Best Sony Phones: Which Xperia to Buy and Where It Is Sold

For most people the Sony phone to buy is the Xperia 10 VIII. It has the same battery size, memory card slot and headphone jack as Sony’s flagship, and nearly the same update promise, for about £850 less. The Xperia 1 VIII is the one to get for the camera, with three rear lenses and a much faster chip.

The harder part is finding one. Sony now sells phones through its own stores in a dozen European countries and a handful of Asian ones. The United States and India are not among them.

This page was first written in 2021 around the Xperia 1 III, 5 III, 10 III, L4 and Xperia Pro. None of them is on Sony’s site now, so everything below is new. We have not handled these phones. The details are the ones Sony publishes.

Some links on this page go to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Where Sony still sells phones

Sony’s support site spells this out for the Xperia 1 VIII on its where-to-buy page. Its own online store sells the phone in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Sweden, Denmark, Poland and Switzerland. Portugal is served through the Spanish store.

In Asia, Sony’s Japanese site lists the Xperia 1 VIII, 10 VIII and 10 VII, and its Taiwan store sells all four current models. Sony’s sites for Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam show Xperia phones as well, but stock looked thin. The Singapore store had the 1TB Xperia 1 VIII marked sold out, and the Malaysian store had the Xperia 10 VII marked unavailable.

Elsewhere:

• United States: the Mobile section of Sony’s US store holds three products and none is a phone. They are a vlogging monitor, a data transmitter and a charger.
• India: Sony India’s own store, ShopatSC, lists no Xperia phone.
• Nigeria: it is on none of these lists, so a Sony phone there is an import through a reseller.

If you import one, compare the network bands on Sony’s spec sheet with the ones your carrier uses. The European Xperia 1 VIII lists 5G bands n1, n3, n5, n7, n8, n20, n28, n38, n40, n41, n75, n77, n78 and n79.

The four Xperia phones compared

Specifications are from Sony’s UK spec sheets. Prices are Sony’s UK prices in pounds, rounded: the price Sony gives now for the two new phones and the launch price for the two older ones.

Some things are the same on all four. Each has a microSD slot that Sony says takes cards of up to 2TB, a 3.5mm headphone jack, a fingerprint sensor, and water and dust resistance rated IPX5, IPX8 and IP6X.

Xperia 1 VIII

This is Sony’s flagship. The base version has 12GB of memory and 256GB of storage for about £1,400. A 1TB version with 16GB of memory is about £1,850, comes only in gold and is sold only on Sony’s own store.

The cameras are the reason to buy it. There are three on the back, each with a 48MP sensor: a 24mm main camera, a 16mm ultra-wide and a 70mm telephoto. Sony says the telephoto sensor is about four times the size of the one in the Xperia 1 VII. Video goes up to 4K at 120 frames a second, and there is a two-stage shutter button on the side.

Sony claims up to two days of battery life. That comes from its own test, which assumes six hours of use a day. The phone charges wirelessly, weighs 200g and ships with Android 16.

The price is the catch. It costs about £850 more than the Xperia 10 VIII, and that money buys the chip, the telephoto camera, wireless charging and more storage. Sony Xperia 1 VIII on Amazon

Xperia 10 VIII

The cheaper new Xperia is about £550 in the UK and €599 in the euro countries. It has a 6.1-inch OLED screen at 120Hz, 8GB of memory and 128GB of storage. Sony makes a point of the weight, which is 168g with a 5,000mAh battery inside.

Sony’s own account of what is new is modest. The screen is about 50% brighter than the Xperia 10 VII’s, the front speakers are about 15% louder with more bass, and a double press of the power button opens a menu of payment and loyalty apps. It keeps the dedicated shutter button.

The chip is a mid-range one, the same Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 as last year’s model, and there is no telephoto camera and no wireless charging on the spec sheet. Sony words the update promise as up to four Android upgrades and up to six years of security updates. Sony Xperia 10 VIII on Amazon

Last year’s models

Sony’s UK smartphone page still lists the Xperia 1 VII and Xperia 10 VII next to the new pair.

Xperia 10 VII

Sony’s spec sheets give the 10 VII the same chip, cameras, battery, size and weight as the 10 VIII. It launched at £399, which is £150 below the new phone’s £549. On Sony’s Taiwan store, where all four phones are priced side by side, it is NT$14,990 against NT$19,990.

What you give up is the brighter screen and one Android version. The 10 VII started on Android 15, so its four upgrades run out a version sooner. If a shop near you still has it at the lower price, we would take it. Sony Xperia 10 VII on Amazon

Xperia 1 VII

The older flagship has a different telephoto camera: a 12MP zoom lens that covers 85mm to 170mm, where the new phone has a fixed 70mm lens on a larger sensor. So the 1 VII reaches further and the 1 VIII gathers more light.

It launched at the same £1,399 as its successor, and on the Taiwan store the gap between the two 256GB versions is under a tenth of the price. At that difference we would buy the newer phone.

One more thing to know. Sony found that a manufacturing fault could cause power failures in a small number of Xperia 1 VII phones, changed the process and set up a replacement programme. Its support notice has a checker that takes the phone’s IMEI number. Run it on any 1 VII you are offered, above all a second-hand one.

Which to pick

• Most people: the Xperia 10 VIII. It has the long update promise, the card slot and the headphone jack at well under half the flagship’s price.
• The lowest price: the Xperia 10 VII, where it is still in stock for less.
• Photography and video: the Xperia 1 VIII, for the three 48MP cameras and 4K video at 120 frames a second.
• Games: the Xperia 1 VIII again. It has the fastest chip in the range, and Sony lists a 240Hz touch scanning rate and PS Remote Play among its game features.
• Music: any of the four. All have the headphone jack and Sony’s LDAC wireless audio.

If Sony does not sell in your country and it is the card slot that draws you to an Xperia, our guide to Android phones with expandable memory lists other phones that still have one.

Quick answers

Does Sony still make phones?

Yes. Its newest are the Xperia 1 VIII and Xperia 10 VIII, which it sells on its own stores in parts of Europe and Asia.

Does Sony still sell phones in the US?

Not on its own store. The Mobile section of Sony’s US store lists three accessories and no phone, and Sony’s where-to-buy page for the Xperia 1 VIII names European stores only.

Are Sony phones available in India?

Sony India’s own online store, ShopatSC, lists no Xperia phone. One bought in India is an import.

Which Sony phone has the best camera?

The Xperia 1 VIII. It is the only current Sony with three 48MP rear cameras, and its 70mm telephoto has the largest telephoto sensor Sony has put in an Xperia.

Which Sony phones have an SD card slot?

All four on sale. Sony’s spec sheets list microSD support of up to 2TB on the Xperia 1 VIII, 10 VIII, 1 VII and 10 VII.

Prices move, so confirm on Sony’s store before you pay.