Sony supplies a serious number of its smartphone rivals with camera sensors – they’re good, and it makes them a lot of money – but it had to do something with its own devices to differentiate themselves. Key to this is speed and autofocus skills.

You get a 12MP 24mm main shooter with an aperture of f/1.7 and the addition of optical image stabilisation. There’s also a 12MP 16mm ultra-wide camera with an aperture of f/2.2. A 3D time of flight sensor also features on the Xperia 1 III. 

The Xperia 1 III becomes the world’s first phone with a 12MP variable telephoto camera paired with a dual PD sensor that instantly switches between f/2.3 70mm and f/2.8 105mm optical focal lengths. That’s a shorter stretch than some, but Sony wants its phones to be speedier when capturing detail.

Real-time Eye AF for humans and animals now comes with newly equipped real-time tracking and continuous AF across all lenses, plus a 20fps Burst Mode with low light noise reduction is powered by Sony’s BIONZ X processor.

Perhaps most intriguing is the new AI super resolution zoom technology that claims to restore the detail and definition lost in images when using digital zoom. Images can be exported as jpegs so the post production goodness can be felt on bigger displays.

Elsewhere, the Photography Pro functions that mirror the manual controls on Alpha series cameras now have a ‘Basic Mode’ for faster access to the touch shutter button, portrait orientation, bokeh effects, panoramas and more. Both phones feature an 8MP selfie shooter on the front. 

Finally, on the video side of things Sony has added 4K HDR 120fps slow-motion movie making, so no more pretending like Jim Carrey in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.