Sony's Xperia 5 IV is a compact phone with a 5,000mAh battery, microSD slot, and headphone...

[Tudor Cibean]

The big picture: Not long ago, people used the term 'phablet' when talking about phones with massive screens, but nowadays, most phones seem to fit in that category. Luckily for those who prefer something a bit more pocketable, Sony's Xperia 5 IV bucks the trend by having a narrower form factor that should be easier to use one-handed.

Sony just unveiled the Xperia 5 IV, a more compact version of its flagship phone released earlier this year. It's not tiny at 156mm x 67mm x 8.2mm, but it is smaller than most modern phones, making it a great alternative to the Samsung Galaxy S22 or the Asus Zenfone 9.

Up front, there's a 6.1-inch 1,080 x 2,520 OLED display sitting underneath a pane of Gorilla Glass Victus. It has a 120Hz maximum refresh rate and can reportedly get up to 50 percent brighter than the previous Xperia 5 series.

Also improved is the battery capacity, which at 5,000mAh is quite a bit larger than other similarly-sized phones. Sony claims it can charge up to 50 percent in 30 minutes using a 30W charger (not included in the box) and even supports wireless charging.

On the back, the Xperia 5 IV has three 12-megapixel sensors — a 24mm-equivalent 1/1.7-inch primary camera with OIS, a 16mm 1/2.5" ultrawide, and a 60mm 1/3.5" telephoto with OIS. It's disappointing that Sony decided to stick with a fixed 2.5x magnification instead of its flagship's continuous optical zoom camera.

All three cameras can shoot 4K 120fps video and include features from the company's excellent Alpha lineup of mirrorless cameras, such as Eye AF and Object Tracking. The selfie camera also got upgraded to a larger 12MP 1/2.9" sensor.

Powering it all is Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC paired with 8GB RAM and 128GB or 256GB of storage. The handset also has a microSD card slot and 3.5mm headphone jack, features other manufacturers have long abandoned on high-end phones. Rounding out the package are stereo speakers and an IP68 dust and water resistance rating.

The Sony Xperia 5 IV will begin shipping on October 27, with pricing starting at $999. It will be available in Black, Green, and Ecru White.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/95855-sony-xperia-5-iv-compact-phone-5000mah-battery.html

 

[Vulcanproject]

Makes the Zenfone 9 look like a steal frankly. People balked at the $799 price for that. This Sony is outrageous.

 

[Superconductor]

The Pro-I has been a much better deal over the past several weeks.

 

[mrvco]

Tough sell.

 

[Uncle Al]

WOW .... I thought it was really great until I saw the price .... as usual, I continue to recommend going to Consumer Cellular and check out their prices on phones and services. Lots of great deals for us cheap old folks that can't afford those $1,000+ toys ....

 

[toooooot]

Very cool device. they are selling at the prices similar companies like apple or samsung are selling their phones. that means expensive.
Heck, I dont even care about the features much now.
They are too expensive.

 

[y6Tq2RGXEejb]

My Zenfone 8 died a few days before the release of Zenfone 9 in our region and as a lover of small phones I was left with no choice but to pick up a iphone 13 mini, which incidentally still kicks аss as a phone, and is cheaper than both the Zenfone 9 and the Xperia.
Apple is known to charge a significant markup for that logo, and it's still more than a okay phone at $700, so what're Asus and Sony charging for?

 

[Fearghast]

A compact ... what a joke considering Sony past phones.
Their compact Compact phone was 135 x 65 mm and this one is 156 x 67 mm, even old Pixel 5 was smaller than this "compact" phone.
At least this version does not have the abysmal zoom lens (Xperia 1 IV).

 

[R00sT3R]

Surprised Sony are still in the Phone business, Thought I read they've been losing money for years.

 

[Fearghast]

Surprised Sony are still in the Phone business, Thought I read they've been losing money for years.

They actually managed to make one generation of Xperia phones profitable. But TBH, I have my doubts they will ever manage to repeat the success. At least not with this style of approach - excessive price, no software support, OK implementation of camera and extreme issues with overheating while using said camera.

 

[nismo91]

I'm happy to trade microsd slot and 3.5mm jack with a CPU that doesn't overheat every once in a while under the sun.

 

[hahahanoobs]

I saw Michael Fisher's review earlier.
Nothing to write home about. The overheating while recording video after 30secs was a nice party trick though!

 

[SiJiL]

I had Sony phones pretty much exclusively for years, back when they had square corners and cool quirks, like the light bar on the Xperia S.
Then they ditched the design that made their phones individual, went rounded like everyone else and became less and less worth considering as an option. Seems they're really cementing that now with this price!

 

[bviktor]

5 IV. Marketing geniuses everywhere. So is it 5 or 4? Lol...

 

[Fulljack]

5 IV. Marketing geniuses everywhere. So is it 5 or 4? Lol...

it's read as Xperia 5 Mark Four. just like their camera lineup. Sony has decided to given up on generic consumer market and aiming at professional photographer directly by releasing Xperia that is based more to the likelihood of their cameras.

it might not sound appealing to you, but it does has its own niche market and are profitable enough last year.

 

[umbala]

This would be a nice $399 phone, but $999 hahaha yeah, that's laughable.

 

[Loli Pop Carbon]

I saw Michael Fisher's review earlier.
Nothing to write home about. The overheating while recording video after 30secs was a nice party trick though!

Really? Reminds me of my friend's Xperia Z2 (or Z1, I forgot) in 2013 that keeps overheating and he needed to pour water on it several times after taking pictures or videos to cool it down.. It's crazy that Sony's phones still have this problem 10 years later. It's unacceptable for a phone that costs this much.