aspect ratio
BT.2020, DCI-P3 color spaces
with the D65 white point
HDR
643 PPI
Corning Gorilla Glass 6
SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 855
1x Kryo 485 cores at 2.84 GHz
3x Kryo 485 cores at 2.42 GHz
4x Kryo 485 cores at 1.80 GHz
Adreno 640 GPU
RAM 6 GB LPDDR4X
Storage 64 or 128 of NAND flash
Local Connectivity Wi-Fi  802.11ac Wi-Fi
Bluetooth Bluetooth 5.0
Data/Charging USB 3.1 Type-C
Audio No 3.5 mm jack
NFC Yes
LTE 4G/LTE
Navigation A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO
Rear Camera Wide: 12 MP, f/1.6, 26mm, 1/2.6", 1.4µm, OIS
Ultrawide: 12 MP, f/2.4, 16mm, 1/3.4", 1.0µm
Telephoto: 12 MP, f/2.4, 52mm, 1/3.4", 1.0µm, predictive OIS
1 × LED flash
Front Camera 8 MP, 1.0µm
Battery Capacity 3330 mAh
Expected Life ?
SIM Size Nano SIM
Sensors accelerometer, gyro, proximity, barometer, compass
Biometric Security Fingerprint on the side
Facial Recognition -
Dimensions Height 167 mm | 6.57 inches
Width 72 mm | 2.83 inches
Thickness 8.2 mm | 0.32 inches
Weight 172 grams | 6.35 ounces
Colors black, grey, purple, white
Protection Drop Protected
Water, Dust IP67, IP65
OS Google Android 9.0
Launch Countries United States
Price $949.99 for 128 GB version

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Source: Sony

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  • nevita - Saturday, May 18, 2019 - link

    The display of the Xperia 1 can display 2K at 120hz, but even with that locked is the only display on the market with the minimum coverage of BT.2020 and 10 bits of depth, just with that the price reasonable good
  • Teckk - Saturday, May 18, 2019 - link

    If I'm buying a phone for 950,I'd like to have more than just 1 component which is good.
    1 thing I missed in my initial comment is the Android + security updates.
  • Devo2007 - Sunday, May 19, 2019 - link

    If you think the Rec.2020 support is anything other than a marketing checkmark, you're out of your mind. Aside from being basically zero content that's currently targeted towards that color space, there's about the same chance the display can actually reproduce anywhere close to that spec. Even some higher-end professional monitors for PCs can at most do 79% of the Rec.2020 color space.
  • Alistair - Friday, May 17, 2019 - link

    Well to start, this phone is WAY more comfortable to hold than the Oppo. And it is only 172 grams instead of 200. Thanks Sony. But I would miss the 90hz screen of the Oppo.
  • Teckk - Friday, May 17, 2019 - link

    Didn't think about weight, will have to hold and see to notice it once. Good point.
  • sonny73n - Saturday, May 18, 2019 - link

    28 grams isn’t 28 pounds. Are you that lazy or just physically weak? I’d rather hold a 300 grams phone which has a battery that can last for 2 days than hold a phone with charger and cable or a portable battery along with it.

    They should make a really light phone, 50 grams or less with 20 minutes battery life for the lazy fat bums.
  • Gastec - Monday, June 3, 2019 - link

    2 days, wow! When did user expectation get this low?
  • nevita - Saturday, May 18, 2019 - link

    I think the only ones who can determine if it's worthwhile are the people who work in the professional market, people who use alpha cameras and know how to properly assess the phone as part of their workflow and as second gear.
    OP 7 can have battery and ram but isn't really a choice that for that market.
  • Teckk - Saturday, May 18, 2019 - link

    I am part of the market I thought. Is Sony not looking for selling it to a wider audience 🤔
    Lot of people need SD card, some need 3.5 mm jack. Surprisingly for a camera market second gear device, 64 GB without expansion slot is pretty limited.
  • khanikun - Monday, May 20, 2019 - link

    Article says there's a microSD slot

    " 128 GB of NAND flash memory (which can be augmented via microSD cards)."

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