Small hands rejoice! There's a new Sony Xperia Compact... sort of

(Image credit: Sony)

It's been a long time coming, but smaller flagship phone fans rejoice... a new Sony smartphone has been announced at IFA 2019 - although it's not as compact as you may have hoped.

Called the Sony Xperia 5, it doesn't carry the "Xperia Compact" name we last saw in February 2018 with the launch of the Xperia XZ2 Compact, but those with smaller palms will be thrilled to learn that Sony has a new smartphone with flagship features that doesn't require you to have palms the size of Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson to operate one-handed.

The Sony Xperia 5 boasts a tall 6.1-inch, Full HD+ OLED 21:9 display, which means it's less compact than previous small flagships from the firm, and also features HDR and Dolby Atmos.

Measuring 158 x 68 x 8.2mm it's shorter and narrower than the flagship Xperia 1, but no where near as dinky as the Xperia XZ2 Compact (135 x 65 x 12.1 mm).

(Image credit: Sony)

There are triple cameras round the back with 12MP wide-angle, 12MP telephoto and 12MP ultra-wide angle lenses, plus there's supports Sony's Dualshock 4 input, allowing you to use your PlayStation controller for games on the Xperia 5.

Under the hood you get Qualcomm's flagship Snapdragon 855 chipset and 6GB of RAM, providing you with cutting-edge power which should be able to handle everything you chuck at it.

There's a sizable 128GB of internal storage included as well, but if that isn't enough there's a microSD slot supporting cards up to 512GB in size.

The Xperia 5 comes with IP68 dust and water resistant, which means it should survive being briefly submerged, and has a 3,140mAh battery with fast charging capabilities.

The Sony Xperia 5 release date is set for October in Europe (Oct 4 in the UK), with pre-orders starting next week (Sep 18 from EE, Sep 19 from Carphone Warehouse in the UK) and prices starting at €799 (around $879, £715).

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John McCann
Former Global Managing Editor

TechRadar's former Global Managing Editor, John has been a technology journalist for more than a decade, and over the years has built up a vast knowledge of the tech industry. He’s interviewed CEOs from some of the world’s biggest tech firms, visited their HQs, and appeared on live TV and radio, including Sky News, BBC News, BBC World News, Al Jazeera, LBC, and BBC Radio 4.

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