Sony Xperia 1 V: The Best Camera Phone Nobody Buys

Ask most phone shoppers to name Sony's current flagship and you'll likely get a blank stare. That's not because the Xperia 1 V is a bad phone — quite the opposite, it's one of the most capable camera phones you can buy in 2024. It's because Sony has spent years marketing its flagship almost exclusively to photography and videography enthusiasts who already know what they want, while doing essentially nothing to compete for mainstream attention against Apple, Samsung, and Google. The result is a phone that scores an 8.1 in our own full verdict, genuinely earns comparisons to the best camera phones on the market, and that almost nobody outside a small circle of enthusiasts actually buys.

The camera hardware explains why enthusiasts love it. The Xperia 1 V's main sensor uses a variable aperture — switching between f/1.7 and f/2.0 depending on the scene — a feature borrowed almost directly from Sony's own Alpha mirrorless camera lineup, and one that essentially no other phone maker offers. Paired with a 12MP ultrawide and 12MP telephoto, and controlled through a camera app modeled closely on Sony's real cameras with manual controls for shutter speed, ISO, white balance, and focus peaking, it's built for people who already understand photography fundamentals and want that control on a phone. For someone coming from a mirrorless or DSLR background, the Xperia 1 V's Photo Pro app will feel instantly familiar in a way that Samsung's or Apple's simplified camera apps never will.

Video is arguably where the Xperia 1 V pulls furthest ahead of the mainstream flagships. Sony's Videography Pro app supports real-time eye autofocus, S-Cinetone color profiles pulled from Sony's professional cinema cameras, and 4K recording at up to 120fps for smooth slow motion — specs that put it closer to a dedicated video camera than a phone. The 4K HDR OLED display, running at a 21:9 cinematic aspect ratio at 120Hz, is also tuned specifically for content creators reviewing footage on the go, with accurate color reproduction that professional colorists actually trust for quick on-set checks.

So why doesn't anyone buy it? Start with price: at $1,399, the Xperia 1 V costs more than the Pixel 8 Pro or Galaxy S24, both of which take excellent photos with far less manual effort required. Most buyers don't want to learn manual camera controls — they want to point, shoot, and get a great photo automatically, which is exactly the use case Google and Samsung have optimized for over the Xperia 1 V's more deliberate, skill-dependent approach. Sony essentially built a phone for people who already own real cameras and want that same experience portably, which is a smaller market than "everyone who wants great photos."

Availability compounds the problem. Sony sells the Xperia line through far fewer carriers and retailers than Samsung, Apple, or Google, and marketing spend on Xperia phones is a fraction of what competitors put behind their flagships. Most phone shoppers browsing a carrier store or a big-box retailer simply never see an Xperia 1 V on the shelf next to the phones they're already considering, so it never enters the decision at all — not because it loses a comparison, but because it's rarely part of one.

There's also the matter of everything outside the camera being merely good rather than exceptional. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, while capable, was already a generation behind at launch compared to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 in phones like the Xiaomi 14. Battery life is solid at 5000mAh but charging tops out at a modest 30W wired with no wireless charging at all — a genuinely surprising omission on a $1,399 phone in 2024, and one that stands out next to nearly every competitor at this price point offering both fast wired and wireless charging as standard.

Sony also holds onto two features almost every other 2024 flagship has abandoned: a 3.5mm headphone jack and a microSD card slot for storage expansion. For the dwindling but real population of buyers who still use wired headphones — audio engineers, musicians monitoring mixes, or simply people who don't want to deal with Bluetooth latency or charging another device — the Xperia 1 V is one of the only current flagships that doesn't force a dongle or wireless-only workflow. The microSD slot matters even more for the video-focused audience Sony is courting directly; shooting 4K at 120fps eats through storage fast, and being able to swap in a card rather than relying entirely on internal storage is a genuine practical advantage for anyone filming for hours at a time.

Resale and long-term value are harder to pin down than with Samsung or Apple, simply because the Xperia line has a much smaller secondhand market. That cuts both ways: resale prices for the Xperia 1 V tend to hold up reasonably well precisely because supply is limited and the buyers who want one specifically know what they're looking for, but it also means selling one can take longer than offloading a Galaxy or iPhone, where demand is constant and immediate. If liquidity matters to you — the ability to sell quickly if you change your mind, or trade in easily at a carrier store — that's a real, if secondary, mark against Sony's more niche flagship, since most carrier trade-in programs simply don't list Xperia models at all, leaving private resale as the only realistic option.

Should you actually buy one? If you're a content creator, photography hobbyist, or someone who already shoots on a real camera and wants a genuinely comparable experience in your pocket, the Xperia 1 V is worth serious consideration — it does things no mainstream flagship attempts. If you just want great photos without learning manual controls, save yourself the premium and the missing wireless charging, and look at the Pixel 8 Pro or Galaxy S24 instead; our ranked list of the best camera phones we've tested covers exactly how all three stack up against each other and the rest of the field.