Despite almost being on the same boat as LG and HTC, Sony has always remained unfazed about the performance of its mobile business. In fact, it seems to be taking its sweet time while its competitors are rushing to put out model after model of smartphones this year to make up for last year’s pandemic-induced slough. It just recently announced the start of pre-orders for the Xperia 1 III in the US, but its availability won’t happen until a month later. Likewise, the Xperia 5 III won’t even be available until September, nearly half a year after it was first announced.
It’s a bit difficult to categorize the Xperia 5 III as a mid-tier phone, especially considering it runs on a Snapdragon 888 like its pricier sibling. The 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage don’t fall far from the tree either. It also has three 12MP cameras that almost sound similar to the Xperia 1 III’s, at least on paper.
The devil is in the details, they do say, and the differences between the two can be subtle but are significant nonetheless. The 6.1-inch screen isn’t just smaller but also has fewer pixels at 2520×1080. It also doesn’t have the fourth and more important telephoto camera, but it at least makes up for it with features borrowed from Sony’s Alpha cameras.
Naturally, it would have a lower price point than the Xperia 1 III, though Sony didn’t disclose that information in its US press release. The company’s European outfit was thankfully more forthcoming with a 999 EUR figure. Considering the $1,299 Xperia 1 III gets a 1,299 EUR price tag in the region, it would be safe to assume that the Xperia 5 III will also cost $999 when it hits stateside.