by The Sony Xperia 1 IV has debuted, and it’s the fourth-generation version of Sony’s high-end smartphone, but it’s missing something that the previous three generations of Xperia devices had.
That’s because, despite coming with a budget alternative in the Sony Xperia 10 IV, there’s no middle ground – the Xperia 5 III hasn’t seen a follow-up this year.
That’s a curious omission, as the Xperia 5 lineup generally brought many of the Xperia 1’s respective specs into a slightly smaller phone with a slightly lower price tag. But there is no such phone this year, why?
Sony didn’t provide TechRadar with a reason when asked, so we had to take matters into our own hands. We’ve thought of three possible reasons – you can decide which you think is most likely.
Reason 1: The Xperia 5 was a weird middle child
Perhaps it’s the fault of the Xperia 1 IV and 10 IV that they don’t have a middle input.
The Xperia 5 family has always been an awkward middle child. It brings many of the features of the high-end mobile to a smaller and cheaper device than the flagship, but it has never been particularly small. either cheap. For a device like that, you just have to go for the Xperia 10.
It’s hard to find sales figures for the Xperia series, let alone individual entries, but the lack of an Xperia 5 IV speaks for itself, doesn’t it?
Perhaps Sony recognized that people were buying the Xperia 1 and 10 phones much more than the average entry, and decided to focus on those two models.
Reason 2: The Xperia 5 III was too recent
Perhaps it is the fault of the recent Sony Xperia 5 III.
“Wait,” we hear you say, “recent? Wasn’t this phone released in April 2021, over a year ago?” well, it was, but it wasn’t released then. No, it went on sale. much later, and in the US it only hit stores in January 2022.
If you’re a huge Sony fan, you may have just bought the Sony Xperia 5 III, so would you buy another just a few months later? Especially if it only brings certain spec tweaks and a few select new features? Probably not, it wouldn’t be worth the money.
Sony may have recognized this potential conflict and decided to stick with the Xperia 5 IV this time around.
Reason 3: maybe there is still
Maybe it’s our fault and we’re jumping the gun: maybe the Xperia 5 IV wasn’t written off at all.
If you can remember the foggy past of 2019, you’ll remember that the first-gen Sony Xperia 5 launched about six months after the original Xperia 1.
Perhaps because of the above point, Sony has decided to postpone its middle child until later in the year, to give its phones their own space in the spotlight and to ensure there is little competition between its Xperia 5 devices. third and fourth generation. .
