Glow your own way

Sony's Xperia range continues to go it alone with features other flagships have long given up on... but will keeping old fans happy stop the 1 VII winning over new ones?

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£1399/go.stuff.tv/Xperia1vii

There was a point earlier this year when I wondered whether Sony's next smartphone might never make an appearance... but the Xperia 1 VII is here, and the company's unwavering commitment to doing things its own way remains intact.

Like most of 2025's flagships it's equipped with Qualcomm's most potent processor: the Snapdragon 8 Elite. The screen is a 6.5in OLED and it's just as pocket-friendly as the outgoing Xperia 1 VI, even if it is more of a handful than Samsung's crazily slim Galaxy S25 Edge (reviewed on p29).

Two of the three rear cameras are unchanged. A 48MP main sensor still leads the way, while the unique 12MP continuous zoom telephoto also returns. It's the ultrawide – often the least appreciated lens – that has been upgraded here, with a physically larger sensor that ups the pixel count too.

Will its signature tricks give the Xperia 1 VII the edge over more mainstream alternatives?

Don't swap?