Sony Xperia 1 II launches in July for *cough* $1,200

Sony was supposed to launch its new flagship, the Xperia 1 II, in late February, during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. That never happened as the MWC was canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak, so Sony soft-launched the phone online, revealing all of its specs, but not its price or date of availability. 

Now, the final pieces of the puzzle have been revealed, and boy are they disappointing. The phone will arrive in July (original launch window was “spring”) at the price of $1,199. 

That’s an eye-watering figure considering that you can get a brand new Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max or a Samsung Galaxy S20+ 5G for less. 

Sure, the Sony Xperia 1 II has Qualcomm’s most powerful chip, the Snapdragon 865, as well as 5G support; a triple, 12-megapixel camera on the back; 8GB of RAM; and 256GB of storage. But its 6.7-inch display has old-school bezels on top and bottom, the phone generally looks fairly bland, and – let’s face it – in the world of smartphones, Sony’s brand power can’t exactly compete with Apple or Samsung’s. 

To put it bluntly, Sony will have a hard time convincing anyone to buy this phone at this price, and that’s even when you take into account the free WF-1000XM3 earbuds (a $200 value) you get if you pre-order the phone before June 28. 

Pre-orders for the Sony Xperia 1 II start on June 1, and the phone is shipping on July 24.