A new rumor has just surfaced, and it claims that Sony will introduce a new flagship at this year’s IFA tradeshow in Berlin. This handset will sport an almost bezel-less display it seems, it is actually expected to sport JDI’s recently-introduced 18:9 display. Now, this is a joint venture by Hitachi, Sony and Toshiba, so it would not exactly be a surprise if Sony opts to use that 6-inch, narrow panel in this upcoming smartphone. Now, judging by the display’s size, we’re looking at a phablet here, but considering how narrow its display will be, and how thin its bezels will allegedly be, the phone itself will not have a huge footprint.
Now, this mysterious new device is expected to become Sony’s second flagship for 2017, as the company had introduced the Sony Xperia XZ Premium back in February during the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona. Now, the source also provided an image of that goes along with this rumor, but this is not Sony’s upcoming phone, just a prototype shell which is showcasing JDI’s new display, that is the same image that was shared when JDI announced this display about a week ago. Now, considering the new aspect ratio for this device, and considerably thinner bezels, it will be interesting to see what will this phone look like. Sony has a particular design language we’re used to, but the company will have to change things up if they intend to make this phone a reality. The device will still be made out of metal and glass, most probably, and its fingerprint scanner will be placed on the back, under the display or on the side, which is not something new for Sony, some of their smartphones featured a side-facing fingerprint scanner, a fingerprint scanner which is implemented in the power / lock key.
So, what specs can we expect this phone to sport? Well, the source did not mention anything about its specs, aside from its display, so we can only guess at this point. The phone will, however, probably ship with the Snapdragon 835 64-bit octa-core processor, considering this will be the company’s new flagship. You can also expect to see 4GB or 6GB of RAM on the inside, and Android Nougat will come pre-installed on the phone with Sony’s custom UI on top of it.