UK — Sony released its new flagship smartphone, the Xperia 1 VIII, in the UK and Europe. The device will not launch in the United States.

The Xperia 1 VIII begins at £1,399 or €1,499. A model with 1TB of storage is available for £1,849 or €1,999. The 1TB storage phone is offered in gold, while other configurations are available in black, red, and silver.

The phone features a 3.5mm headphone jack and a microSD card slot. It has a 6.5-inch OLED display with a 1080p resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. The display includes thick front bezels that house stereo speakers. The screen does not have a camera cutout, notch, or Dynamic Island. The device operates on stock Android and is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset.

Configurations include 12GB of RAM with 256GB of storage or 16GB of RAM with 1TB of storage. The Xperia 1 VIII has a new exterior design that includes a blocky camera island and a textured finish on the back and frame. The rear glass is made of Gorilla Glass Victus, and the front glass uses Gorilla Glass Victus 2. It also features a knurled two-stage camera shutter button, and the power button and fingerprint sensor are recessed. A rectangular patch with a rough texture is situated above the volume button.

The Xperia 1 VIII is equipped with a 5,000mAh battery that supports a maximum charging speed of 30W. Sony claims the battery can last for two days. The main camera is 12 megapixels with a 1/1.35-inch-type sensor, and the selfie camera is also 12 megapixels. The telephoto lens offers a 2.9x optical zoom, equivalent to 70mm, and has a 48-megapixel sensor with a 1/1.56-inch-type size. The ultrawide sensor also measures 1/1.56-inch-type. The camera lenses were developed with Zeiss, and the phone includes an AI Camera Assistant feature. It does not feature continuous optical zoom.

News editor Dominic Preston reported encountering issues with the phone's performance. "I've run into repeated stuttering and slowdowns, especially in the camera or while switching between apps," Preston said. He also noted a heating issue during testing, stating, "Using the phone to record the audio of a recent press event, with real-time AI transcription running, it became worryingly warm after just 30 minutes or so, and as the hourlong call ended, it was hot to the touch."