Sony has scheduled an Xperia smartphone launch event for October 26, and going by a short YouTube teaser released earlier this week, it is going to be a camera-centric device with a dedicated shutter button. The announcement is rather strange, as Sony has already launched a trio of phones earlier this year that just about fill all the key price brackets that its slimmed-down portfolio has to offer.
At the top of the food chain is the Xperia 1 III, which comes packing some impressive hardware including a 4K OLED display refreshing at 120Hz, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 888, an IP68-certified build, and a triple 12-megapixel camera system backed by some professional-grade software tricks. The Xperia 10 III is an otherwise solid mid-range phone with capable hardware marred by bad pricing, while the Xperia 5 III is the flag-bearer of a compact Sony smartphone, a concept once sold via the Xperia Z Compact family.
Sony’s latest phone announcement comes via a cryptic Tweet that only teases an "exciting announcement" alongside an October 26 (or October 25 if in the US) launch date for its next Xperia smartphone. However, a short teaser on the official Sony Xperia YouTube channel does offer some clues. In the video, tech YouTuber Sara Deitschy can be heard saying that the upcoming Sony phone is akin to holding a device that is “a camera with a phone attached” to it. Photographer Dane Isaac mentions that having “a dedicated shutter button on the camera” was a gamechanger. Lastly, Philip Bloom notes that the upcoming Sony phone is the "best smartphone camera" the filmmaker has used.
Sony Being Brave, But Will It Deliver?
Needless to say, Sony’s teaser video does drum up some excitement. So far, the company has not launched a camera-centric device that can ape the formula of phones like the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra or the iPhone 13 Pro Max. However, it remains unclear what exactly Sony is cooking up with its next offering. The company definitely has the pedigree to deliver a phone with solid camera hardware and software, but it has been late to the innovation party for smartphone cameras in recent years. The company’s smartphone business isn’t what it used to be and its market presence has shrunk as a result.
In a world where phones such as the Google Pixel 6 are as low as $599 and the iPhone 13, with all its camera chops, comes in at $799, the breathing room for a Sony phone that buyers can legitimately look forward to has decreased. However, one of Sony’s biggest problems has been striking the right balance between specs and asking price. For example, the Xperia 1 III is even more expensive than the iPhone 13 Pro Max. Then there are phones like Sony's Xperia Pro, which not only has a very niche target with 5G broadcasting in mind, but also costs a whopping $2,500.
Source: Sony Xperia/Twitter