The Sony Xperia 1 IV was always going to be an expensive phone, but the latest leak suggests it could be eye-wateringly so.
According to a leaker on Chinese social network Weibo, going by the name Caybule , the Sony Xperia 1 IV will start at 8,999 yuan (around $1,415 / £1,085 / AU$1,895) for 256GB of storage, and rise to 9,999 yuan (roughly $1,570 / £1,205 / AU$2,105) for 512GB.
The source seemingly found these details in the HTML code of a website, though which site in particular is unclear, so we’d take this with a pinch of salt – though they’ve accurately leaked Sony details in the past.
In any case, that price would be a slight increase on the already high price of the Sony Xperia 1 III , which started at $1,299.99 / £1,199 (around AU$2,200). Obviously, conversions won’t be accurate, but the Xperia 1 III was also 500 yuan (around $80 / £60 / AU$105) less for each storage size.
If anything, the Sony Xperia 1 III was already prohibitively expensive, so while we might only see a small rise in price this year, what we really needed was a price reduction.
And if anything the Sony Xperia 1 IV might cost even more than the leak above suggests, as some commenters have viewed this leak suspiciously, noting rumors of significantly improved cameras, which could push the price up even higher. So whatever the case, the Sony Xperia 1 IV looks set to be a very expensive phone.
Analysis: a higher price than even the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra
Outside of the foldable market, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is probably seen as just about the most premium and pricey phone you can get, yet the Sony Xperia 1 IV is likely to have it beat.
Samsung’s behemoth starts at $1,199.99 / £1,149 / AU$1,849, which – somewhat ridiculously - is already less than the Sony Xperia 1 III, let alone the Xperia 1 IV.
Granted, that’s for 128GB of storage in the S22 Ultra, while Sony’s phone starts at 256GB (as apparently does the upcoming Xperia 1 IV). But even for 256GB you’re 'only' paying $1,299.99 / £1,249 / AU$1,999 with the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, and while that's slightly higher in some regions than the starting price of the Xperia 1 III, it's lower than what the Xperia 1 IV supposedly starts at.
Via NotebookCheck and SumahoDigest
The next cheap OnePlus phone is borrowing the iPhone 13's worst feature
After months of leaks the next OnePlus phone has been partly-revealed. It's the OnePlus Nord N20, the next cheap phone from the company, which we now know is coming very soon.
OnePlus has provided early information to PC Mag on the upcoming phone, including some renders that show... basically the same phone that leaked months ago .
The main piece of new information is the handset will be released by the end of April, which is good news for those who found the recent OnePlus 10 Pro too pricey.
The early specs won't exactly light up your life - a 6.43-inch FHD+ AMOLED 60Hz display is good, but at most price points these days you can get a 90Hz display.
There's still plenty of specs yet to be confirmed, and there may be more to like about the Nord N20 when everything is revealed.
Due to PC Mag referring to US availability, we imagine the OnePlus Nord N20 will go on sale in the States - that's not confirmed though, and the company has been rather sporadic with its releases in the US.
Analysis: disappointing design feature
As we can see in the OnePlus images, the Nord N20 has a flat-edge display. This means that, unlike in most phones where the frame of the mobile is gently curved to sit snug in the hand, it's completely flat.
Apple revived the flat-edge design on its recent iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 series, having previously ditched it after the iPhone SE (2016).
This resurgence may have been a catalyst for other brands recently embracing the design. In 2022 alone, we've seen the Vivo V23 and Redmi Note 11 among others, follow the same path. And now the OnePlus Nord N20 is joining the club.
If a flat-edged OnePlus smartphone sounds familiar, you're not wrong. Back in 2015, the slightly peculiar OnePlus X was launched with flatter edges and a more compact design. It didn't get follow up, and OnePlus has ignored the design feature until now.
This is a divisive change, particularly for this author. Flat edges sit against the screen and rear at a right angle, and this angular build can dig into the skin and make a phone uncomfortable to hold for long periods of time. Plus, it makes the phone look really utilitarian and bland.
Some may be disappointed OnePlus is joining the flat-edge crowd, and hoping it won't catch on, but if Apple is trailblazing this latest stylistic change it could be here for a few years yet.
Forget about system requirements, PC gaming is as easy as ever to get into
Do you think you’d get into PC gaming if you didn’t have to face the many difficulties it poses, skipping past all the compatibility issues of new builds and the never-ending upgrade cycle to keep up with system requirements?
Believe it or not, you actually can get in on PC gaming without facing these less-than-favorable elements thanks to NVIDIA GeForce NOW.
GeForce NOW is a cloud gaming service that takes a ton of fuss out of PC gaming. You don’t have to figure out whether a bunch of disparate PC components will all work together in a system. You don’t have to tweak all the various, esoteric graphics settings in each game to try and get them running smoothly on your system. You don’t have to upgrade components every couple of years just to get support for the latest games either.
In many ways, NVIDIA GeForce NOW is much like console gaming in that you get a system that you can just jump into and start playing without having to figure out how to make things work or optimize performance.
GeForce NOW runs games on virtual machines in the cloud that are already optimized for gaming. By using the service, you’re just connecting to those powerful gaming machines and sending your controller or keyboard and mouse inputs over the internet to them, and they’ll send back the game visuals to your device. Like magic, you’ll have the game running on your system without even so much as having to download it.
You can use GeForce NOW on a wide variety of devices, including installing the app on your phone to play games on the go. You can set it up on a low-power laptop that you’d never have dreamed of running the latest games on. Streaming sticks and select TVs can also support it, giving you the big-screen experience.
This is still PC gaming
As much as GeForce NOW lets you avoid the traditional hurdles of PC gaming, this is still PC gaming. You’ll be able to play a ton of different PC versions.
GeForce NOW features a library of over a thousand games and supports popular storefronts like Steam and the Epic Games Store. That means you can buy supported titles on those platforms and play them through GeForce NOW — no separate purchases necessary.
GeForce NOW also has a large selection of nearly 100 free-to-play games available. You can jump into raids in Destiny 2 or go for the top place in Apex Legends and Fortnite.,
Since these are the actual PC games, you’ll get to enjoy playing them with your friends who are also playing on PC. You can join them in multiplayer just as you would if you were playing on your own gaming PC.
Since GeForce NOW is replacing a dedicated gaming PC, you might expect it’s going to be expensive, like a gaming PC would be. But you can actually jump into GeForce NOW for free.
The service provides one-hour sessions for free users, but there’s no limit on how many sessions a free user can enjoy. Beyond that, it has affordable membership tiers that let you enjoy priority access, longer play sessions, and enhanced graphics at prices that still are a far cry from a gaming PC.
The Priority membership provides an enhanced system that can run games at 1080p/60fps with RTX real-time ray tracing enabled for realistic lighting for just $10 a month or $50 for six months.
NVIDIA’s RTX 3080 membership goes even further with a dedicated RTX 3080 graphics card in its servers that you can access to enjoy ray tracing and up to 1440p/120FPS or 4K HDR gaming for $20 a month or $100 for six months.
In other words, you could use the service for three years and it would cost you less than the price of just buying an RTX 3080 graphics card, never mind a whole gaming computer.
You can sign up for NVIDIA GeForce NOW here , and you can find out about all the latest updates to the service, like new features and game announcements, at the GeForce NOW Thursdays blog .