Sony’s Xperia phones have always been a little different. The company built phones for those who actually care about focal lengths, shutter buttons, color science, and camera-style controls on a phone. The new Xperia 1 VIII continues this tradition, but Sony is now adding a layer of AI assistance to the formula. Its latest flagship introduces an AI Camera Assistant powered by Xperia Intelligence, which is how Sony plans to stand out from the crowd—even though I’m still skeptical.
How Sony AI tries to guide rather than process
This is the part I’m a little wary of, mostly because Xperia’s appeal has always been its camera-first identity. Sony phones appeared to be closer to a compact Alpha companion than a point-and-shoot smartphone trying to do everything for you. To Sony’s credit, the AI here does sound more like guidance than full automation. The suggestions are apparently based on Sony’s Creative Look system, which allows users to apply them with a tap rather than letting the phone completely take over the shot. Sony also notes that suggestions may not always appear depending on the environment, subject, or settings, and that the feature may be unavailable in modes such as continuous shooting or RAW capture.
New upgrades to the camera
The more exciting upgrade is the telephoto camera. Sony says the Xperia 1 VIII uses a new 1/1.56-inch telephoto sensor, roughly four times larger than the sensor used in the Xperia 1 VII. This not only helps with more clarity in zoomed shots, but should also help the sensor perform much better in lower light. Sony also claims all three cameras can deliver low-light performance comparable to a full-frame sensor in terms of noise reduction and dynamic range, although that claim is limited to still images and based on Sony’s own testing conditions. RAW multi-frame processing is applied across all lenses to expand dynamic range, reduce noise, preserve detail, and improve color reproduction in high-contrast or low-light scenes.
What else does it offer?
The Xperia 1 VIII runs on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. Battery life is rated at up to two days, but with a 5,000mAh cell, that claim seems a bit far-fetched. Sony is also keeping the dedicated camera shutter button and the 3.5mm headphone jack, two features that still matter to the Xperia faithful. The phone comes in Graphite Black, Iolite Silver, Garnet Red, and Native Gold, with Sony’s new ORE design using textured surfaces for improved grip.
Other notable features include a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, a 48MP Exmore T main sensor, a 6.5-inch FHD+ LTPO OLED display, and up to 2TB expandable storage via a microSD card slot.
Pricing starts at around €1,499 / £1,399 for the 256GB version, while the 1TB Native Gold variant costs €1,999 / £1,849 in select markets. Preorders begin May 13 through Sony and select retailers, with Sony’s WH-1000XM6 headphones bundled during the preorder period.
