Sony Xperia 1 VI vs Samsung Galaxy 24 Ultra: Which is best?

Sony Xperia phones might not be commonplace, but they're still here. But do they compete? To find out, Cam puts the Xperia 1 VI up against the Android champion: Samsung's Galaxy S24 Ultra.

Written, presented and produced by Cam Bunton

Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
00:27 - Design and Durability
02:00 - Displays
03:20 - Performance and Battery Life
05:17 - Camera comparison
08:25 - Which is best?

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#xperia1vi @SonyXperia @samsunguk

[Pouncer_Fox]

Please don't forget that Sony's phone is also about the only way to get MicroSD and 3.5mm audio jack support these days on any flagship device.

[errola]

Maybe it's a bit OCD of me, but there's one thing that has made me use an Xperia phone for the past 6 years. The screen. No, not because they have better screens than any other manufacturer, it's because they don't have any daft potholes, notches, pillholes etc in them. Just can't use any phone with one. The screen holes just catch my eye and I can't unsee them.

[hdlowrider]

I changed from S23 ultra to Xperia 1 V last year after my Samsung stopped charging. And it's light years better. Screen better, speakers better, premium feel is better with Sony. And no disrespect to you making this video, but my wife has the ultra and we just got back from Bermuda and my Sony phone took better pictures pretty much in every situation. The camera is not as hard to master as everyone says. I basically keep it on P or program mode most of the time and it's just as good with points and shoot as my wife's Samsung. And unlike Samsungs zoom which is all digital and produced with AI, Sony's phone has a real zoom. The only advantage to the Samsung is the software is a little more polished and smooth. Not surprising though because my Sony TV destroys my wife's Samsung as well. I mean it's not even close. Sony is quality and Samsung is quantity.

[cristianroth]

One thing that rubs me the wrong way is how people criticized Sony's "overkill" 4K display and wanted a lower resolution, yet now present the FHD+ display as inferior to Samsung's BECAUSE OF the inferior ppi. What do people want? Lower resolution, or higher?

[amigofavor]

Xperia... Even I still have 1v .. and I love it ... Still strong

[timaustin]

I just can't live with Samsung's photo processing. I can't. It's awful.

Anyone saying any different needs their head examining. You might have to work a little harder on the Sony but at least you'll get really good images that look like the thing you're looking at rather than a painting created by AI based on focus groups in Korea.

Sony for me.

[Tubeflux]

Hello Ken, I got mine last Monday, so some six days ago. I’ve been experimenting with it and I’m very satisfied although there is still a lot to discover. I’ve been next to my Motorola which I am quite satisfied with, anyway. But, I’m an Alpha Sony camera user, so this is more than a natural choice for me. However the technical specs convinced me to finally buy a plus €1000 or dollar or pounds phone… This only has so many advantages like the 190 g of weight, the three-point 5 Jack, deck, the nice Grippie feel of the whole thing and the extra ordinary battery life, that you mentioned. At the moment I’m experimenting with its battery life myself…

[KriTaKriTaKriTa]

Hi! I changed my galaxy s24 ultra to Sony Xperia 1 VI because I'm used to the quality, and unfortunately the galaxy s24 ultra still doesn't offer quality but only quantity over and over again. The Xperia 1 VI offers quality, although the Xperia screen should be a little better than just HDR+, it is compensated by a very long battery life, a pretty good camera with its natural color gamut, a very fast phone, and the Xperia doesn't even have the upgrades that have been done on the s24 ultra and every update made the s24 ultra camera worse and worse and more! This is my description, knowledge and experience at this time and it doesn't have to be suitable for others! Thank you!

[katiecox]

This is so helpful, thank you so much. Ive always been a huge Galaxy fan, have had pretty much everything and only went to a Sony Xperia once some years ago. But that macro draws me straight back in and Im getting older and liking the idea of easy to hold, bit lighter etc. Many thanks indeed. Plus - yes, have not had a 3.5 jack for many years hooray! (Oh and my phone is my pancreas - I need all the battery life I can get. The phone controls glucose monitoring and insulin delivery etc etc, dont really like it when my pancreas runs out of battery!

[jakeharms]

Sony has made the perfect phone. If only it had that screen coating and longer software support.

[wkunique]

I don't understand, everyone is talking about the screen and photo quality. comparing phones. There are so many other important things, such as the quality of music played, both on speakers and headphones (especially on the 3.5mm output, where Sony leaves all competitors far behind)

[michaelnielsen]

Sony any day. Think you didn't get Sony the prober credit for the picture quality. The camera app is easy to use, and has got many features as well. Auto is very high quality, and better than the artificial looks og Samsung, but the pro mode of Sony takes the win any day...

[LaboyMoto]

Sony can capture 4k 120fps in all rear lens while samsung can only capture 4k 120fps using the main lens

[shanemurphy]

Having had both the quality and longevity of Sony is obvious. I have come to loathe Samsung phones because of the frequent issues with reliability.

[Itsyesfahad]

Samsung looks so stupid to me you are almost walking around with a TV, Sony ftw.

[ibrahimffline]

I think what people don't consider is reselling value.. when moving to new phone S24U will offer more value in trade in or easier to sell than Xperia phones... I don't think most people think of that just a little forward planning...

[thehistoryofchingfordwater]

Sony every time. Those who know, know. Samsung just make fake Sony. Xperia since day 1. Still got all of them. Never a cracked screen. Better picture, audio, battery, ... SAMSUNG. COPYING SONY FOR 40 YEARS. 👍

[diegocabrejas]

So in conclusion: "You all should buy the Samsung, but I prefer the Sony" lol.

[DamianNocun]

what about laggy animations on Xperia ? there is really annoying lag while phone changing refresh rate nobody mentioning. Tested both for 10 days and here is my outcome:

Xperia

Audio: more bass, less spacious,
Battery: very good performance, great standby results, drop during the night only 1%
Indoor photos (gray conditions): less noise, more sharp outcome. White balance rather cool, whole shoot is sharp, better macro capabilities.
Indoor photos (dark conditions): much less noise, much sharer outcome, better highlights management
Video overall: lack of sharpness, Xperia 1 V recorded much clearer video over VideoPro app.
Video Zoom: soft, lack of saturation, stabilization could be much better
Video night: needs software improvement, too shaky stabilization, lots of noise.
Additional features: Memory card slot, 3.5mm audio port,
Extra: less premium feeling while holding it in hand, but is much more comfortable due to size and weight

S24U

Audio: much more specious sound, with slightly less bass.
Battery: great battery performance after updates, average standby, drop during the night by 3%
Indoor photos (gray conditions): more noise, sharpness present in the center of the shot, little green tint, more warm white balance
Indoor photos (dark conditions): much more noise, photo is sharp in the center, worse highlights management
Video overall: much sharper, with higher dynamic range. Little bit more saturated,
Video Zoom: clearer picture, sharper, very good stabilization, saturation is just on the good level,
Video night: lack of lens flares, sharpness is OK, sometimes appearing magenta/green tint.
Additional features: S-Pen, DeX, Antireflecting display coating,
Extra: premium feeling while holding in the hand, little bit less comfortable however with bigger screen.


Verdict: I decided to stay with S24U. This is more complex phone as a whole package (we should remember that phone is not only about camera).
System navigation is smooth and phone has much more features which justify price more than in Xperia case. Sony still needs few software updates to
fix some issues, for instance there is a weird lag which appears while phone changing panel refresh rate. Video has a lot to improve,
there is a lot of sharpening applied to photos in auto mode.

[hinzster]

Is the tearing on the Samsung side of the display done by your video editing software or the phone? Looks really bad, and if the "AI" features on the Samsung are worth anything, they should fix that.
Not that it makes much difference for me, I am a happy Sony user (10 III at the moment) and will be forced to use a Samsung soon because my employer uses the frying pan and fire approach for our work phones - Samsung or Apple. And I'd rather use a Samsung than an iPhone, hoping that I can switch off most of the battery-consuming and experience-killing "features" on the Samsung. Sadly, I won't get my favourite feature from the Sony - the fingerprint reader in the on-off-button. A perfect place IMHO.