The Sony Xperia 1 IV was always going to be an expensive phone, but the latest leak suggests it could be eye-wateringly so.
According to a leaker on Chinese social network Weibo, going by the name Caybule (opens in new tab), the Sony Xperia 1 IV will start at 8,999 yuan (around $1,415 / £1,085 / AU$1,895) for 256GB of storage, and rise to 9,999 yuan (roughly $1,570 / £1,205 / AU$2,105) for 512GB.
The source seemingly found these details in the HTML code of a website, though which site in particular is unclear, so we’d take this with a pinch of salt – though they’ve accurately leaked Sony details in the past.
In any case, that price would be a slight increase on the already high price of the Sony Xperia 1 III, which started at $1,299.99 / £1,199 (around AU$2,200). Obviously, conversions won’t be accurate, but the Xperia 1 III was also 500 yuan (around $80 / £60 / AU$105) less for each storage size.
If anything, the Sony Xperia 1 III was already prohibitively expensive, so while we might only see a small rise in price this year, what we really needed was a price reduction.
And if anything the Sony Xperia 1 IV might cost even more than the leak above suggests, as some commenters have viewed this leak suspiciously, noting rumors of significantly improved cameras, which could push the price up even higher. So whatever the case, the Sony Xperia 1 IV looks set to be a very expensive phone.
Analysis: a higher price than even the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra
Outside of the foldable market, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is probably seen as just about the most premium and pricey phone you can get, yet the Sony Xperia 1 IV is likely to have it beat.
Samsung’s behemoth starts at $1,199.99 / £1,149 / AU$1,849, which – somewhat ridiculously – is already less than the Sony Xperia 1 III, let alone the Xperia 1 IV.
Granted, that’s for 128GB of storage in the S22 Ultra, while Sony’s phone starts at 256GB (as apparently does the upcoming Xperia 1 IV). But even for 256GB you’re ‘only’ paying $1,299.99 / £1,249 / AU$1,999 with the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, and while that’s slightly higher in some regions than the starting price of the Xperia 1 III, it’s lower than what the Xperia 1 IV supposedly starts at.
Via NotebookCheck (opens in new tab) and SumahoDigest (opens in new tab)
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