Sony Upcoming Flagships: Sony is expected to launch two new Xperia flagship devices at IFA 2017 in Berlin. From a near bezel-less display to the integration of a brand new in-house chipset, this article will brief just about everything we’ve heard about these devices so far. 

Reports suggest that Sony is prepping to launch two brand new smartphones this year at IFA 2017 in Berlin, both of which are rumored to be flagships. Although there are not many confirmed details regarding the phones, we’ve been hearing a lot of interesting stories that might excite every single Xperia fan out there!

Sony’s current flagship device, Xperia XZ Premium, is a performance beast beyond any doubts. But, when it comes to external design, XZ Premium has the same old school Sony Xperia Z design that not many consumers, even including fans, have found to be appealing.

However, rumors suggest that Sony is opting for a ground-up redesign on at least one of the upcoming phones, and we couldn’t be more happier. Here is a recap of everything we know so far about the upcoming Xperia (flagship) phones.

Upcoming Sony Xperia Flagships: Design

A fan-made render of upcoming Xperia flagship. Artist: Saber KchiKech

For the smartphone industry, 2017 is all about minimal bezels and premium build quality. Sony has always retained the best-in-class build quality when it comes to smartphones, and there is no denying that! However, the Japanese tech giant has always been an arse about minimalizing bezels on their devices. And that’s largely because of the stereo speakers fitted inside to deliver impressive audio quality. However, that excuse for retaining bezels on a 2017 flagship device might not seem pleasing to normal consumers.

Nonetheless, rumors hint that Sony is ditching those huge bezels on one of its upcoming phones, in favor of an edge-to-edge display. Sony might retain the flat-slab design like other Xperia phones, however, the forthcoming one will have much smaller bezels on the top and bottom of the display.

Upcoming Sony Xperia Flagships: Display

JDI LCD display panel featuring 2:1 aspect ratio

Sony’s LCD manufacturing venture, Japan Display Inc. (JDI), is reportedly manufacturing large 6-inch LCD panels that offer 18:9 (or 2:1) aspect ratio. One of the Sony’s upcoming phone, rumored to be Xperia XZ1, is expected to come with a 5.2-inch FullHD display, thus, we might likely see these FullHD panels feature on the other flagship device, which is likely the Xperia X Ultra. If that’s true, then the latter will mark the company’s first phone to feature very thin bezels.

Upcoming Sony Xperia Flagships: Hardware and Software

This is where the rumors turn rather interesting! Although one of the forthcoming Xperia flagships would probably house the latest Snapdragon chipset (rumored to be Snapdragon 836, not yet announced), the other one is tipped to come with an in-house chipset onboard. An anonymous tip that we received recently says that Sony has been working on their own chipset technologies since 2015, and is ready to show them off to the market this year.

Apart from that, the phones will launch with at least 6GB of RAM onboard to compete against the likes of OnePlus 5 and Galaxy S8 Plus. On the software side of things, both the phones will launch with the latest version of Android Nougat OS out of the box. However, these devices would be the first to receive Android O update when the company is done working on it.

Until now, we only had rumors and speculations about the forthcoming Sony phones. It is worth noting that none of these details have been confirmed by any official sources yet, and so is best to take them with the proverbial pinch of salt. You’ll have to wait until 31st August when Sony will finally unveil what it has really got in store for us at IFA 2017.

Featured Picture credit: CNMO.com

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Abhin’s love for all things tech started when he got his first smartphone, Galaxy S (the first), in 2010. Since then, he has been crazy about technology and tried out all major Android flagships from Samsung, and HTC. He currently uses a Google Pixel 4a as his daily driver.

3 Comments

  1. phillukeman on

    oh look a clone of every other manufacturers gameplan

    wonderful

    how about making an awesome flagship small phone – like your Zcompact and XC – that would differentiate you from the rest of the pack

    • Sureys point out that smartphone buyers in 2017 are crying for phones with smaller bezels, dual camera, and so on. So for a company like Sony Mobile that has relatively smaller market share, compared to Samsung and Apple, to stay afloat they should implement at least these many features, if not bringing anything out of the box.
      And lately, innovations out of the box have proved rather unsuccessful, just look at the case of LG G5.
      So woudn’t it be safer for Sony to opt for technologies that is already tested and proven?

  2. sony launched phones in 27th feb and they are still not available, so if we wait for september then dafinately they will be availabele next year feb. slow sony, ..

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