Sony Xperia 1 VIII drops zoom lens for bigger 48MP camera

Sony has made a rare break with its own formula. The Xperia 1 VIII drops the continuous optical zoom telephoto that defined the last four generations of Xperia phones and replaces it with a fixed 70mm lens built around a larger 48MP sensor. The message is clear: Sony is still building a flagship for people who care about cameras, controls and hardware quirks more than mainstream smartphone compromises.

The new telephoto unit uses a 1/1.56-inch sensor that Sony says is about four times larger than the Xperia 1 VII’s telephoto sensor. Sony also said RAW multi-frame processing now applies to all three rear cameras, a change meant to improve dynamic range and reduce low-light noise. That is the tradeoff at the center of the Xperia 1 VIII, which gives up the Xperia 1 VII’s 85-170mm continuous zoom range in favor of a larger sensor that should be better suited to low-light shooting and cropped shots from a fixed focal length.

Sony is not softening the phone’s enthusiast identity anywhere else. The Xperia 1 VIII keeps a 3.5mm headphone jack, microSD expansion, a dedicated two-stage shutter key and stereo front-facing speakers, features that have long separated Xperia phones from rivals that have gone all-in on thinness and minimalism. Sony also added a new AI Camera Assistant powered by Xperia Intelligence, which suggests color tones, lens choices and bokeh effects based on the scene, the subject and even weather conditions.

The handset arrives in a new “Ore” design inspired by raw gemstones and comes in four colors. Preorders started at £1,399 or €1,499 for the 256GB model, while Sony also offered a 1TB gold version in select markets for £1,849 or €1,999. In some regions, preorder customers also received WH-1000XM6 headphones, another sign that Sony is leaning on its imaging and audio brands to justify the premium.

Sony announced the Xperia 1 VIII on May 12, 2026, and the launch underlines a familiar business logic for the company: Xperia is not chasing the broad middle of the smartphone market. Instead, it is trying to hold onto photographers, creators and power users who still value manual control, distinctive hardware and Sony’s camera know-how, even as the wider market keeps rewarding mass appeal.