Sony Xperia X and X Performance 32 GB offer only 20 GB of usable memory

Although it announced the Xperia X family in February, at the same time with the Samsung Galaxy S7 and LG G5, Sony has yet to release any of its three new handsets (Xperia XA, Xperia X, and Xperia X Performance). Fortunately, the phones will be available to buy starting later this month. Until that happens, you may want to know that the 32 GB variants of the Xperia X and Xperia X Performance will offer less usable internal memory than you'd expect.

According to Sony, the 32 GB memory of the Xperia X and Xperia X Performance "is comprised of approximately 12 GB of firmware, plus 20 GB of internal storage." Thus, you only get 20 GB of space that you can actually use for apps, music, and so on. This info has been shared by Sony a while back, so it's not technically news. However, we think this is important to know, because, if you're coming from an older Xperia like the Z5 or the Z5 Compact, you're certainly expecting to have more free space (both the Z5 and Z5 Compact offer 27 GB of usable memory out of the box).

Normally, a 32 GB Android handset, regardless of brand, has around 24 - 25 GB of free space out of the box. So it's a bit disappointing to see that we're only getting 20 GB on the Xperia X and Xperia X Performance. Of course, the two devices support microSD cards, but that's another story. As for the Xperia XA, this has 16 GB of internal memory, with 11 GB being user accessible (which is decent for a 16 GB device). 

Sony is planning to release all three Xperia X smartphones in the US, but it's not clear if it's going to do it this month (when the handsets will hit shelves in Europe). We'll bring more details about the new Xperia phones when they become available. In the meantime, let us know if you're planning to buy any of them.