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The Xperia 5 is Sony’s return to compact phones

The Xperia 5 is Sony’s return to compact phones

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But it’s still got a 21:9 screen

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Image: Sony

The Xperia 5 is Sony’s return to making compact smartphones. Earlier this week, Sony teased that the new phone would be small enough to fit “in the palm of your hand,” and as expected it’s a relatively small device with a form-factor that’s smaller than many current flagships. Sony’s senior executive vice president Shigeki Ishizuka boasted that the new phone packs Sony’s advanced technologies into a “relatively compact” body.

However, there are a few upgrades in the device compared to Sony’s previous compact phones like the XZ2 Compact. It’s got a 6.1-inch 2,560 x 1,080 resolution OLED screen that supports HDR with the ability to upscale standard dynamic range content. Sony also says that the phone supports Dolby Atmos. Interestingly, it has a 21:9 aspect ratio like the Xperia 1 that launched earlier this year, which suggests that while it might be compact at just 68-mm wide, it’s still going to be relatively tall. The phone comes in four colors, and it’s also compatible with Sony’s DualShock 4 controller.

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

The Xperia 5’s triple-lens rear camera design houses a main 12-megapixel sensor with a f/1.6 aperture 12mm lens, and there’s also a 52mm f/2.4 telescopic lens and a 16mm f/2.4 wide-angle lens. On the software side, Sony says the phone is equipped with the same eye auto-focus technology as its Alpha cameras.

Internally, the Xperia 5 is built around a flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 SoC, along with 6GB of RAM, 128GB of onboard storage, and a 3,140mAh battery.

As suggested by the segment of the live stream that 9to5Google reported on yesterday, the Xperia 5 will be available to pre-order in Europe starting next week, and is expected to be available starting in October.

Update September 5th, 5:22PM ET: Updated with additional specs from Sony.