If you’ve been following our coverage of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, you would have undoubtedly caught Sony‘s launch of their brand new Xperia X lineup. A curious launch because the Xperia X Performance featured a set of killer specs that many felt should have found their way into the Xperia Z6 instead.
This led to wild speculation that Sony could be replacing their Xperia Z series, speculation, that if this recent post by Sony Mobile DACH is to be believed, could prove true.
Can’t read German? Well, neither can I but thankfully someone on Reddit does and according to user u/laxor09, the message translates to:
“Hi Sarah, there will be no Z6. The new X series is under a modified concept that meets the needs of our users even more. You can of course still rely on the latest technology in our smartphones – which has nothing to do with the name. Best regards, your Sony team.”
“There will be no Z6”. The plot thickens. Can we believe this piece of information?
Well, before deciding, it is worth pointing out several key factors in said comment. The first is the fact that when they said that there would be no Z6, they did not specify a time frame. For example, they didn’t say that there would be no Z6 ever. Without the time quantifier, it becomes hard to take what they say with absolute certainty because for all we know, they could have simply meant to say that there would be no Z6 launched here at the Mobile World Congress — which opens up the possibility of a Z6 further down the road.
Secondly, they mentioned that the new X series is a “modified concept that meets the needs of our users more”. Note the keyword “modified” and the absence of any indication that Sony was “replacing” the Xperia Z series.
Finally, when we spoke to a Sony Mobile representative during the launch of the Xperia X series yesterday, he said that it wasn’t a replacement, but a product that focuses on different consumers. Possibly a regurgitated scripted answer, but we thought was worth mentioning anyway.
But, for the sake of covering our bases, let’s assume that yes, Sony did replace the Xperia Z with the Xperia X series, would that be such a bad thing?
Well, from our hands-on, we don’t think so. The Xperia X is a series of handsome looking devices — all of which feature a robust and curvier design language, departing from the sharp and prickly edges of the Xperia Z5. The Xperia X Performance felt exceptionally good with its premium brushed metal finish which is refreshing compared to the tired glass backs on the Xperia Zs of old.
If performance is what you’re worried about, we’ve got nothing to complain as the top end Xperia X Performance packs a wallop with the all new Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 quad-core processor with 3GB of RAM and either 32GB or 64GB of expandable storage.
It’s got a whole bunch of other flagship-worthy goodies too including a reasonable 5-inch full HD display (no 4K, sorry). It’s also got a top-of-the-line 23-megapixel primary snapper packing the 1/2.3-inch Exmor RS mobile sensor, 5x- Clear Image Zoom and a Sony f/2.0 G Lens that runs up to a mind-boggling 12,800 ISO. What’s more, you get a 13-megapixel selfie camera with a wide 22mm lens on the front.
Not a slouch at all then. In fact, we think it’s a pretty worthy successor to the old Xperia Z5 that we weren’t terribly impressed with.
That said, do keep in mind that this can’t really count as an official statement as there is the off chance that the person who replied to the comment is a rogue social media handler, so take it with a pinch of salt until we get a proper word from someone more credible.
What do you guys think of this? Will you miss the Xperia Z series if the Xperia X does end up replacing it? Do you think the Xperia X is a worthy successor? Drop us a comment down below.
