Sony Xperia Stream adds Ethernet, HDMI, cooling fan, and more to Xperia 1 IV

Xperia Stream, the latest gaming-focused accessory from Sony’s mobile division, makes the Xperia 1 IV ready for pro gamers, with help from a cooling fan and a ton of ports.

Last week, Sony teased that it would be announcing a new gaming-focused product in the Xperia line, which had some hopeful for the return of the Xperia Play. Today, Sony has fully unveiled its new accessory, the Gaming Gear Xperia Stream for Xperia 1 IV — say that five times fast.

As the name suggests, it’s built solely for the Xperia 1 IV phone and is honestly a showcase of what USB-C can really do. The main visible feature of the Xperia Stream is a rear cooling fan and a bulkier grip to improve overall comfort. Things get interesting when you flip it to see the underside; Sony has packed the Xperia Stream with four full-size ports:

• 3.5mm audio port, for headsets
• HDMI output, perfect for connecting to a video capture card
• Ethernet, to ensure you have the best network performance
• USB-C, to keep your Xperia 1 IV charged for longer sessions

The Xperia Stream accessory was built in collaboration with the eSports team SCARZ, with a clear focus on what mobile game streamers need most — power, video output, and cooling. Power and cooling are obvious, but video output is an interesting choice.

While Android has been working on built-in ways to stream games, the downside is that your phone’s CPU and networking are being used for the stream. By streaming using an HDMI out and a capture card attached to a computer, your phone can focus solely on the game at hand.

For all that the Xperia Stream can do for professional gamers, Sony has set a pretty high asking price of 23,100 yen (approx. $162 USD). Additionally, Sony is launching a dedicated Gaming Edition of the Xperia 1 IV phone, which features a whopping 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage and comes bundled with the Xperia Stream. This bundle will set you back 189,200 yen (approx. $1,328 USD). Unfortunately, it’s not clear if Sony intends to sell the Xperia Stream or the Xperia 1 IV Gaming Edition outside of Asia.