Sony will not be relaunching its Concept program for other Android-powered Xperia devices, a representative of the Japanese consumer electronics manufacturer confirmed on Friday. Following the company’s Wednesday announcement that it’s discontinuing the Concept program for the Xperia X, some users were speculating that the Tokyo-based tech giant might be looking to reintroduce a similar experimental platform for other devices in the future, but that notion has now been dispelled as Sony Mobile’s Jens Gulin took to the company’s InTouch forums to clarify that there are currently no plans for such an initiative.
The confusion was likely caused by the awkward wording of Sony’s original announcement that said the InTouch forums that were originally launched for the Xperia X Concept program will remain operational, but the company will also be looking to establish a similar community for the Xperia XZ Premium once its next Android flagship hits the market later this year. Some users took this to mean that Sony is planning to create a new community centered around Concept updates for the Xperia XZ Premium, which is why the company decided to clarify on the matter. As things stand right now, the upcoming community for owners of the Xperia XZ Premium will likely be just an official forum where Sony’s customers will be able to get in touch with the company’s representatives and each other.
Due to this state of affairs, Sony’s Concept program is now scheduled to end next week once the Japanese phone maker pushes out the last experimental update for the Xperia X. There’s currently no word on when exactly the software package will hit the Experimental track, but more details on the matter will be available shortly. Regarding the firm’s upcoming flagship, the Xperia XZ Premium will start hitting select markets in the first week of June, though the smartphone still doesn’t have a firm release date attached to it. Even though Sony previously said it’s looking to evolve its smartphone business and combine it with other technologies including virtual reality (VR) solutions, the Tokyo-based consumer electronics manufacturer will still keep releasing traditional flagship devices for the time being, though it remains to be seen how well they’ll perform in the market.