Sony says that Xperia 1 VIII sales are strong, calls the microSD slot and 3.5mm jack "integral"

Japanese publication ITmedia Mobile interviewed Sony’s Shohachi Ike and Eri Kitazawa, who brought some encouraging news about the performance of the Xperia 1 VIII. You may have thought that Sony had given up on the smartphone market, but it hasn’t – in fact, the Mark 8 is enjoying strong sales. Even better, Sony is listening to its customers.

The Sony Xperia 1 VIII is more expensive than its predecessor – in Japan, the phone crossed the JPY 200,000 mark. That said, the European prices remained the same – €1,500 / £1,400 for the base 12/256GB model, the same as the Mark 7 prices (which, to be fair, were pretty high already).

Shohachi Ike and Eri Kitazawa

“Despite rising prices, sales have remained strong and customer satisfaction is very high,” said the Sony representatives (machine translated). This isn’t just in Japan either, sales in Europe have “grown significantly” thanks to Sony strengthening its direct-to-consumer sales channels.

The interview moves on to the camera, which had a massive impact on the design. First, the camera island had to be redesigned to accommodate the larger telephoto image sensor.

And, as you know, Sony ditched the variable zoom mechanism for a lens with a fixed focal length of 70mm (the Mark 7 had a variable 85-170mm lens). This was done as the mechanism took up a lot of space and getting a larger sensor in there would have made the phone too thick. Instead, Sony replaced the 12MP sensor with a 48MP sensor that allows the camera to do 140mm lossless zoom, getting close to the long end of the Mark 7 camera.

Sony Xperia 1 VIII

Sony polls its customers to find out their likes and dislikes. Demands for better telephoto image quality were one of the driving factors behind the Mark 8 camera design.

Next up, everyone’s favorite features. “In our survey of reasons for purchase, microSD compatibility was ranked highly,” said one Sony representative. The other added “I believe the presence of the microSD slot and headphone jack is now an integral part of Xperia's identity.”

Naturally, the interview asked a question that has been on Sony fans’ minds – where’s the Xperia 5 series? Here’s the answer and it’s not a positive one:

“We conduct very frequent surveys of general market trends, customer payment patterns and primary uses and we are aware that there is a certain demand and market size in that price range (JPY 100,000). However, we believe that currently, focusing on two main pillars for Xperia – the flagship 1 series, which best embodies the essence of Xperia, and the 10 series, which offers the most cost-effective way to experience Sony's features in everyday use – is the most efficient way to meet market demands and we have not yet decided to add a new mid-range lineup.”

Sony Xperia 1 VIII

You can check out our written and video reviews for our thoughts on the phone and its new camera setup. You can also follow the Source link to read the full review.

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Sony Xperia 1 VIII

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