Sony took everybody by surprise as it unveiled new handsets at Mobile World Congress 2016 under the Xperia X series. In the weeks leading up to the event, it was rumored that Sony would introduce Xperia Z6 at MWC 2016 but that didn’t happen. The company didn’t announce a new Xperia Z series device and a post on one of its regional Facebook pages made it seem that Xperia Z had been sidelined for Xperia X. Sony has confirmed that this is indeed the case.
There was a bit of confusion initially as the official Sony Xperia News account seemed to suggest that the Z series would continue, while adding that the Xperia X series was introduced to add on “intelligence.”
Sony has now provided a statement which confirms that Xperia X is now the new flagship instead of the Xperia Z. Here’s what Sony said about this change:
“The Xperia Z line has reached its culmination – Xperia X series represents a new chapter and evolution of our product strategy. Whilst the Xperia Z series was all about bringing the best of Sony’s advanced technologies to smartphones, Xperia X series is based on bringing smart, adaptive Sony user experiences across camera, battery performance and hardware / software design.”
It remains to be seen whether or not customers think the new Xperia X handsets are a worthy successor to the Xperia Z lineup, but at least we know now for sure that future high-end handsets will be touting the Xperia X branding.
Filed in . Read more about MWC, MWC 2016, Sony and XPERIA Z.