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Next Sony smartphone to come with 4K recording

It's only a rumour at this stage, but Sony's next flagship smartphone could come with 4K video recording as standard.

Lexy Savvides Principal Video Producer
Lexy is an on-air presenter and award-winning producer who covers consumer tech, including the latest smartphones, wearables and emerging trends like assistive robotics. She's won two Gold Telly Awards for her video series Beta Test. Prior to her career at CNET, she was a magazine editor, radio announcer and DJ. Lexy is based in San Francisco.
Expertise Wearables, smartwatches, mobile phones, photography, health tech, assistive robotics Credentials
  • Webby Award honoree, 2x Gold Telly Award winner
Lexy Savvides

It's only a rumour at this stage, but Sony's next flagship smartphone could come with 4K video recording as standard.

The Sony Xperia Z1 had a solid focus (pardon the pun) on and video. (Credit: CBSi)

According to a report by Xperia Blog, the new handset, codenamed 'Sirius', will launch with Android 4.4.2 KitKat.

Elsewhere on the spec sheet, the phone is set to come with a 5.2-inch 1080p screen, 3GB of RAM, a Qualcomm MSM8974AB chipset and 2.3GHz quad-core processor. The rear camera will have a resolution of 20.7 megapixels which is pretty much the same as the resolution on the existing Z1, however, there is no information on the physical size of the sensor.

Apart from ultra high-definition video, the leaked screenshots also show the handset's ability to record what's being called Timeshift video. This appears to be a high frame rate recording mode, used to create slow-motion effects, similar to capabilities found on the iPhone 5S.

It makes sense that manufacturers like Sony will push for 4K recording on a range of devices, given the strong showing of 4K TVs and devices at CES: one such device being the company's first consumer-grade 4K camcorder that was announced as part of the show in January.

Should the rumours hold true come Mobile World Congress, Sony's new handset will join the ranks of other 4K-capable smartphones currently on the market such as the Samsung Galaxy Note 3.