Sony Xperia 1 VI vs. Xperia 1 V

The Sony Xperia 1 VI is available now, but many of you are probably wondering if the high price ($1,399) is really worth it or if last year’s lower by around €850. That’s almost twice as cheap.

If it were that simple, we wouldn’t have done an in-depth comparison between the two. The new Xperia 1 VI does things a little differently and we believe most of the changes are for the better. However, it is difficult to justify the huge price gap, so let’s delve into the different aspects such as display, battery life, performance, camera, etc. Nothing beats real-world experience.

So how much better can the Sony Xperia 1 VI deserve its price premium? Let’s look at this.

Summary:

To get started, you can compare the complete datasheets or continue directly with our editor’s evaluation in the following text.

Size comparison

Although the Xperia 1 VI and the Xperia 1 V share the same screen diagonal, the dimensions are quite different, and perhaps everyone will have an opinion on which is more appropriate to keep.

Since Sony changed the aspect ratio of the display, the new 1 VI turned out to be wider and shorter. This is in line with current design standards and moves away from the “remote control” feel of its predecessor. The latter is noticeably thinner and taller, making it easy to hold, but reaching the top of the display with your thumb is a challenge.

No significant changes in thickness and weight, though. At least not noticeable.

View the comparison

This is perhaps the biggest change in this year’s Xperia 1 VI. Some might say it’s a downgrade, but it’s for the better.

The new Xperia 1 VI offers a 6.5-inch OLED display like last year, but reduces the resolution. It is now 1080 x 2340 px with the most popular 19.5:9 aspect ratio. The older Xperia has a 21:9 aspect ratio and a resolution of 1664 x 3840px – an exceptional configuration in the smartphone world as a whole.

However, 4K resolution was rarely used. In fact, there are only a couple of scenarios (including video playback) that triggered full 4K resolution. The rest of the time, the system prefers 1080p. So in the end, you don’t lose any pixels.

Additionally, the newer Xperia uses a more power-efficient LTPO OLED panel with a variable refresh rate and achieves noticeably higher brightness in auto mode — 1,310 nits versus 936 nits, according to our tests.

Battery life

The two Xperias have reliable battery life, but the clear winner is the newer 1 VI. Not only is it better in terms of overall endurance (17:27 hours versus 12:24 hours of active use), but it also beats its predecessor in most scenarios.

The Xperia 1 VI’s web browsing and video playback times show a huge improvement over the last generation, as well as a measurable improvement in the gaming test. Our best guess is that the more efficient FHD+ LTPO display is to blame. Interestingly, last year’s 1V performed better in the 4G talk scenario.

Charging speed

Both laptops aren’t particularly competitive in this regard, so it’s safe to say that the Xperia 1 VI and the Xperia 1 V are equally slow at the finish line. Both phones both have a maximum charging power of 30W, but in our tests, the new Xperia is a little quicker to charge to 100%. The difference is only 7 minutes, though.

After further testing, we found that the Xperia 1 VI works well with faster charging adapters, so you’ll be able to squeeze out a couple of percentage points if you use a higher-quality USB Power Delivery charger.

Test the speakers

While Sony didn’t put much emphasis on the Xperia 1 VI’s improved sound system, we did notice a few things.

Firstly, the 1 VI is noticeably more powerful than its predecessor, and secondly, it has good tuning overall. In fact, it’s probably fair to say that the Xperia 1 VI has one of the best speakers we’ve heard in a while. The sound is warmer, fuller and livelier than the Xperia 1 V., which sounds dull and flat compared to the 1 VI.

Performance

Of course, the new Xperia 1 VI is faster than the old 1 V as it uses a newer chipset. We have the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 compared to last year’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2-powered Xperia 1 V. Both the CPU and GPU promise a noticeable increase in raw performance.

No changes in memory configurations, though. Both devices come with 12GB/256GB. The storage is still expandable – a rarity among flagship smartphones. Unfortunately for the moment the 512GB variant is only available in Japan.

Reference performance

There’s a measurable difference between the two phones, with the Xperia 1 VI offering around 25 percent faster CPU and more than double the GPU performance; our 1 VI unit doesn’t appear to utilize the SD8 Gen 3’s full potential as it recorded lower benchmark scores than other flagships. However, our CPU and GPU throttling tests showed that they favored the Xperia 1 VI over the 1 V.

Camera comparison

The two Xperias share the same camera hardware, but there are a couple of changes to the telephoto lens on this year’s 1 VI that add value to the overall user experience. The new telephoto lens features 7.1x optical zoom and a focusing distance of 4cm at 120mm, which suggests some solid macro capabilities.

The main camera uses a 48 MP, 1/1.35″, 1.12 µm sensor paired with an f/1.9 aperture. The telephoto lens is 12 MP f/2.3-3.5, 1/3, 5″ with variable optical zoom 85-170 mm, which translates approximately to 3.5x -7.1x. The older Xperia uses the same setup but with up to 5.2x zoom.

The third camera is 12MP f/2.2, 1/2.5″ ultrawide and also remains unchanged between the two generations. The same goes for the 12MP f/2.0 selfie unit.

One notable difference between the two phones lies in the software. Sony has simplified the camera experience this year and is putting all the pro-oriented features into the default camera app. Apps like Cinema Pro, Video Pro, etc. are not needed. All features and settings are available in the newly developed camera app. Some of the Pro video capture options available on the Mark V will be added to the new camera app on the Mark VI only this fall.

However, the Xperia 1 VI gets a new 48MP full resolution mode on the main camera. The ultrawide camera also has an automatic Close-up mode. And overall, the new camera app feels much snappier than before.

Image quality

When it comes to quality, the main and ultrawide cameras produce nearly identical still images. It’s hard to notice any difference, but we noticed a different tonal curve on the Xperia 1 VI, leading to brighter, sharper highlights.

Xperia 1 VI: 0.7x • 1x • 2x • 3.5x • 5.2x • 7.1x

The Xperia 1 VI pulls ahead in this comparison with noticeably sharper and more detailed 2x zoom and crop still images from the main camera. The quality improvement is easily visible.

Xperia 1V: 0.7x • 1x • 2x • 3.5x • 5.2x • 7.1x

Interestingly, the Xperia 1 V appears to offer better 3.5x zoom photos. Swatches are cleaner and more detailed. The 5.2x comparison between the two is pretty close, but the Mark V’s 5.2x images still look a little better. And in good light, the 7.1x optical zoom provided by the 1 VI is slightly better than the digital zoom of the Xperia 1 V at the same zoom level.

Xperia 1 VI: 0.7x • 1x • 3.5x • 5.2x

Night photography appears to be relatively the same this year, with little to no difference in the processing of the main and ultrawide cameras. The new Xperia has a slight edge over its predecessor in the telephoto department with better noise reduction and slightly better sharpness and detail in the 3.5x zoom mode. However, 5.2x zoom photos in low light are unsatisfactory on both phones.

Xperia 1V: 0.7x • 1x • 3.5x • 5.2x

Sony deserves praise for the new telemacro mode offered by the Xperia 1 VI. It is probably the first phone on the market to offer telemacro photography at such high magnification. However, to get good shots you need a tripod and good lighting.

Xperia 1 VI telemacro mode

Video quality

The two cameraphones record identical-looking video with their main and ultrawide cameras, but there’s a noticeable difference in telephoto output. Neither zoom camera offers great video quality, but for some reason the older Xperia has slightly clearer and more detailed video across all zoom lengths: 3.5x, 5.2x, AND 7.1x included.

Xperia 1 VI: 0.7x • 1x • 3.5x • 5.2x • 7.1x

Xperia 1V: 0.7x • 1x • 3.5x • 5.2x • 7.1x

Verdict

The Xperia 1 VI is definitely Sony’s best Xperia yet. It comes with lots of upgrades: the better display overall (we don’t miss the rarely used 4K resolution), the longest battery life (among the best there are), the most simplified and versatile camera experience (with telemacro mode and up to 7.1x continuous optical zoom) and one of the best speakers we’ve ever tried.

The Xperia 1 V, however, offers essentially the same user experience as its successor, so the question remains whether these upgrades are worth the €550 premium. If the price gap between the two hadn’t been so wide, we would have easily recommended the new Xperia, but for the moment that’s not the case.