IFA 2023: Sony Xperia 5 V announced with Exmor T camera sensor

Having launched the Sony Xperia 1 V and Xperia 10 V earlier in the year, the Japanese brand is now rounding out its 2023 lineup with the Sony Xperia 5 V. The Xperia brand operates similar to the DEFCON system, so the lower the number, the bigger the deal. As such, the Xperia 5 V is the middle child of the bunch; not as premium (or pricey) as the 1 V, but a step above the near-budget 10 V.

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The last model to hold this post, the Xperia 5 IV, impressed us enough to earn the title of Sony’s most complete compact flagship to date, but there were still areas that needed improvement. In particular, we found it to be too expensive for what it offered, and the charging speeds were much slower than we expect from a flagship smartphone. So, does the Xperia 5 V fix these issues, or will it fall just shy of greatness like its predecessor?

Based on initial information, the short answer seems to be a combination of the two. The issue of being too expensive is somewhat addressed by a welcome £100 price drop, bringing the Xperia 5 V down to a retail price of £849.

For this money, you’re still getting some impressive specs. The compact 6.1in OLED display is kitted out with a FHD+ resolution and zippy 120Hz refresh rate, the processor is a top-of-the-line Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, paired with 128GB of storage and 8GB of RAM, and the battery is once again 5,000mAh. Unfortunately, the relatively sluggish 30W charging speeds also return, promising 50% from zero in around 30 minutes.

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The build is roughly the same as the Xperia 5 IV, measuring 154 x 68 x 6.8mm, though the 5 V has packed on a few pounds, weighing in at 183g, compared to the 5 IV’s 172g. Unsurprisingly, there’s little to say about design changes – the Xperia aesthetic is pretty set in stone by now – but there is a new sky blue variant to pick from, alongside the standard black and white (here called Platinum Silver) models. All three have protective layers of Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on both the front and back and are IP65/68 rated for dust and water resistance.

One notable design distinction is the rear camera module, which is now the same material and shade as the rest of the backplate, and also a fair bit smaller than the Xperia 5 IV. This is partly due to it dropping from a triple-camera array to a dual system, jettisoning the dedicated telephoto lens. While this sounds bad, the 48MP main lens gets more attention as a result, now utilising the same 1/1.35” Exmor T for mobile sensor as the Xperia 1 V. This lens is joined by the same 12MP ultrawide shooter as the 5 IV, with a 12MP selfie camera on the front.

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Interestingly, the main lens attempts to compensate for the lack of a dedicated telephoto lens. Sony states that the sensor can dynamically shift the focal length between 24mm and 48mm, essentially shooting at the full 48MP and cropping in to a 12MP image to achieve a lossless zoom. To my ears, that just sounds like a digital zoom on a 48MP camera, but we’ll see how it fares in action when we get closer to the release date.

Speaking of which, there’s no firm date for the launch as of yet, but Sony has said that we can expect to see the Xperia 1 V hit shelves in late September and it will cost £849. We’ll be getting our hands on a review copy soon, so be sure to check back in soon to see our final impressions.