This very expensive smartphone is the first to have real optical zoom

The Sony Xperia 1 IV has a first with what it claims is the world’s first optical zoom in a smartphone camera.

Sony may not make the most popular smartphones, but with the new Xperia, the Japanese tech giant is tapping into an important niche: photographers. The Xperia 1 IV would be the first in the world to process true optical zoom in a smartphone. And that is of course the dream of every photographer who likes to shoot pictures with a smartphone but expects the quality of an SLR camera.

Real optical zoom

In their own words the Xperia 1 IV thus has “the world’s first true optical 85-125mm zoom lens”. But what exactly does that mean? There are basically two ways to zoom in with a camera. Optical and digital.

In the latter category, the image is digitally enlarged. This is a cheap and easy way to enlarge an image, but can also cause poor image quality depending on the quality of the software.

Optical zoom is the real way of zooming among camera buffs. The focal length is adjusted here. So the lens moves to position closer or further away from the sensor. But that is of course very difficult in a compact camera module of a smartphone. So it literally does not happen that smartphones use optical zoom for the time being.

Sony Xperia 1 IV

So Sony has accomplished an engineering marvel with the Xperia 1 IV. The main lens can zoom between 3.5 and 5.2 times, which is quite limited compared to real cameras. Nevertheless, Sony has a first.

Furthermore, the 6.5-inch smartphone is equipped with a brand new Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, 12GB RAM, 512GB storage space, a 5000mAh battery and an IP68 rating.

That, on the other hand, will also cost you quite a bit. The smartphone costs roughly $1,600, probably the same amount converted into euros. The device will be released from September 1, although it is not yet clear whether it will also be available in the Benelux.