Sony’s 2021 flagship has the most expensive phones from Apple and Samsung in its sights. If you’re looking for a more affordable Sony flagship, the slightly slimmed-down Xperia 5 III might be more up your alley. The Xperia 1 III leverages Sony’s Bravia OLED TV, Alpha camera, music technologies, and more to create a smartphone designed specifically for multimedia, photography, and gaming. As you would expect, Sony optimizes and modernizes its Xperia formula with each new release. One of the most notable innovations of the Xperia 1 III is a periscope zoom camera with movable lenses for a switchable focal length. This novel idea offers improved zoom qualities without doubling the number of cameras. Combined with a high-end Snapdragon 888 processor, wireless charging, dual front-facing speakers and a 3.5mm headphone jack, there’s plenty of tech under the hood. Sony retains its familiar design aesthetic in the Xperia 1 III. The sides are square in Sony’s typical style with rounded edges for easy handling. Sony didn’t opt for a notch or pinhole camera like its rivals, instead opting for a thin chin and forehead frame that’s slim enough not to stand out. The result is a bold monolith that continues to stand out from its rivals. It is still one of the few phones that offers a dedicated two-stage camera shutter button, a fingerprint reader on the right side, and IP65/IP68 rating for dust and water resistance. The SIM/MicroSD tray can also be removed without tools, which is handy if you frequently swap memory cards. The audio package is still outstanding after all these years: it has a 3.5 mm headphone jack, a selection of high-end Bluetooth codecs, and two front-facing speakers that sound solid, if a bit bass-poor. It’s still one of the few phones to offer a dedicated two-stage camera shutter button, a fingerprint reader on the right side, and an IP65/IP68 rating for dust and water resistance. The SIM/MicroSD tray can also be removed without tools, which is handy if you frequently swap memory cards. The audio package is still outstanding after all these years. It has a 3.5mm headphone jack, a choice of high-end Bluetooth codecs, and two front-facing speakers that sound solid, if a bit bass-poor. Sony’s 6.5-inch 4K HDR OLED display looks fantastic, with accurate colors and an over-the-top pixel density. 4K HDR is certainly a premium feature, but it’s a bit unnecessary on such a small display, especially since you probably won’t be storing or streaming such large files on a mobile device. When you do find it, the playback of cutting-edge content certainly looks great here, although most content, YouTube videos and the like look just as good on other phones. The display is also nice and bright, although you might have trouble seeing anything in very bright, direct sunlight.
