I wanted to love Sony’s Xperia 1 VII, but its outdated priorities made that impossible

It’s been a little while since a Sony phone passed my desk, so I was chomping at the bit to get my hands on the brand’s 2025 flagship, the Xperia 1 VII. As has been the way with almost all Xperia handsets in recent generations, it is undeniably familiar — Sony is seemingly wedded to this hardware formula, for better or worse.

Still, the phone boasts some interesting upgrades on paper that aim to keep it battling out with the best Android rivals. AI — that most heinous buzzword — has made its way into Sony’s camera array, imbuing it with supposedly superior face and eye tracking, steadier videography, and auto-subject framing. There’s even a 2.1x larger ultrawide camera onboard for a minor hardware improvement, too.