Mobile phone

Sony Xperia 1 III goes on pre-order in the US with a free pair of WF-1000XM3 earbuds

Right on schedule, the Sony Xperia 1 III finally went up for pre-order in the US, more than two months after its announcement in April. But if you thought that was a long wait, get ready for even more waiting, as the release date is August 19!

If you do dare to pre-order and wait all that long for the delivery, you are getting some perks. First, a free pair of Sony's WF-1000XM3 true wireless earbuds, in silver or black (your choice). These may not be the company's latest and greatest noise-canceling earbuds (supplanted by the recently launched WF-1000XM4), but they are still great.

Additionally, if you are pre-order you'll receive 43,200 Call of Duty Mobile CP Points, which are either a $540 value (if you ask Sony), or a $700 value (if you ask B&H). The headphones are a $230 value based on their launch price, although you can probably get them cheaper right now.

Sony Xperia 1 III goes on pre-order in the US with a free pair of WF-1000XM3 earbuds

Anyway, as we implied above you can pre-order the Xperia 1 III from Sony's own online store, or from B&H. In the former case, the price is $1,299.99, while if you go with the latter retailer you'll only pay $1,298. Those are some huge savings of $1.99 right there!

Sony Xperia 1 III goes on pre-order in the US with a free pair of WF-1000XM3 earbuds

Sarcasm aside, we can't wait to get Sony's latest flagship smartphone at the office so we can put it through our usual battery of tests for review. The phone seems impressive on paper, with a 6.5" 1644x3840 120 Hz OLED screen, the Snapdragon 888 chipset, 12GB of RAM, 256/512GB of expandable storage, a quad rear camera system with a 12 MP main sensor with OIS, a 12 MP telephoto cam that can switch between 70mm equivalent and 105mm for 2.9x/4.4x optical zoom, a 12 MP ultrawide with autofocus, and a 0.3 MP ToF depth sensor.

On the front, you get an 8 MP camera for selfies, and the phone has a 4,500 mAh battery with 30W charging, and wireless charging support as well. It runs Android 11.