The concept is refreshingly simple; as you record a video in regular 16:9 landscape mode, you’ll also be able to capture a 19:6  (portrait) video simultaneously. What’s more, you can tap on your subject to track it as it moves around the wider shot, and you can also adjust the level of zoom and aspect ratio.

It might sound familiar, and it should; it’s a feature previously exclusive to Sony’s top-end Alpha line of DSLRs. 

This could be a real boon for content creators as it allows you to record a regular horizontal video for, say, a YouTube channel, while simultaneously capturing portrait content for the likes of Instagram and TikTok – no editing and no re-shooting required. Both videos are stored separately in the phone’s Gallery app, meaning you can swap and choose as you’d like. 

Even if you’re not a content creator, the ability to capture, say, a close-up of your baby’s first steps while recording a wider scene, will be handy for many no doubt. 

Of course, that’s not the only thing new with Sony’s Xperia 1 VII. The phone also boasts a new 50MP ultrawide to sit alongside the returning 48MP main and 12MP 3.5x-7.1x optical zoom lenses, boasting a 1/1.56-inch sensor that’s 2.1x bigger than that of its predecessor. 

That should translate to a big boost to overall performance with more light and improved clarity, but it should also help ultrawide low-light shots – an area where ultrawide snappers usually struggle, regardless of price point. 

Sony’s doubling down on audio

Audio performance has also been improved courtesy of Sony’s Walkman brand, with Walkman-branded tech including a premium-grade audio integrated circuit and high-quality gold solder in the headphone jack to minimise transmission loss. 

And yes, I said headphone jack because the Xperia 1 VII once again sports a headphone jack, as well as a microSD card slot – two things you very rarely see on smartphones in 2025, let alone at the flagship level. 

If wired playback isn’t your thing, the boost to Bluetooth transmission power should allow for a more stable wireless headphone connection, even in congested areas. 

The same, but different

The screen has also had a bit of TLC following its rethinking with the Xperia 1 VI, offering a 20% boost in peak brightness. There are also two illuminance sensors to allow for more accurate screen brightness adjustments, though that is a bit niche – even for Sony. 

When it comes to the all-important performance, expect the same top-end performance as flagships like the Galaxy S25 and OnePlus 13 with the Snapdragon 8 Elite. Sony claims it has worked hard on the cooling with this generation, so hopefully we won’t have a repeat of the Xperia 1 V’s overheating issues – but we’ll have to wait and see for now.

Returning features include two days of battery life from the phone’s 5000mAh cell, along with Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 and IP56/68 protection. It also offers an improved four OS upgrades and six years of security patches that, while better, still falls well short of the seven-year offering from Samsung, Google, Honor and others. 

It sounds like a pretty tempting phone from a hardware standpoint, but it comes down to the all-important pricing. UK pricing is yet to be announced, but given that last year’s Xperia 1 VI came in at a not-insignificant £1,299, it might be too hard to justify for some. I’ll certainly be putting it through its paces in the coming weeks to see for myself!

Editor’s note: We’ve used images of the Xperia 1 VI to illustrate this article. Once we receive imagery of the new Xperia 1 VII, we’ll update this article.