For the past couple of years Sony was releasing a new flagship lineup every 6 months. While this started off as just one or two phones in each generation, last year’s Xperia Z5 touted three members of its family, all sporting different sizes but mostly the same specs outside of screen resolution. This year Sony has decided that 5 inches is the sweet spot for its smartphones, and is releasing another three devices at a time. The entry-level phone is the Xperia XA, the mid-range model is the Xperia X, which we’ve already reviewed, and lastly comes the real powerhouse of the group, the Xperia X Performance.
This week marked the written review of the Xperia X Performance, and while we were impressed in some ways, that price tag hurts the phone quite a bit overall. $700 flagship phones are beginning to fall to the wayside with such excellent phones as the OnePlus 3, Xiaomi’s lineup in China, and plenty of other players on the market driving the overall price of flagship models down. That doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of excellent points to the Xperia X Performance though, and ones that certainly will start with its performance. With a 1080p screen, this Snapdragon 820 powered phone flies through anything you can throw at it and more. 3GB of RAM helps the multi-tasking experience flawlessly switch between your recently opened apps, and that 23-megapixel camera on the back is basically as good as ever.
What’s more is that unlike the mid-range Xperia X, the Xperia X Performance is fully IP68 dust and water resistant, meaning you can take this one to your next beach trip or summer pool outing and not have to worry about it getting wet. Since it’s made of metal everywhere but the screen, the Xperia X Performance is likely to withstand quite a bit of abuse too, unlike some other glass smartphones out there. What did we think of the Xperia X Performance overall? Find out in the video below, and don’t forget to check out the written review if you’re looking for more of the nitty gritty details that you can’t find in our 9 minute review.