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Sony has just unveiled a bafflingly expensive new phone, with only novel feature that might justify the price being an HDMI input port, as reported by Ars Technica. The Sony Xperia Pro has a lot in common specs-wise to Sony’s 2020 flagship, the $1300 Xperia 1 II, with the HDMI port seemingly the reason for the $1000 jump in price.
While there are a few experimental phones on the market these days with price tags over $2000– including foldable phones Samsung Galaxy Fold and Huawei’s Mate X–the Sony Xperia Pro isn’t foldable, and nor does it come with any extra displays.
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In fact the Xperia Pro is comparable to the Xperia 1 II in most aspects, with the same displays, processors, cameras, and batteries. The Xperia Pro has slightly more RAM and storage, as well as 5G compatibility, but the biggest addition is the HDMI port.
HDMI ports in phones isn’t a new concept. Plenty of manufacturers experimented in adding HDMI output ports in the early 2010s, including Samsung, Nokia, Blackberry, and even Sony’s own Xperia line. The ports eventually died out, as technologies like Google’s Chromecast made it easier to cast media from phones without any cables or ports needed.
The big difference with the Xperia Pro is that the HDMI port is for input rather than output, with Sony boasting it’s the very first phone to include this kind of HDMI port. Sony seems to be aiming the phone at online video creators, with the suggestion that users could hook the phone up to a camera as a live display screen, or use it as a conduit for streaming high-quality video to the internet. Of course, if that’s something you’re likely to want to do, cheaper options are available involving software or inexpensive dongles.
