While Sony didn't announce any smartphones at the recent CES 2016 conference, there is no reason to believe that the tech giant isn't working on a number of new Xperia handsets for this year. In fact, during
Sony's press event at the trade show, CEO Kazuo Hirai took special care to emphasize on how the company is still committed to introducing new, innovative technology to the market through products that bring value to the customer. While there was no special mention of smartphones in the speech, we couldn't help but feel like it was an oblique response to the Sony doomsayers that can be found on various tech blogs, social media, and message boards.
But on to the actual smartphone we want to talk about. A leak that can be traced as far as Chinese tech media IT168 shows us what appears to be a prototype for a metal-made smartphone with no side bezels and the signature Xperia omnibalance design – even the volume rocker is placed below the power key, like on the most recent
Xperia Z5 line. The leak claims that what we are looking at is the yet unannounced Sony Xperia C6.
The last Xperia C device was the Xperia C5 Ultra – a 6-inch phablet with
extremely slim side bezels. It would make sense if the C6 actually tops that with a display that curves over its sides and creates the bezel-less appearance. That aside, the C series is where Sony's “selfie” phones reside. The company was among the first major manufacturers to produce a smartphone with more focus on its front camera performance, catering to the self-snapping youth of the 21st century — that was the
Xperia C3, back in 2013. That aside, the handsets are usually equipped with midrange hardware and priced accordingly, so that the target audience of aspiring social media stars could see them as a viable purchase.
As far as hardware goes, here's what sources are saying – allegedly, Sony will limit the amount of Ultra models it produces this year, so the Xperia C6 may return to the 5.5-inch display diagonal that the C3 and
C4 had, instead of inheriting the C5 Ultra's gargantuan 6-inch screen. The leaksters say that the display will have a 1080 x 1920 resolution, which will give it a
pixel density of 424 PPI – more than enough for a perfectly crisp image. The processor humming underneath will reportedly be a MediaTek – the 64-bit, octa-core
Helio P10 (a.k.a. MT 6755). No word on how much RAM would be on board, but if we had to guess, we'd say 3 GB, seeing as that's slowly becoming the norm even for midrange smartphones.
And that's all we can tell you about this semi-mysterious handset at this time. The Xperia C5 Ultra was announced in August, 2015, so we'd normally expect a refresh of the line to come after a few months. But who knows, seeing as Sony loves to play around with
its smartphones' life cycles, we may just see this alleged Xperia C6 announced at this year's MWC, in February.
Sony Xperia C6
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