As Mark Twain might have said, reports of Sony Xperia’s death have been greatly exaggerated.
After the company was forced to deny it was exiting the smartphone market last month, a new model has launched in the form of the mid-range Xperia 10 VII.
So, in its time of need, surely Sony has made a phone that will immediately stand out from the crowd?
Well, about that. The big design change on the Xperia 10 VII is a new horizontal rear camera module, which adopts a pill shape and extends almost all the way across the back of the phone.
Sound familiar? Yes, it’s the same approach that Google has taken on its last two generations of Pixel flagships.
Does that make Sony boring for copying the design, or is it a cop-out? I’d argue the opposite. Google is clearly onto something with its Pixel phones, and Sony has done just enough to make it look different.
I’ll admit that the stunning Turquoise finish is doing a lot of the heavy lifting here. The Charcoal and White versions are much less inspiring, especially with all three models opting for a plastic back rather than glass.
However, that’s reflected in the price. At £399, the Xperia 10 VII is half the price of the base Pixel 10, which will set you back £799/$799. Remember, the £499/$499 Pixel 9a ditched the camera bump for lenses that sit almost flush with the back of the phone.
Sadly, there’s no sign of an Xperia 10 VII in the US, where the mid-range market is less crowded. In the UK, it’s up against Chinese brands such as Xiaomi, OnePlus and Honor.
Sony
Still, there are plenty of features here that you won’t find in the competition. Sony continues to reject a notch of any description, so you get a thicker bezel above and below the screen. However, Sony puts that space to good use, adding in dual front-facing speakers alongside the (unchanged) 8Mp selfie camera.
Despite this, the Xperia 1 VII is one of the most compact phones on the market. It retains a 6.1-inch OLED display, yet finally boosts the refresh rate from 60- to 120Hz. The phone is also shorter and wider than its predecessor, meaning the screen adopts a more comfortable 19.5:9 aspect ratio.
Sony has made some small improvements to the cameras, with the main sensor now 50Mp (up from 48Mp) and the ultrawide boosted to 13Mp (from 8Mp). There’s also a dedicated camera button on the side of the phone, though this is only used to replace the shutter and doesn’t mimic the iPhone’s Camera Control in any other way.
One thing I’m really glad to see retained is the 3.5mm headphone jack. Regardless of whether you use it regularly, having the option to connect wired headphones is always a good idea.
Sony
Under the hood, you’ll find Qualcomm’s 4nm Snapdragon 6 Gen 3, a capable yet unremarkable mid-range chip. Performance will likely be fine, but don’t expect it to be flagship-level.
The Xperia 10 VII’s 5000mAh battery doesn’t sound like anything special, but Sony claims you can get up to two full days on a single charge. As usual, this will vary hugely depending on how you use your phone. Charging speeds haven’t been revealed, but again, don’t expect anything remarkable.
At launch, the Xperia 10 VII ships running Android 15, despite Android 16 already being available. However, Sony has improved its update commitment – the phone will receive four major OS updates and six years of security patches, which is in line with the competition.
Tempted? The Xperia 10 VII is available to pre-order now from the Sony website ahead of its release on 19 September.
It might not be a groundbreaking device, but Sony has quietly introduced several upgrades that make it a compelling mid-range phone on paper. Look out for our full review soon to see how it performs in daily life.