Yesterday, Sony announced its new 2021 smartphone lineup, but there was no mention of what the prices would be. Since then, the phones have appeared on the company’s Russian site, available for pre-order.
The Xperia 1 III will cost RUB99,990 in Russia, which equals $1300 after conversion. That’s for the base version of the phone in Black, with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. Meanwhile, the Xperia 5 III is priced at RUB84,990 – $1,100 after conversion. Note that these prices include 20% sales tax and will vary between countries.
The new Sony smartphones seem a bit pricey for what they offer, especially when you consider the 256GB Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is only 6% more expensive in Russia than the Xperia 1 III – and you can have one today, not in two months. Xperia 1 III pre-orders will ship no earlier than July 20.
On the other hand, Sony Russia is offering free Sony WF-1000XM3 earbuds when pre-ordering the Xperia 1 III or Xperia 5 III. These earbuds offer up to 24 hours of playtime on a single charge with the case and have active noise cancelation. The Sony WF-1000XM3 earbuds retail at $229, which makes for not that bad of a deal.
The Xperia 1 III is a 6.5-inch phone with a 4K 120Hz refresh rate HDR OLED display. The phone has a Snapdragon 888 processor paired with a 4,500mAh battery that has 30W fast charging. It has a quad-camera system containing 12MP main, 12MP telephoto and 12MP ultrawide cameras. The Xperia 5 III is a 6.1-inch phone with a FHD+ 120Hz refresh rate HDR OLED display. The phone has the same Snapdragon 888 processor as its bigger brother and the same 4,500mAh battery with 30W fast charging. The Xperia 5 III also has the same quad-camera system as the one found on the 1 III.
The Xperia 1 III and the Xperia 5 III are the first phones in the world with variable telephoto lenses. Both phones come with Android 11 out of the box and have a side-mounted fingerprint scanner. The two phones also feature a Micro SD card slot for storage expansion, video output via USB-C and a headphone jack. The new Sony phones use the company’s tall 21:9 screen aspect ratio that we’re now used to.
