BARCELONA -- The sad reality is Sony's Xperia smartphones just aren't selling, despite having desirable features like a 4K display, long battery life and clean, minimalist designs.
Even though its struggling, the company's not giving up on mobile. At Mobile World Congress, Sony announced three new Android smartphones under the Xperia moniker: the Xperia X Performance, X and XA.
All three smartphones run Android 6.0 Marshmallow and will launch this summer. For the new Xperia X series, Sony decided to move away from packing in more features that users won't use very often. Instead, it's focusing on features users care greatly about: the cameras and battery life.
Both the X Performance and the X have new hybrid autofocus camera technology that locks onto moving subjects and takes pictures quickly to reduce motion blur.
Sony says the new phones have up two days of battery life (not quite as good as the three days the Z series is known for, but still pretty darn good). Not only is battery life longer than other smartphones, they also incorporate new technology to prolong the battery health over its lifetime.
Xperia X has up to 2 day battery life with more intelligence to maximize battery health over lifetime pic.twitter.com/WTMzUrSvU5— Raymond Wong (@raywongy) February 22, 2016
The Xperia X Performance is the most powerful of the three devices. It's also the slimmest at 7.6mm thick. It comes with a five-inch full HD display with a glass front that curves at the edges, Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor, 3GB of RAM, 23-megapixel back camera, 13-megapixel front camera, 32GB of internal storage (expandable via microSD card) and a 2,700 mAh battery.
Up close with the Xperia X pic.twitter.com/TfdeCwmn48— Raymond Wong (@raywongy) February 22, 2016
Xperia X has a 23MP back camera and 13MP front camera! pic.twitter.com/lTn4W7Li5S— Raymond Wong (@raywongy) February 22, 2016
The Xperia X is a small step down from the X Performance. It's got the same five-inch full HD display with curved glass edges, but comes with a less powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 processor and 3GB of RAM. The back camera's the same 23-megapixel as the X Performance, with a new hybrid autofocus technology the front-facing selfie camera is the same 13-megapixel shooter. The X comes in two storage capacities: 32GB and 64GB. Both have microSD card slots for storage expansion. Lastly, the X comes with a 2,620 mAh battery.
The Xperia XA only has an HD screen with 1,280 x 720 resolution, slower MediaTek MT6755 processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internals storage and a smaller 2,300 mAh battery.
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