The overall design will still be clearly identifiable. Say what you want about Sony's design language for its smartphones, but you can't say it hasn't been...
I'm ok with the 4k display dying especially after the android 14 update breaking it on the 1v. But I'm not that happy about the 21by9 turning to 19.5 by 9
Definitely agree with OP. 4K is completely unnecessary on a display this size but moving to one of these weird in-between aspect ratios is a clear downgrade. 16:9 or 21:9 is where it's at as most video content is displayed in either of those, 21:9 has the added benefit of making larger phones easier to hold and use one-handed.
If they were going to adopt some industry standards, why couldn't it be longer software support? That's the one area where their phones are consistently below-par now.