Sony Drops Xperia XZ Premium Bombshell With 4K HDR Display And Snapdragon 835
There are phones galore being announced at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, including one that Sony says is its most ground-breaking smartphone to date, the Xperia XZ Premium. We will not argue against that claim—the Xperia XZ Premium is the latest in a long line of high-end Xperia products, and the first from Sony to combine a 5.5-inch 4K Ultra HD resolution display and High Dynamic Range (HDR) support with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 system-on-chip (SoC).
Those two features alone are enough for some people to consider the Xperia XZ Premium, though there is more to digest here. Sony's newest flagship also boasts 4GB of RAM, 64GB of built-in storage, a microSD card slot supporting memory cards up to 256GB, Corning Gorilla Glass 5 on the front and back, and an IP68 design for water and dust resistance, which has become a staple of Xperia handsets.
Sony is also known for offering high-end camera optics in its Xperia smartphones. The Xperia XZ Premium is no exception—it has a 13-megapixel front-facing camera with a 1/3.06-inch Exmor RS image sensor featuring an f/2.0 aperture, 22mm wide angle lens, and ISO 6400.
On the rear is a 19-megapixel camera consisting of a 1/2.3-inch Exmor memory stacked image sensor with support for super slow motion video capture at 960 frames per second and 4K video recording.
"The first smartphone to feature a memory stacked Exmor RS sensor with technologies usually only found on premium compact cameras, it provides 5x faster image scanning and data transfer. This means you can create sensational videos from your everyday moments by recording in 960 frames per second, providing Super slow motion video playback that is four times slower than other smartphones giving you more detail than has ever been possible in the palm of your hand... On top of this, the new 19MP high resolution sensor has 19 percent larger pixels to capture more light and provides exceptional detail and sharp images even in low-light and backlit conditions," Sony says.
Rounding out the features is a 3,230 mAh Smart STAMINA battery with Qnovo Adaptive Charging and Android 7.1 Nougat for the OS.
Sony will offer the Xperia XZ Premium in two color options—Luminous Chrome and Deepsea Black. Both will be available starting in late Spring 2017. No word yet on how much it will cost.
In addition to the Xperia ZX Premium, Sony will also offer a toned down Xperia XZs. Here is a look at the spec sheet:
- 5.2-inch Full HD 1080p (1920x1080) TRILUMINOS display
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 SoC (Adreno 530 GPU)
- 4GB RAM
- 32GB or 64GB of built-in storage
- 13MP 1/3.06-inch Exmor RS front camera
- 19MP 1/2.3-inch Exmor RS camera
- 2,900 mAh STAMINA battery w/ Qnovo Adaptive Charging and Quick Charge 3.0
- IP65/IP68 rating
- Android Nougat
