Category: Sony

Sony has stuck to its trusted rectangular design for smartphones over the years even when the tall display and thin bezels became the norm in 2017. However, there have been several reports and leaks that have hinted at a major design shift in the upcoming Sony Xperia device. Recently, specifications of an upcoming Xperia device codenamed H8541 were leaked which revealed a tall display with 4K HDR resolution.

The image reveals a design similar to the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 with three sides of the device having minimal bezels and the top housing all the sensors and the secondary camera. Although the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 has a thicker chin, the Xperia phone has a thicker forehead. The phone appears to have the power button on the side, most likely with a fingerprint scanner embedded. There is also a volume rocker and dedicated camera button on the right side.

Just like any other leaked image, it is fair to assume that this could easily be a doctored image and the real device could have a completely different design. But, until the time Sony announces the device itself, it is a good design cue for the company. Recently, images of two Sony Xperia phones were leaked along with a few specifications. Just like the image, these images also reveal the design shift that Sony will make in 2018 for all its flagship phones in 2018.

The next Xperia device could be unveiled at the upcoming CES or MWC event where a lot of other smartphones are also expected to be announced, most notably the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+.

Sony has followed a similar design language for all its flagship phones since the launch of the Xperia Z. There were reports that Sony was working on a smartphone with a tall display and thin bezels and new leaked images appear to shed some more light on the design of the phones.

The leaked images show two phones with two different design aesthetics but, both with front-firing stereo speakers. It appears that stereo speakers are gaining popularity with the Pixel 2 and Razer Phone having front-firing stereo speakers as well. Of the two phones, one has a more recognisable Sony Xperia-like box shape while the other one has more rounded edges.

The back of the phones is where it gets even more interesting. It appears that Sony will be re-imagining its whole smartphone lineup come 2018. At the back of the phones, the device with squared off edges has a mix of glossy and matte finish. The matte finish on the back forms two semi-circles at the top and the bottom while the middle area is covered with a glossy finish material. The two camera modules are oddly spread apart, which probably means one is just a depth sensor as this much spacing would result in much larger parallax for any other arrangement. It also appears that this phone will have a fingerprint sensor housed inside the lock button like previous Sony Xperia phones.

The other phone has a more uniform matte finish at the back with a fingerprint sensor in the middle and a dual-camera setup at the top left corner. Both the phones are touted to have a 5.7-inch 18:9 4K displays. They’ll also be one of the first devices to have Snapdragon 845 and have 6GB of RAM and run Android 8.0 Oreo.

The credibility of the leak can be questioned but, the bizarre design of the two phones almost validates the leak. It does seem questionable that the two phones will have the Snapdragon 845 chipset since Samsung will have early access to the chipset similar to last year. Sony might unveil the two devices at MWC 2018 but, that will mean that the devices will have to make do with the 2017 Snapdragon 835 chipset.