Sony may have entered production with its next flagship smartphone, reportedly codenamed Sony F8331. Tipped to succeed the Sony Xperia X Performance (which never made it to India), new images of the rumoured device have been published by GSMArena, showing a newly redesigned chassis from various angles. The new design includes flat panels at the top and bottom of the phone, curved left and right sides, USB-C port (a first for Sony), a redesigned primary camera module placed to the top-left of the brushed metal rear panel, and a separate section to the bottom of the rear panel, which may be a reengineered antenna hub.
The screen also seems to carry forward the narrow bezel design statement that Sony has implemented with the Xperia XA and Xperia XA Ultra. The front panel has a more typically Sony look to it, with the NFC tag now shifted to the front of the device, as Sony has done with its X lineup of devices. While the design is not radically different, it holds on to the basic principles of Sony’s designing cues while attempting a fresh redesign of its flagship device. In February 2016, Sony launched its Xperia X lineup of devices, with the X Performance flaunting complete glass-and-metal construction with a seamless build. With this new design, Sony may be looking to further refine the design of its flagship smartphone to improve on ergonomics and other aspects (aesthetics, if you may).
About a week ago, a screenshot of the Sony Xperia F8331’s GFXBench information turned up on the Internet. The device reportedly features a 5.1-inch display with resolution of 1080×1920 pixels, alongside being powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 SoC, 3GB of RAM, 32GB internal storage, and Android Marshmallow v6.0.1. The next Xperia flagship will also reportedly feature a 21-megapixel rear camera, a 12-megapixel front camera, and both the cameras will be able to record 4K videos.
The latest photographs of the device, coupled with the leaked benchmark specifications, make us believe that it may be launched soon. Sony has always excelled at designing good smartphones, along with optimising the performance with available resources to present a fluid user experience. The Xperia X Performance was not launched in India, leaving the Xperia X to lead Sony’s lineup in India.
Let’s hope the new flagship will be launched in India. After all, Sony has always excelled at making phones with sublime end-user experience.