Upper mid-range · 2021

Sony Xperia 1 III

Name: Sony Xperia 1 III
Brand: Sony

Our Take CPU benches near recent upper-mid phones like the Samsung Galaxy A37

A well-rounded upper mid-ranger with an AMOLED screen and a 120Hz display.

Best for Gaming · streaming · camera work

Strength AMOLED screen, 120Hz smooth scrolling

6.5″ OLED · 120Hz

Snapdragon 888 5G 12 / 256 GB

4500 mAh 30W charging

12 MP 4 rear · 8 MP selfie

5G NFC

Compare

In the Real World

See how the Sony Xperia 1 III looks and feels in everyday use.

Full specifications

What stands out

Hi-Res audio, Dolby Atmos for higher-quality listening

Pro camera extras: optical zoom, RAW

Bypass charging can reduce heat while plugged in

Display

6.5″ · OLED · 1644 × 3840 · 120 Hz · HDR

OLED + smooth

A clean OLED panel — colours pop and sunlight visibility is solid.

Screen size

6.5"

Panel type

OLED

Resolution

1644 × 3840 px

Refresh rate

120 Hz

Smooth

Brightness

620 nits

HDR

Supported

Protection

Corning Gorilla Glass Victus

Performance

Qualcomm SM8350 Snapdragon 888 5G (5 nm) · 8-core 2.84 GHz · Adreno 660

Everyday capable

Daily apps and casual games run smoothly — heavy gaming will drop frames.

Chipset

Qualcomm SM8350 Snapdragon 888 5G (5 nm)

Current CPU tier

Upper mid-range

Launch class

Flagship

AnTuTu

889,100

v10

GeekBench

3,515

Graphics test

GFXBench 54 fps

CPU

8-core, 2.84 GHz

GPU

Adreno 660

Process

5 nm

RAM type

RAM LPDDR5

Storage type

UFS Storage 3.1

CPU layout

1x Cortex X1 2.84GHz + 3x Cortex A78 2.42GHz + 4x Cortex A55 1.8GHz

Camera

12 MP f/1.7 main · OIS · 8 MP selfie · 4K video

OIS + 4K

Stabilised main camera holds up in low light. Front camera is fine for daylight selfies.

Main camera

12 MP f/1.7

OIS

Telephoto

12 MP f/2.3

Ultrawide

12 MP f/2.2

Depth

0 MP

Front camera

8 MP f/2.0

Main sensor

Sony IMX557, 1/1.7", 1.8µm

Slow motion

Yes, 960 fps

Camera extras

optical zoom, RAW

Video

4K @ 120 fps

4K video

Battery

4500 mAh · 30 W wired

Battery is average for the class — fine for daily use.

Capacity

4500 mAh

Lab endurance

82:00h

Wired charging

30 W

Bypass charging

Supported

Heat friendly

Removable

Audio

Good (-26.5 LUFS) · Stereo · Dolby Atmos · Hi-Res

Stereo speakers

Loudspeaker

Good (-26.5 LUFS)

Speakers

Stereo

Dolby Atmos

Supported

Hi-Res audio

Supported

Audio features

Hi-Res audio, Dolby Atmos

Memory

12 GB RAM · 256 GB · expandable

Roomy

RAM

12 GB

Storage

256 GB

Storage type

UFS 3.

Expandable

Yes

Connectivity

5G · NFC · Wi-Fi 6

Modern radios

Yes

4G LTE

Yes

NFC

Yes

Contactless

Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi 6

Modern Wi-Fi

Bluetooth

5.2

GPS systems

GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, QZSS, Galileo, GPS (L1+L5), Galileo (E1+E5a)

USB

USB-C

USB OTG

Supported

3.5mm jack

Yes

IR blaster

SIM

1× Nano-SIM

Build & Design

186 g · 8.2 mm · IP65

Built to last

Height

165.0 mm

Width

71.0 mm

Thickness

8.2 mm

Weight

186 g

IP rating

IP65

Water resistant

Sensors

Fingerprint (side-mounted) · accelerometer · gyro · proximity

Sensors

Fingerprint (side-mounted), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, barometer, compass

Specifications sourced from GSMArena · Read full review

Independent Test Scores

Lab-tested scores from DXOMark — independent measurements, not manufacturer claims. Tap any card to view photo samples and the full review.

Scores are on DXOMark's open-ended 0–200 scale. Higher is better.

How it stacks up against the rest.

Quick reads against a few phones in the same price tier. Tap any one for the deep comparison.

Apple iPhone 13

Trades blows 3 wins 2 losses

Smoother display

120 Hz vs 60 Hz refresh · 1644 × 3840 vs 1170 × 2532 resolution · 6.5″ vs 6.1″ screen

Better video capture

4K @ 120 fps vs 4K @ 60 fps video

39% larger battery capacity

30 W vs 15 W charging · 4,500 mAh vs 3,240 mAh battery

Lower benchmark score

889k vs 1.3M AnTuTu · Upper mid-range vs High-end tier

Heavier in hand

186 g vs 174 g

Full comparison

Samsung Galaxy S21 5G

Trades blows 2 wins 2 losses

13% larger battery capacity

4,500 mAh vs 4,000 mAh battery

Starts with more storage

256 GB vs 128 GB baseline

Lower video ceiling

4K @ 120 fps vs 8K @ 24 fps video

Heavier in hand

186 g vs 169 g

Full comparison

Where to buy

We don't have any listings for this phone yet. Try searching on Konga or Jiji.

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Similar Phones

How each one compares to the Sony Xperia 1 III.

Upper mid-range

Sony Xperia 1 III

In the Real World

Full specifications

Display

Performance

Camera

Battery

Audio

Memory

Connectivity

Build & Design

Sensors

Independent Test Scores

How it stacks up against the rest.

Apple iPhone 13

Samsung Galaxy S21 5G

Where to buy

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