Sony Mobile has announced that unlocked versions of two of its latest smartphones, the Xperia X Compact and Xperia XZ, will be available for purchase in the United States in the coming weeks. While the former is slated to go on sale from the 25th of this month, the latter will be available from October 2nd. The devices will be available from a number of online and offline retailers, including Amazon and Best Buy. On the pricing front, the Xperia X Compact will sport an MSRP of $499.99, while the flagship Xperia XZ will come with a more exorbitant $699.99 price-tag. While the Xperia XZ will be available in Forest Blue, Mineral Black and Platinum, the Xperia X Compact will come in Mist Blue, Universe Black and White.
The two devices were announced earlier this month at the IFA trade show in Berlin by Sony as part of its 2016 Xperia X lineup. While the Xperia XZ replaces the original Xperia X Performance as the all-new flagship smartphone from the Japanese consumer electronics giant, the Xperia X Compact is the company’s new premium mid-ranger whose claim to fame is the rather more ‘compact’ form-factor because of its 4.6-inch display panel. Both the phones feature aluminum unibody design and come with the same 23-megapixel IMX300 sensor with triple image sensing technology. However, the Xperia X Compact does not have 4K capabilities and the front-facing selfie-cam is actually only a 5-megapixel shooter instead of the 13-megapixel unit found on the flagship Xperia XZ.
Taking a look at the hardware specs of the two new Sony devices, the Xperia XZ features a 5.2-inch 1080p display panel protected by Corning’s Gorilla Glass 4 and is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chip. It comes with 3GB of RAM and either 32GB or 64GB of internal storage with support for microSD cards of up to 256GB in capacity. The Xperia X Compact, meanwhile, features a smaller 4.6-inch 720p display panel protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 4. It’s powered by the more humble Snapdragon 650 from Qualcomm, and comes with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. Much like its more premium stablemate, it also supports microSD cards of up to 256GB.