Sony only released a handful of Xperia handsets in 2016, and struggled even then to make them stand out, yet we’re only a few weeks into 2017 and already it looks like Sony may be preparing to launch five new phones.
According to Japanese site Sumaho Info, the company will unveil all five phones at MWC 2017 in late February, and the handsets seem split between the high-end and mid-range.
The good news though, is that if this information is right the flagship phone may actually stand out both among Sony’s range and in the wider smartphone world.
Listed under the codename ‘Yoshino’, it apparently has a 5.5-inch 2160 x 3840 screen, a Snapdragon 835 chipset, 4GB or 6GB of RAM and a Sony IMX400 camera sensor.
The most notable spec there is of course the 4K screen, which isn’t a totally new thing for Sony, as the Xperia Z5 Premium also has one, but the majority of Sony’s flagships have stuck to 1080p displays, while rivals have jumped to QHD. The other specs are less surprising, but would still make for a top-end phone.
Next in the list there’s the ‘BlancBright’, which apparently has a 5.5-inch 1440 x 2560 screen, 4GB of RAM, a Sony IMX400 camera and either a Snapdragon 835 (which is a top-end chip) or a Snapdragon 653 (which is more upper mid-range).
Given its specs it’s likely that the Yoshino would launch as the Xperia XZ 2, while the BlancBright may land as the Xperia X2. Though if the BlancBright does use a Snapdragon 835 chip then that could be the XZ 2, with the Yoshino launching as something even higher end.
Moving on down
Next there’s the ‘Keyaki’, which sounds far more mid-range, with a 5.2-inch 1080 x 1920 screen, a MediaTek Helio P20 chipset, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, a 23MP main camera and a 16MP front-facing one.
And moving even further down there’s the ‘Hinoki’, which apparently has a 5-inch 720 x 1280 screen, a Helio P20 chipset, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, a 16MP rear camera and an 8MP front-facing one.
Then, presumably at the bottom of the range, there’s the ‘Mineo’, but no specs are listed for this, just a price of apparently $350 (around £275/AU$465). With a price like that it could be a successor to the Xperia XA or a new entry in the Xperia M range.
Of course that’s assuming the leak is even accurate, and there’s no guarantee that Sony will actually start selling all these phones any time soon – it’s possible that they’ll be shown off at MWC but then spread across the year. With this year’s show starting on February 27 we should have a better idea soon.
- Via SlashGear
