Sony has launched the Xperia Pro-I, a premium-tier smartphone with some next-level photography credentials and exorbitant pricing to tag along. One look at its spec sheet and it’s clear, it is a camera first and smartphone later which is probably why Sony is charging a bomb for it. The ‘I’ in the name actually stands for ‘imaging’ for crying out loud.
The headlining feature of the Xperia Pro-I is its RX100 VII-like sensor and variable aperture lens. That’s right, Sony has somehow managed to miniaturise the sensor it is using in its popular point-and-shoot camera and fit it inside a do-it-all smartphone. The Xperia Pro-I has a near identical 1.0-type Exmor RS image sensor with phase detection autofocus as the one seen in the Mark 7. We say ‘near identical’ because Sony is using only a part of that Mark 7 sensor and not the complete stack. The setup is still pretty powerful though.
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To be clear, Sony isn’t the only company to put such a large sensor in a smartphone. This has been done before, going so far as in 2014. Whether—or not—Sony’s approach is more cohesive is something only time will tell, though it helps that the Xperia Pro-I also packs flagship hardware that should help in post processing for—hopefully—better results. Sony will also sell you a Vlog Monitor—sold separately—to get more out of this ridiculously-specced camera phone.
More specifically, the Xperia Pro-I comes with three cameras on the back. They are all 12MP. The primary wide angle is paired with an ultra-wide and telephoto—all come with OIS. On the front, the phone has an 8MP camera.
The rear camera setup is further tuned by ZEISS. The primary lens has variable aperture (f2.0/f4.4) brining back memories of past Samsung Galaxy S phones like the Galaxy S9. The setup also supports real-time eye tracking. That’s both for stills and videos. Speaking of which, Sony claims the Xperia Pro-I is the world’s first smartphone that can record 4K videos at 120fps with the ability to preserve every detail in all the 120 frames. What this means is that Sony’s new phone will give you lots of room to edit these videos in post.
Rest of the Xperia Pro-I is also flagship-grade. The phone has a 6.5-inch 4K display with a fast 120Hz refresh rate and Corning Gorilla Glass Victus protection, Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 system-on-chip paired with 12GB RAM and 512GB storage (expandable), and 4,500mAh battery with 30W fast charging. This is also one of the few phones in its class to retain a headphone jack.
The Xperia Pro-I will set you back by $1,800 (roughly Rs 1,35,000) and it will be available in select markets in December.