Sony has offered some great phones in its Xperia range for quite some time now, with water resistance, gorgeous screens, and a design unlike any other phone on the planet. Sony has been continuing to release good phones throughout 2017, but as we noted in our Xperia XZ1 review, the Omnibalance design has aged badly and is desperately in need of a reboot.
Thankfully, it looks as if the Xperia range will be getting a design update in 2018, and thanks to a leaked specification sheet on Reddit, it’s fair to assume it’ll start with the phone code-named “H8541” — most likely the Xperia XZ2 Premium, or Xperia XZ Premium 2. While these leaks are heavily unverified, and come from an unfamailiar source, the specifications may ring true. Here are all the rumors we’ve heard about the Xperia XZ2 Premium.
Release date and availability
Details on a possible release date are sparse, as you might expect. The leaked spec sheet from Reddit only mentions a 2018 date, but a forum post from September 2017 alleges that the reveal of Sony’s new “mirai” (future) design will happen at MWC (Mobile World Conference) 2018 in Barcelona. Since the XZ Premium was previously revealed at MWC 2017, we expect that Sony will keep to this trend and reveal the Xperia XZ2 Premium at MWC 2018. There are no rumors about a release date just yet, but we’d be willing to bet that a June 2018 release is likely, to match with the previous phone.
Design
Here’s where the big changes are expected. We’d previously reported the Xperia range was expecting a design change in 2018, and the indications given by the leaked spec sheets has solidified that rumor.
The first big change is the shrinking of the phone’s footprint — if Reddit’s spec sheet is to be believed, then the XZ2 Premium is set to reduce down to 149 x 74 x 7.5mm. By contrast, the XZ Premium weighed in at a monolithic 156 x 77 x 7.9mm, so the reduction between the two phones is significant. If true, these measurements would put the XZ2 Premium at slightly taller and wider than the Samsung Galaxy S8.
The mention of the Galaxy S8 was on purpose — like the Galaxy S8, the Xperia XZ2 Premium looks to be Sony’s first foray into an edge-to-edge display. Rumors are circulating of a 5.7-inch 4K HDR display, which when paired with a smaller overall size, can only really mean a bezel-less design similar to the designs on the Galaxy S8, LG V30, and iPhone X. Based on the previous measurements, Sony are likely shooting for an 18.5:9 screen, similar to the Galaxy S8. Since the phone is slightly wider than the S8 and the screen is slightly smaller, we’re likely to still see some bezel on the sides of the phone, but they’ll be much reduced from the 2017 Xperia design.
The 4K on the display is also significant, and that indicates to us this phone will indeed be an entry into the Xperia Premium line; only the Premium lines usually include a 4K resolution, while the Xperia XZ1 sported a 1080p resolution, and the XZ1 Compact a 720p display. However, this is still speculation, and those rules could all change come 2018.
Aside from the display, we likely can expect the usual IP65/68 water and dust-resistance on the XZ2 Premium, as well as Gorilla Glass 5.
/u/CUSALE / Reddit
Specs
Unlike the design, there’s not too much to get excited about on the specifications, if Reddit’s spec sheet is to be believed. The XZ2 Premium will be using the same Snapdragon 835 we saw on this year’s flagships, and in the previous XZ Premium model. While it’s a powerful chip, we would have expected the next generation of Sony Xperia to have really pushed the boundaries with a new processing chip, and the lack of any upgrade does throw some doubt on the veracity of the leak.
It’s the same story with the 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage — again unchanged from the XZ Premium. If these leaks are true, then Sony may be looking to sell the new Xperia based purely on its looks, rather than new specs, and that would seem to be an odd move given how late to the party they are.
That’s all we’ve got on the Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium at the moment. Time will tell on the leaked Reddit specs list, but if Sony really is looking to update the looks, that can only be a good thing.
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