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Sony Xperia XA2 and XA2 Ultra vs. Xperia XA1 and XA1 Ultra - what's new?

By Florin Troaca

Updated: Jan 24, 2018, 9:24 AM

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Android Sony

Sony Xperia XA2 and XA2 Ultra vs. Xperia XA1 and XA1 Ultra - what's new?

Earlier this week, at CES 2018, Sony unveiled two new mid-range Android Oreo smartphones that succeed the Xperia XA1 and XA1 Ultra of last year. Called Xperia XA2 and Xperia XA2 Ultra, the new handsets are already available to pre-order in the US, being offered unlocked for $349 and $449, respectively.

While Sony didn't drastically change the design of its new Xperia XA family, the XA2 and XA2 Ultra look better than their predecessors, thanks in no small part to their reduced top and bottom bezels. Another thing that's almost instantly noticeable on both handsets is the presence of fingerprint scanners on the back - that's a first for Sony smartphones.

The Xperia XA2 and XA2 Ultra use Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 processors instead of the MediaTek Helio P20 chipsets found inside last year's models. The Snapdragon 630 is more efficient than the Helio P20, while also representing an upgrade when it comes to gaming, thanks to its more powerful Adreno 508 GPU.

When talking about displays, the XA2 sees an important upgrade, as it sports a 5.2-inch 1080p screen that's obviously superior to the 5-inch 720p screen of the XA1. The XA2 Ultra comes with a 6-inch 1080p screen - similar to the XA1 Ultra. Both new phones pack considerably larger batteries - 3300 mAh (XA2) and 3580 mAh (XA2 Ultra). These should provide increased usage times over the 2300 mAh and 2700 mAh batteries of the XA1 and XA1 Ultra.

The Xperia XA2 and XA2 Ultra also feature enhanced cameras. Their rear cameras are similar, offering 23 MP, 1/2.3-inch Exmor RS sensors, 4K video recording, and 120 fps slow-motion recording. On the front, the XA2 has a wide-angle 8 MP camera, while the XA2 Ultra has a dual camera (16 MP with optical image stabilization + 8 MP wide-angle) with LED flash. No wonder Sony is presenting these as "selfie smartphones."

For a detailed specs comparison between Sony's Xperia XA2 and XA1 series, check out the tables below.


Sony Xperia XA2	Sony Xperia XA1

Design

Dimensions
5.59 x 2.76 x 0.38 inches 142 x 70 x 9.7 mm	5.71 x 2.64 x 0.31 inches 145 x 67 x 8 mm
Weight
6.03 oz (171.0 g)	5.04 oz (143.0 g)
Materials
Back: Plastic Frame: Aluminum
Biometrics
Fingerprint (touch)
Keys
Right: Volume control, Camera shutter, Lock/Unlock key	Right: Volume control, Lock/Unlock key
Colors
Black, Silver, Pink, Blue	Black, Gold, Pink, White

Display

Size
5.2-inch	5.0-inch
Resolution
1920x1080px, 16:9 ratio, 424 PPI	1280x720px, 16:9 ratio, 294 PPI
Technology
IPS LCD	IPS LCD
Screen-to-body
74.89 %	70.87 %
Colors
16 777 216
Peak brightness
500 cd/m2 (nit)
Features
Scratch-resistant glass (Corning Gorilla Glass 4), Ambient light sensor, Proximity sensor	Scratch-resistant glass, Ambient light sensor, Proximity sensor

Hardware

System chip
Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 SDM630 (14 nm)	MediaTek Helio P20 MT6757
Processor
Octa-core 2200 MHz ARM Cortex-A53	Octa-core 2300 MHz ARM Cortex-A53
GPU
Adreno 508	Mali-T880 MP2
RAM
3GB (LPDDR4)	3GB (LPDDR4)
Internal storage
32GB, available to use: 24 GB	32GB, available to use: 24 GB
Storage expansion
microSDXC up to 256 GB	microSDXC up to 256 GB
OS
Android (9.0 Pie, 8.0 Oreo)	Android (8.0 Oreo, 7.0 Nougat)

Battery

Capacity
3300 mAh	2300 mAh
Type
Li - Polymer	Li - Ion
Charging
Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0	MediaTek Pump Express

Camera

Rear
Single camera	Single camera
Main camera
23 MP (PDAF) Aperture size: F2.0 Focal length: 24 mm Sensor size: 1/2.3" Pixel size: 1.12 μm	23 MP (Laser and PDAF) Aperture size: F2.0 Focal length: 24 mm Sensor size: 1/2.3"
Flash
LED	LED
Video recording
3840x2160 (4K UHD) (30 fps), 1920x1080 (Full HD) (60 fps), 1280x720 (HD) (120 fps) HDR, EIS, Video calling, Video sharing	1920x1080 (Full HD) (30 fps) EIS, Video calling, Video sharing
Front
8 MP (Wide Angle), Video capture: 1920x1080 (Full HD)	8 MP (Autofocus), Video capture: 1920x1080 (Full HD)

Connectivity & Features

Bluetooth
5.0	4.2
WLAN
802.11 a,b,g,n,ac,dual-band Wi-Fi Direct, Hotspot	802.11 a,b,g,n,dual-band Wi-Fi Direct
USB
Type-C, USB 2.0	Type-C, USB 2.0
Location
GPS, A-GPS, Glonass	GPS, A-GPS, Glonass
Sensors
Accelerometer, Compass, Step detector, Step counter	Accelerometer, Hall (for flip covers)
Other
NFC, UMA (Wi-Fi Calling), VoIP, Tethering, Computer sync, OTA sync	NFC, Tethering, Computer sync, OTA sync

Multimedia

Headphones
3.5mm jack	3.5mm jack
Speakers
Earpiece, Loudspeaker	Earpiece, Loudspeaker
Features
aptX-HD	Album art cover, Background playback
Screen mirroring
Wireless screen share	Wireless screen share
Radio
FM	FM
Additional microphone(s)
Noise cancellation

Cellular

4G (FDD)
Bands 1(2100), 2(1900), 4(AWS-1), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 12(700 a), 13(700 c), 17(700 b), 25(1900+), 28(700 APT), 29(700 d), 66(AWS-3)	Bands 2(1900), 4(AWS-1), 5(850), 7(2600), 12(700 a), 13(700 c), 17(700 b), 28(700 APT), 29(700 d)
3G
Bands 5(850), 8(900), 4(1700/2100), 2(1900), 1(2100)	Bands 5(850), 8(900), 4(1700/2100), 2(1900), 1(2100)
Data Speed
LTE-A Cat 12/13 (600/150 Mbit/s), HSDPA+ (4G) 42.2 Mbit/s, HSUPA 5.76 Mbit/s	LTE-A Cat 6 (300/50 Mbit/s), HSDPA+ (4G) 42.2 Mbit/s, HSUPA 5.76 Mbit/s, UMTS
SIM type
Nano SIM	Nano SIM

Phone Features

Notifications
Haptic feedback, Music ringtones, Flight mode, Silent mode, Speakerphone
Other features
Voice dialing, Voice commands, Voice recording, TTY/TDD

Regulatory Approval

FCC approval
Date approved: Nov 19, 2018 FCC ID value: PY7-57442Z	Date approved: Aug 16, 2017 FCC ID value: PY7-98591H
Measured SAR
Head: 0.81 W/kg Body: 1.07 W/kg Simultaneous Transmission: 1.54 W/kg Wireless Router: 1.14 W/kg	Head: 0.55 W/kg Body: 1.10 W/kg Simultaneous Transmission: 1.59 W/kg Wireless Router: 1.39 W/kg

Buyers information

MSRP
	$ 299
In The Box
Charger, USB Type-C cable for charging and user documentation	Charger, microUSB cable and user documentation

Availability

Officially announced
Jan 08, 2018	Feb 27, 2017

See the full Sony Xperia XA2 vs Sony Xperia XA1 specs comparison or compare them to other phones using our Phone Comparison tool


Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra	Sony Xperia XA1 Ultra