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The next 5G Sony Xperia flagship has leaked in full

By Joshua Swingle

Updated: Sep 04, 2020, 10:11 AM

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The next 5G Sony Xperia flagship has leaked in full

UPDATE: Evan Blass has published a marketing video and press renders of the black and gray Sony Xperia 5 II variants. The updated story continues below:

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The Xperia 5 was introduced at IFA 2019 and, with IFA 2020 only a week away, it turns out Sony is working on a second-generation model dubbed Xperia 5 II that has now been revealed in full by the king of leaks – Evan Blass.

The Xperia 5 II looks a lot like the Xperia 1 II

Like its predecessor, the Sony Xperia 5 II is inspired by its bigger sibling – the Xperia 1 II. Sony has fitted the smartphone with an extra-tall 21:9 display that measures in at 6.1-inches. But to keep things competitive, the refresh rate has been upgraded to 120Hz.

The side bezels are incredibly thin and Sony has maintained its trademark forehead and chin too. That all means there’s no need for a controversial notch or hole to house the single selfie camera and accompanying sensors.

Speaking of cameras, Sony has chosen a triple-camera system that has been developed in partnership with ZEISS Optics. The Xperia 5 borrowed its sensors from the Xperia 1 in 2019 and the Xperia 5 II is going to follow suit.

Customers can expect to find a 12-megapixel f/1.7 main camera on the phone coupled with a 12-megapixel 3x telephoto zoom shooter and a 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle snapper that supports a 124-degree field-of-view.

The Xperia 1 II features a 3D Time-of-Flight sensor as well, but the leaked press renders suggest Sony has axed that from the Xperia 5 II. Whether that’s due to a lack of functionality or cost-cutting is unclear, however.

Does it have dedicated camera and video buttons?

Sony smartphones have included dedicated shutter buttons for years, but the Xperia 5 II could take things a step further. The press render leaked by Blass reveals four buttons on the right side of the device.

The top one is understood to be the volume rocker and the black one below looks like a power key (which also doubles as a fingerprint scanner). There are then two mysterious buttons further down the side.

This is purely speculation at this stage because there is no concrete information, but perhaps Sony has fitted the Xperia 5 II with dedicated photo and video buttons. Pressing one could open the camera app to take photos, whereas the other could start filming a video.

These shutter buttons may also double as zoom buttons when pressed lightly, although that is again speculation.

Expect flagship specifications across the board

In regards to internals, Sony’s Xperia 5 II is reported powered by the high-end Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chipset paired with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. MicroSD card support is expected too.

Software-wise, Android 10 with Sony’s minimal UI customizations is presumably going to be pre-installed. But a swift update to Android 11 once made publicly available is extremely likely considering the company’s track record.

Completing the package are be stereo speakers and a 3.5mm headphone jack, the latter of which wasn’t present on the original Xperia 5. As for the battery, Sony has replace the 2019 Xperia 5's 3,140mAh cell with a much larger 4,000mAh battery.

Sony Xperia 5 II announcement, release date, price

Sony has confirmed plans to announce the Xperia 5 II at a standalone event on Thursday, September 17, and skip its annual IFA event in early September. Xperia flagships have a history of delayed launches, so the Xperia 5 II is probably not going to be available to purchase until the beginning of October at the earliest.

As for pricing, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Xperia 5 II retail at $999 in the United States, up from $799 last year. The Xperia 1 II, after all, costs a whopping $1,199.