Say cheese! Sony’s got three new camera-centric Xperias

Sony kept its MWC presentation short and sweet, but still managed to pack in three new smartphones — The Xperia X, XA, and X Performance.

All three handsets feature a 5in/12.7cm display and Sony’s instantly recognisable square, minimal Omnibalance design of which we’ve grown rather fond over the years, and prioritise camera performance and battery life — traditionally two of Sony’s strong suits.

The standard Xperia X offers a 1080p display, alongside a 23MP camera with a dedicated shutter button and the promise of a 0.6 second startup time.

Sony’s pushing the camera’s Predictive Hybrid Autofocus, which is able to detect the size of moving objects and predict their movement, increasing the chances of snapping crisp, spur-of-the-moment shots instead of the blurry disasters to which most of us have become accustomed.

For generation selfie there’s also a 13MP front-facing cam, along with stereo speakers for annoying strangers in public, and a fingerprint-scanning power button like the one we saw (and loved caressing) on the Z series.

While the integrated 2,620mAh battery doesn’t sound particularly large, Sony is promising up to two days of use, along with a doubled overall battery life capacity. We’re inclined to believe it. Sony’s handsets have long offered the sort of battery life that makes them look like marathon runners compared to the sprinter-like stamina of most rival’s flagships.

The Android 6.0 Marshmallow-running Xperia X is powered by Qualcomm’s hexa-core Snapdragon 650 processor, along with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of expandable storage.

Xperia XA

The Xperia XA takes things down a notch with a 720p screen, although its slightly curved, almost bezel-less design makes up for the res drop by looking very pretty indeed.

Imaging-wise, it’s rocking a 13MP camera (with an 8MP selfie-snapper), with the microSD support Sony’s always been sensible enough to include. As you’d expect, its specs are touch more conservative too, with a MediaTek chipset and 2GB of RAM, though it’s still running the latest version of Android.

There’s also a smaller 2300mAh battery powering the XA, but Sony’s still confident about up to two days of use.

You’re not gonna find the dual speakers or the fingerprint scanner on the XA, though. But in exchange you can expect to pay a fair bit less than you will for the X. Of course, we don’t have pricing (South African or international) for either the XA or the X yet, but that’ll follow in due course. We expect it’ll be in line with the Xperia Z Compact and Z, though the exchange rate may yet hurt us.

Xperia X Performance

The most interesting handset to our minds is the X Performance. But sadly we’re unlikely to see it as it’s going to be an Asia-only release at first. Boo and hiss.

We know you like to know everything about everything, though, so here are the details: it’ll sport a blisteringly fast Snapdragon 820 processor, which is the same one Samsung’s using in the Galaxy S7 and LG’s using in the G5. And, unlike the X or XA, the X Performance is the only one suitable for your aqua aerobics’ selfies.

The new handsets release dates are set for some time during the northern hemisphere’s upcoming summer, so sometime after June, then. We’ll have more details for you as they come to light.