The price is really not that great if Sony SG follows the Russian price. It is basically competing against Xiao Mi 11 Ultra with smaller sensors, lower peak brightness screen, smaller battery, smaller screen, awakwardly wide aspect ratio (media consumption will suffer especially since majority of content are 16:9, be prepared for thick black vertical bars on the left and right of the 6.5" screen resulting in an overall smaller viewing experience) etc. Overall it feels like a lower spec Mi 11 Ultra since Sony is positioning it in this price range.
If the Mi 11 Ultra had the Headphone Jack and Micro SD Card slot, it would've been game over for the Xperia 1 III. There are decent Cinema Pro app alternatives which the Android user can get on the Play Store.
On the other hand, if the Xperia 1 III had similar or larger sensors as the Mi 11 Ultra, high peak brightness screen, larger battery, larger or not too long-ish screen it would be truly worth the asking price and the Mi 11 Ultra would've been defeated.
Currently the only potential saving grace for this Xperia 1 III and the Xperia 5 III is if the price is significantly lower than those phones mentioned. Otherwise they will continue to remain the underdog as the average consumers would only pay attention to phones that have very obvious features. Xperia is focusing on very specialized features that not many will understand at first glance and will skip it for that reason alone if the price is similar to the other phones with more obvious "WOW" features. Price it against the basic ROG Phone 5 at $SGD 900 or perhaps the One Plus 9 at $950 +- and maybe then, the Xperia 1 III will begin to be relevant.