Sony to focus on Xperia X line until 2018; that means bye-bye to the Xperia Z, C, M and E

A report out of China today says that Sony will be focusing on its new Xperia X series up until 2018. Besides the end of the flagship Xperia "Z" name, this news apparently means the end of Xperia M, Xperia E and Xperia C devices. None of the phones with the Xperia C, Xperia M or Xperia E names were flagship models, but some offered a certain feature such as the waterproof Sony Xperia M4 Aqua. The Sony Xperia E3 was known for its two-day battery life (as claimed by Sony).

The unannounced Sony Xperia C6 Ultra, a device rumored to carry a 6-inch edge-to-edge display, had some specs leaked earlier this month. The phone is now expected to receive a name charge to the Sony Xperia X Ultra. Besides the 6-inch display with a 1080 x 1920 screen, the phablet is expected to be powered by the MediaTek 6755 SoC with an octa-core 1.9GHz CPU and the Mali-T860 GPU. 2GB of RAM is said to be inside with 16GB of native storage. A 20MP rear camera will be paired with a 16GB front-facing selfie snapper employing a front-facing an LED flash.

The Sony Xperia X will be released next week and features a 5-inch LCD screen with a 1080 x 1920 resolution. That works out to a 441ppi pixel density. The Snapdragon 650 SoC is under the hood along with a hexa-core 1.8GHz CPU and the Adreno 510 GPU. 3GB of RAM is inside with 32GB of internal storage (20GB available to the end user). Those seeking additional memory can access the 200GB capacity microSD slot. A 23MP rear-facing camera is included, as is a 13MP front-facing snapper. A 2620mAh battery keeps the lights on, and Android 6.0 is pre-installed. The phone's color options include Black, White, Pink and Gold.

The Sony Xperia X Performance keeps all of the specs of the X, but replaces the Snapdragon 650 with the Snapdragon 820 chipset. The latter carries a quad-core 2.15 GHz CPU and the Adreno 530 GPU. A slightly higher capacity 2700mAh battery is on board.

The Sony Xperia XA is equipped with a 5-inch display carrying a 720 x 1280 resolution. The MediaTek 6755 SoC powers the phone. 2GB of RAM can be found inside, along with 16GB of expandable native memory. A 13MP camera adorns the back, featuring phase detection autofocus. In the front is an 8MP camera that shoots selfies and handles video chats. This model is available in Lime Gold, White and Black.

Sony has reportedly been close at times to exiting the business, something that it denied last year. We can't help but wonder whether this Xperia X line is just a plan that Sony has to bide its time until it has something truly exceptional to introduce in the way of smartphones. The company might have thought that it had hit a home run last year with the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium and its 4K (2160 x 3840) resolution screen. But as it turned out, to save battery life only limited media is displayed at that resolution while most content is shown in 1080 x 1920. The home run became a ground rule double, at best.

source: XperiaBlog via SlashGear