The Sony Xperia XZ Premium will launch in the United Kingdom on May 22, according to British retailer Unlocked Mobiles. The company’s listing says that the release date has already been confirmed by Sony, though the Japanese consumer electronics manufacturer has yet to officially comment on the matter.
Technically the first Snapdragon 835-powered smartphone to be announced, the Sony Xperia XZ Premium will be sold for £645 ($830) in the UK, including value-added tax (VAT). As for the rest of Europe, pre-orders are expected to become available to customers as soon as next week. In addition to being the recipient of the “Best new smartphone or connected mobile device at MWC 2017” award, the Sony Xperia XZ Premium comes with some impressive specs and a premium design. The phone takes advantage of Sony’s trademark Omni-Balance design philosophy and is made mostly of aluminum. Sony has included 2.5D Gorilla Glass on the front and back and will be offering its latest flagship in two color options — Deepsea Black and Luminous Chrome — both of which will be available for purchase from Unlocked Mobiles, the company’s listing reveals.
The Sony Xperia XZ Premium’s main selling point is probably the 5.46-inch 4K LCD display (3840 x 2160 resolution) with HDR support. Sony’s Triluminous and X-Reality technologies are also integrated into the device with the goal of improving its image quality even further. As specified above, the Sony Xperia XZ Premium carries Qualcomm’s latest top-tier chipset, the Snapdragon 835, as well as 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage that can be expanded by up to 256GB via a microSD card slot. Furthermore, the handset features a main 19-megapixel Motion Eye camera and a secondary 13-megapixel snapper on the front. The product is touted as the world’s first phone to come equipped with Sony’s memory stacked Exmor RS sensor which is capable of recording FullHD video at 960fps. While the Sony Xperia XZ Premium is a very promising smartphone, it remains to be seen how well will it perform on the market due to its relatively high price tag. An update on the availability and commercial performance of Sony’s latest Android flagship will likely follow in the coming weeks.