The Managing Director of Sony India has confirmed that Sony’s next-gen smartphones will sport a completely different design compared to the company’s current-gen models. Kenichiro Hibi revealed as much during an interview with The Indian Express, Mr. Hibi said that the company has been utilizing the ‘OmniBalance’ design, as Sony calls it, for quite some time now, and it will remain doing so as long as the Xperia X-series of devices remain available in the market. In addition to that, however, Mr. Hibi said that the company is planning to launch a new generation of smartphones which will sport a completely new design.
As you can see, Sony India’s Managing Director did not exactly say that Sony will be ditching the omnibalance design, or anything of the sort, but we definitely can expect Sony-branded smartphones with a completely new design next year. Now, as already mentioned, Mr. Hibi did not mention that Sony plans to ditch the OmniBalance design, but it could happen, at least according to some rumors that surfaced recently. Sony will, allegedly, use the ‘Mirai’ name for this new design language that the company is planning to implement. Now, if rumors are to be believed, a smartphone featuring this new design will be unveiled during the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona next year, which also suggests that the company’s next flagship will sport this new design. At the moment, we do not have more details to share as what will define this new design, but if we had to guess, we’d say that we’ll get far less bezel, as Sony’s OmniBalance design might be unique and everything, but the company’s devices pack a ton of bezels, which goes against the current trend of ‘bezel-less’ smartphones.
The Sony Xperia XZ1 is the company’s latest flagship smartphone, and it was announced last month. The Xperia XZ1, sports the OmniBalance design, of course, and despite that, it’s rather compact, mainly thanks to the 5.2-inch display that it’s packing. Still, this phone is almost as wide as the OnePlus 5 which sports a 5.5-inch display, and the OnePlus 5 actually comes with a regular 5.5-inch panel which sports a 16:9 aspect ratio. The Xperia XZ1 is just as wide or wider than some smartphones which come with larger displays and an 18:9 aspect ratio, so Sony might even change the aspect ratio of its next-gen flagship as well, but that’s only speculation, Mr. Hibi did not comment display ratios or anything of the sort.