With its latest Xperia 1 flagship smartphone, Sony is metaphorically grabbing a big old pointy stick. Many of the features that define this Sony flagship, like the 4K display and the full-on DSLR style camera app, have been completely culled for this sixth iteration. But did this bold move actually pay off? Well, I’ve had my personal SIM card inside the Xperia 1 VI for just over a week, and here’s my full review.
Design and Build Quality
The Sony Xperia 1 VI sports a tactile glass back and edges that don’t feel like glass at all. To be honest, they feel rather plasticky, which I’m not sure is what Sony was really going for. This effect is certainly not helped by the relatively lightweight finish.
Although I do adore having a flagship smartphone that doesn’t feel like a paperweight in my pocket. The textured back somewhat improves the grip, preventing the Xperia 1 VI from gliding off the sofa arm when you set it down.
It still feels relatively slender despite the change in dimensions, making it easy to slip into a pocket and comfortable to hold despite the mostly flat edges and optically curved corners.
Up front, you still have thick bezels above and below the perfectly flat display. Personally, I don’t mind these, but I know some people are absolutely allergic to bezels and hate them with a furious passion. You can grab the Xperia 1 VI in three colors: black, platinum silver, or a moody green.
The display is protected by Gorilla Glass Victus 2, while the back has Victus 1, which seems to be doing its job with no scratches or scuffs so far, although it’s still fairly early days. With the bit of Victus, the Xperia 1 VI should be reassuringly shatter-resistant, although I haven’t tested this too hard since I absolutely shattered my Xperia 1 V sample, cracking the entire screen.
I’ve been slightly terrified of repeating that, so I’ve been clutching this thing like it’s a fragile box full of radioactive space spiders. You also have the usual dust and water resistance, fully IP68 rated, so no worries there.
Software
As usual, Sony bends convention by having an edge-mounted fingerprint sensor rather than an in-display one, and I have had no trouble with this whatsoever, as long as my fingers aren’t too moist or grubby. However, there is still no Face Unlock action on the Xperia 1 VI. I don’t know what Sony’s playing at, as they’ve had plenty of time to sort this out. Even the Pixels have face unlock now, so there’s no excuse.
No real shocks or surprises on the software side, where it’s Android 14 with Sony’s usual tweaks on top. Sony guarantees three OS updates and four years of security updates, which isn’t amazing but isn’t terrible either—just kind of average. If you reckon you’ll want more than that out of your flagship phone, definitely check out Google with its Pixels and, of course, Samsung with its flagship Galaxies.
Unfortunately, it’s been a bit buggy this past week. A couple of times, YouTube locked up, but a quick stop and start sorted it right out. My Bluetooth connection has been a bit unreliable as well; occasionally, my earphones will just completely lose connection for a second or two and then regain it. Annoying, but nothing that has made me want to throw the phone across the street.
Thankfully, the Xperia 1 VI offers 256GB of storage space, which can be doubled for an extra fee, and Sony is one of the few manufacturers that still includes microSD memory card support on its phones. You certainly won’t find that in a Pixel or an iPhone.
Display Quality
The Sony Xperia 1 VI features a 6.5-inch OLED display powered by Bravia. It’s a full HD Plus panel rather than 4K, transitioning from being exceptionally sharp to not quite as crisp as some flagship rivals in just a single generation. However, even in side-by-side tests, the difference is subtle. When browsing documents with tiny text, editing photos, enjoying movies, or playing games, the visuals remain finely detailed.
While the 4K resolution is gone, another distinctive Sony display feature has also been axed: the long and thin 21:9 aspect ratio has been replaced with a more regular 19.5:9 finish. Cinematic video still fills the screen with minimal cropping, and squarer videos don’t suffer from excessive pillar boxing. Importantly, Sony has retained the full view screen design by keeping the selfie camera in the top bezel, ensuring no orifice intrusion when gaming or watching movies.
The Xperia 1 VI offers the usual Creator mode, which can be automatically activated in Netflix, along with full white balance control. Despite recent lack of sunshine, the display’s maximum brightness makes it easy to read tiny text even with sunglasses on. The refresh rate maxes out at 120Hz, providing a smooth experience.
Speaker Audio Quality
The Xperia 1 VI includes Sony’s front-facing stereo speaker setup, which performs well with lows, highs, and vocals. The audio is fine-tuned by Sony’s in-house music team and supports high-res audio, LDAC, and Sony’s DSEE upscaling for lower-resolution tracks. Additionally, the Xperia 1 VI includes a 3.5mm headphone jack, a valuable feature for audiophiles, especially when Bluetooth is unreliable. The Music Pro app is also available for those interested in creating music. If you love audio, you’ll appreciate this phone immensely.
Performance
The Xperia 1 VI is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 flagship chipset with 12 GB of RAM. Android runs smoothly, and gaming is a good time. Genshin Impact plays flawlessly on the custom performance mode with variable refresh rate active. I didn’t notice a single drop in performance, even during extended play sessions over an hour. The Xperia 1 VI warms up, but its vapor chamber helps manage the heat, allowing continuous gaming.
Sony has included its excellent range of gaming features, with the addition of an FPS optimizer tool. You can control the touch response, though I found the default settings perfectly respectable with minimal tweaking needed. The device is packed with tools for recording or live streaming your gameplay, making it a versatile choice even if you’re not the best at games like I am.
Battery life
The battery life of the Xperia 1 Mark 6 is insanely good. The Xperia has a 5,000mAh battery, which is pretty standard for a flagship phone, yet somehow it’s practically impossible to kill. On an average day, I’ll be browsing the web, messaging, streaming video and audio, using the camera, and gaming a bit. With the Xperia 1 Mark 6, I get about 10 hours of screen-on time before the battery finally dies, so it can comfortably last through a full weekend on a single charge if you don’t go nuts. The recharging speeds aren’t as impressive as some rivals like Xiaomi, but Sony promises four years of good battery health, helped by features to prevent overcharging.
Cameras Test
The Xperia 1 Mark 6 has made significant changes to the camera experience. Now, you get a single camera app rather than separate video and Photo Pro apps. You can activate it by long pressing the physical shutter button, which is always present and much appreciated. The app is straightforward compared to previous generations, opening in full auto mode with different focal lengths and a small variety of camera and video modes.
Sony has partnered with Zeiss again, using the same camera sensors as the previous generation, the Mark 5, with lenses that help reduce light issues like lens flaring. A dedicated 48MP mode for high-res photo capture has been added, but the auto mode’s 12MP pictures are detailed and look good on larger screens. Creative filters are available, but the natural-looking photos from the Mark 6 were satisfying enough.
Real-time eye autofocus and tracking ensure portrait and action shots come out stunning, with only a few less-than-perfect results among hundreds of photos. HDR capture has improved, and the display preview is now more accurate. The Xperia 1 Mark 6 focuses on capturing natural-looking shots with minimal processing, unlike some competitors. The Pro mode allows for adjustments in brightness and shutter speed.
While ambient conditions are handled well, some graininess appears in indoor shots, especially with the telephoto lens. A steady hand is required for night mode to prevent blurring. The camera hardware includes a fresh 85-170mm telephoto lens, allowing up to 21.3x zoom, though zooming beyond 10x can get hazy. The telephoto macro mode works better in strong lighting, and the ultra-wide-angle shooter performs as expected.
Video shooting has also changed considerably, with no video Pro controls available yet, though they are expected in a future update. The Xperia 1 Mark 6 supports up to 4K resolution at 120 frames per second, with excellent stabilization and smooth visuals. Audio can be mixed, with commentary sometimes drowned out by background noise, but the ability to switch between lenses on the fly and a product showcase mode is useful for content creators.
The 12MP front-facing selfie camera has good autofocus, ensuring crisp images and the ability to shoot 4K video at 60 frames per second. While vocals may not always be crystal clear, the Xperia 1 Mark 6 performs well for video calls and other uses.
Verdict
The Sony Xperia 1 VI I had it in my hands, I wasn’t sure how I would feel about it because Sony has stripped out quite a lot of the unique elements. The Xperia 1 Mark 6 feels more conforming to smartphone standards with this generation, but there’s no denying that it’s still a solid choice.
Creators and gamers will enjoy it, as well as anyone who loves streaming music or video. Plus, it has the added bonuses of expandable storage and a headphone jack—features most flagship phones lack.
However, the Xperia is really expensive, and for this price, you can get alternatives like the Xiaomi 14 Ultra or the Galaxy S24 Ultra. So, you have to be pretty committed to get this flagship.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on the Xperia 1 Mark 6, especially if you’ve been using it as your full-time smartphone.
The Sony Xperia 1 Mark 6 is a solid choice for creators, gamers, and media enthusiasts. It offers unique features like expandable storage and a headphone jack, but its high price point and some software issues might make alternatives more appealing to some users.
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Design and Build7
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Software6
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Display Quality8
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Speaker Audio Quality9
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Performance9
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Battery Life9
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Camera8
