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Passed by our laboratories, the latest high-end flagship from Sony, the Xperia 1 IV, won 4 stars. Resolutely premium, it remains faithful to the vision and originality of the family. Still, with a selling price of €1399, it has to come up against sharp and aggressive competition.
Sony Xperia 1IV
- Rakuten
1,055.00
Amazon Warehouse1,083.11
Amazon1,399.00
Fnac.com1,399.00
baker.com1,399.00
Darty.com1,399.00
SFR1,409.00
Amazon Marketplace1,775.20
eBay1,399.00
How the pricing table works
An almost identical copy of its predecessor, the Xperia 1 III, this new version uses the codes of this smartphone which emphasizes cinema with its atypical 21:9 format. Launched recently, the latest from the Japanese manufacturer arrived on the shelves at a price of €1,399. Obviously, at this price level, Sony delivers a complete copy, with IP68 certification, microSD, NFC, wifi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, 5G as well as a very good quality 3.5 mm mini-jack port.
The Xperia 1 IV is very difficult to differentiate from the Xperia 1 III (left).
On the screen side, there is a beautiful 6.5-inch panel enjoying a phenomenal resolution of 643 dpi thanks to its 4K definition of 1644 x 3840 pixels. Very well calibrated, the panel offers a light peak at 891 cd / m², but remains a little behind compared to competition which excels in the exercise, like the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. On the other hand, the Japanese did not consider it useful to graft an LTPO panel allowing a dynamic refresh rate, variable according to use. We will therefore have to be satisfied with a refresh rate of 60 Hz or 120 Hz.
Obviously, as a good premium smartphone, the Xperia 1 IV emphasizes photography with a quadruple module equipped with Zeiss stamped optics. Signature of Sony, the last-born benefits from a physical trigger, life-saving for some amateurs and very practical to use. While many competitors, such as Google and its Pixel 6 Pro, have dabbled in zoom, Sony wants to take it a step further with continuous zoom over an equivalent focal length range of 85mm to 125mm, an interesting idea on paper. but more difficult to implement.
On the performance side, Sony has placed a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 at the controls, coupled with 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage (expandable via MicroSD). Unsurprisingly, this configuration delivers exemplary performance, although slightly below what the Xperia 1 III offered. In any case, we are entitled to a fast terminal which is not afraid of multitasking or video games, and which takes advantage of its atypical format to offer a very good video game experience in games from the Play Store.
It is in terms of autonomy that Sony is lagging far behind. It is even less enduring than its predecessor, yet equipped with a smaller capacity battery (4500 mAh against 5000 mAh).
The Sony Xperia 1 IV is a very good smartphone, powerful, well equipped and very pleasant. However, it struggles to really stand out, especially with such a high price of 1399 €. However, it will be a hit with fans of the 21:9 format or mobile users looking for an original device. But in this area, it will have to compete with other very high-end terminals such as the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra or the Oppo Find X5 Pro.