A smartphone that zooms like a camera lens, not a crop tool
For decades, the smartphone camera has carried a quiet compromise: zoom in, and the image falls apart. Sony's Xperia 1 IV, arriving in June 2022 at €1,399, is the first phone to resolve that tension with a true optical zoom lens spanning 85mm to 125mm — the same physics that has always governed dedicated cameras, now folded into a device that fits in a pocket. It is a moment that quietly redraws the boundary between what a phone is and what a camera was.
- Smartphone photography's most stubborn limitation — the degradation of digital zoom — has persisted for years, leaving users choosing between convenience and image quality.
- Sony's Xperia 1 IV breaks that constraint with an industry-first true optical zoom lens, delivering 3.2x magnification without any loss of detail.
- The phone compounds its ambition with professional video specs: 4K at 120fps across all three rear cameras, real-time eye autofocus, and 5x slow-motion — capabilities that blur the line between smartphone and cinema camera.
- At €1,399, the device enters a fierce premium market, staking its claim not on mass appeal but on winning over photographers, videographers, and content creators who have long felt underserved by mobile hardware.
- The Xperia 1 IV lands as a direct challenge to Apple and Samsung flagships, betting that a genuine optical breakthrough justifies one of the highest price tags in consumer smartphones.
Sony is shipping a smartphone that does something no other phone has managed before: it zooms optically, the way a real camera lens zooms, without sacrificing image quality. The Xperia 1 IV arrives in June with an 85mm to 125mm lens built into its triple-camera system, delivering the equivalent of 3.2x true optical zoom compared to the phone's main 24mm lens. For anyone who has ever watched a pinch-to-zoom moment dissolve into digital blur, this is the change that matters.
Smartphones have always been constrained by fixed-focus lenses. Getting closer to a subject meant either cropping pixels into mush or switching between lenses of different focal lengths — a workaround, not a solution. The Xperia 1 IV removes that compromise entirely, allowing up to 5.2x magnification on the main lens alone with no quality loss.
Beyond the zoom breakthrough, Sony has packed in video capabilities that read like a cinema camera spec sheet. All three rear lenses shoot 4K at 120 frames per second, enabling 5x slow-motion at full resolution. Real-time eye autofocus, borrowed from Sony's Alpha camera line, and 20-frame HDR bursts round out a feature set aimed squarely at professional creators.
The rest of the hardware follows the same philosophy of excess: a 120Hz 21:9 OLED display with 50% more brightness than its predecessor, Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, 12GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, a 5,000mAh battery, and — almost defiantly in 2022 — a headphone jack. Sony also kept the microSD slot and added full-stage stereo speakers.
At approximately €1,399, launching June 16, the Xperia 1 IV is one of the most expensive smartphones available. That price is a deliberate signal: this phone is not chasing everyone. It is chasing the photographer, the videographer, the creator who has been reaching for a dedicated camera because their phone simply couldn't keep up. For the first time, one can zoom the way cameras have always zoomed — and that quietly changes what a phone can be.
Sony is shipping a smartphone that does something no other phone has done before: it zooms optically, the way a camera lens actually zooms, without sacrificing image quality. The Xperia 1 IV arrives in June with an 85mm to 125mm lens built into its triple-camera system—a focal length that delivers the equivalent of 3.2x true optical zoom when compared to the phone's main 24mm lens. For anyone who has ever pinched a smartphone screen to zoom in on a distant subject only to watch the image turn to digital mush, this is the thing that changes.
Smartphones have always had a constraint that cameras don't. Nearly every phone on the market uses fixed-focus lenses. To get closer to your subject, you either use digital zoom, which is really just cropping and enlarging pixels and destroys detail, or you switch between multiple lenses of different focal lengths. But even that approach has limits. The Xperia 1 IV's optical zoom lens removes that compromise. You can zoom to 5.2x magnification on the main lens alone without any quality loss, and the dedicated telephoto lens gives you another way to frame a shot at true optical distances.
Beyond the zoom breakthrough, Sony has loaded this phone with video capabilities that read like a professional cinema camera spec sheet. All three rear lenses can capture 4K video at 120 frames per second, which means you can record slow-motion footage at up to 5x speed while maintaining 4K resolution. The phone includes a 120fps high-speed readout sensor on each lens, real-time eye autofocus borrowed from Sony's alpha camera line, and the ability to shoot 20-frame bursts in HDR. For creators who have been frustrated by the gap between what their phone can do and what they actually need, this is significant.
The rest of the hardware reflects the same philosophy of excess. The display is a 21:9 widescreen OLED panel running at 120Hz with 50 percent more brightness than its predecessor, calibrated for HDR content. The processor is Snapdragon's top-tier 8 Gen 1 chip. There's 12GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, and support for microSD cards up to 1TB. The battery holds 5,000 milliamp-hours. For gaming, there's a 240Hz touch sampling rate and a dedicated Game Enhancer mode. Full-stage stereo speakers round out the media experience. Sony even kept the headphone jack, a choice that feels almost defiant in 2022.
The company did make one environmental concession: the box contains no charging cable or power adapter, a move Sony says reduces electronic waste. The phone itself is wrapped in Corning Gorilla Glass Victus and supports dual SIM.
Pricing is where the phone's ambition becomes clear. The Xperia 1 IV will cost approximately €1,399 when it launches on June 16, positioning it among the most expensive smartphones available. That price targets creative professionals—photographers, videographers, content creators—who might otherwise reach for a dedicated camera or a flagship from Apple or Samsung. It's a bet that the optical zoom and video capabilities justify the premium.
Sony also introduced a second phone, the Xperia 10 IV, aimed at a different market. It claims to be the world's lightest 5G smartphone, comes with a 5,000mAh battery, optical image stabilization, a 21:9 OLED display, and Sony's 360 Reality Audio. It launches in mid-June for around €499. But the real story is the flagship. For the first time, a smartphone can zoom the way cameras have always zoomed—and that changes what a phone can be.
Notable Quotes
Xperia 1 IV is an exciting continuation of our Xperia series. At Sony, we believe creativity has no limits and our new flagship model is born of that philosophy.— Nobuki Asahina, Head of Mobile Sales & Marketing at Sony
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does optical zoom matter so much? Phones have had multiple lenses for years.
Because multiple lenses are a workaround, not a solution. You have a 24mm lens, a 50mm lens, maybe a 70mm lens. You're stuck at those fixed points. Optical zoom means you can adjust continuously between 85mm and 125mm without stepping down to a smaller sensor or losing detail. It's the difference between having three fixed tools and having one adjustable tool.
So this is really about addressing a limitation that's been baked into smartphone design since the beginning.
Exactly. Smartphones have always had to choose between thinness and optical capability. A real zoom lens is thick. Sony figured out how to fit one in without making the phone unusable, and that's the engineering story nobody's talking about.
The video specs are wild—4K at 120fps on all three lenses. Who actually needs that?
Professional creators. Someone shooting a commercial, a music video, a documentary. They've been forced to carry a separate camera because their phone couldn't deliver. Now it can. At €1,399, it's not cheap, but it's cheaper than a cinema camera.
Is this phone going to change how people actually use their phones, or is it a niche product for professionals?
Both. Most people won't need optical zoom or 4K 120fps. But the technology will trickle down. In two years, a mid-range phone will have optical zoom. In five years, it'll be standard. This is the moment the limitation breaks.
Why keep the headphone jack when everyone else ditched it?
Because professionals use wired headphones for monitoring audio while they shoot. It's a small detail that signals who this phone is actually for.