We’ve had to wait a little bit this year, but the Sony Xperia 5 IV is officially here. Nestled between the ultra-premium Xperia 1 IV, which costs an extraordinary $1,599 in the US, and the affordable Xperia 10 IV, the Xperia 5 IV is about as close as Sony gets to an “everyman” that fans with less deep pockets might feasibly pick up. Priced at £949 in the UK, and according to Sony an estimated $1,000 when it launches in October, it’s still not exactly cheap and once again more expensive than last year, but it’s not the cost that’s left me a bit disappointed. No, it’s the lack of Sony’s variable focal length periscope camera.
For the uninitiated, Sony’s variable focal length camera offers seamless optical zoom between 85mm and 125mm, removing the reliance on digital zoom between 3.5x and 5.2x. Not only does this improve image quality but also benefits from natural bokeh and compression as you move through the focal lengths, more closely matching the experience you’ll receive from high-end cameras. You can see some examples below and more in our Xperia 1 IV review.
