Can the Xperia XZ Premium give Sony’s smartphone business a much needed win?
SONY’S smartphone business desperately needs a win. The maxed out XZ Premium could be the phone that delivers it - though expect it to come at a high price.
SONY is looking to bring some much needed profitability to its mobile division in 2017 and is hoping its soon-to-be-released Xperia XZ Premium is the device that can finally do it.
The smartphone is the crown jewel of the company’s Xperia range and is packed full of features as it seeks to contend with the iPhone and Samsung Galaxy at the top of the smartphone market.
The phone brings high definition TV technology into the handheld device and is “our most groundbreaking smartphone to date”, Sony says.
But will it be able to deliver a much needed win for the company’s perennially poor performing mobile division?
After years of struggles, the Japanese phone maker was finally able to break even after it cut its losses and consolidated much of its smartphone division, cutting a thousand jobs in the process. As a result — and with the help of favourable exchange rates — last year the company’s smartphone division finally posted a modest $US4 million profit.
“We’ve had to take one step back, to take two steps forward,” Sony’s head of marketing Joao Seabra told news.com.au at the Mobile World Congress, where the company unveiled the device.
He hopes when the Xperia XZ Premium launches sometime later this year, it will be the product that finally delivers a win for the company’s smartphone division.
Along with a super slow motion camera that shoots at an astonishing 960 frames per second, the premium version of the Xperia range boasts exceptionally sharp display quality. The 5.5 inch screen has 4K display that crams more pixels into the display than your eyes can even register, and will be the first phone in the world to have a 4K HDR display.
Sony has partnered with Amazon Prime — which recently launched in Australia — to offer a selection of 4K HDR content to Xperia XZ Premium customers.
“On the Xperia premium we are really focusing on three areas. The first one is camera, the second one is display and the viewing experience and the third one is the performance — the download speeds, the upload speeds,” Mr Seabra said.
For some, the maxed out specs of the top-tier device is an exercise in excess. Or “glorious, mostly unnecessary overkill”, as one tech publication put it.
But Mr Seabra insists it’s not about numbers for numbers sake, but rather advancing the consumer experience on mobile.
“We’re not here for the spec race, or just to have it on the paper,” he said.
In addition to the super slow motion capability, the phone’s camera comes with a predictor feature, which means when its camera detects movement it starts buffering and takes up to four images before you even press the button. The idea is that it will help you to not miss the moment in high-paced situations.
The XZ Premium will keep the headphone jack, have USB-C connectivity, 64GB storage and IP65/68 water resistance.
Sony has also guaranteed all-day use from the Premium’s 3230mAh battery, which also had Quick Charge 3.0 capabilities.
Despite the super charged display of the phone, Mr Seabra says battery performance won’t suffer as a result.
But it remains to be seen if consumers will embrace the company’s most expensive smartphone.
The device is up for pre-order in Europe with an expected June release but Sony has not yet announced an official release date or price point for the Xperia XZ Premium in the Australian market.
Originally published as Can the Xperia XZ Premium give Sony’s smartphone business a much needed win?
