At the ongoing smartphone grandeur, Japanese manufacturer Sony announced Xperia XA1 and Xperia XA1 Ultra targeting the mid-budget market. The phones have been released as successors to the previous Xperia XA lineup that were first released in 2016. Sony which was unable to boost sales via recent launches has now placed its bet on the Xperia XA1 and Xperia XA1 Ultra along with Sony Xperia XZ Premium.
Talking about the displays, while the Xperia XA1 has a 5-inch screen, Xperia XA1 Ultra boasts of a big 6-inch screen. Though these offer edge-to-edge display, they lack bezel-less efficiency. As for design aesthetics, both the phones sport a slim case and a display curved at the edges, which was lacking in the previous version of the devices.
Sony Xperia XA1
The device runs on a MediaTek Helio P20 octa-core processor supported by 3GB of RAM and 32GB of onboard storage. The storage is expandable up to 256GB with a microSD card slot. The smartphone is equipped with a long-lasting 2300mAh battery.
Further, Sony is kicking off 2017 on the back of their camera prowess for the latest phones. Xperia XA1 features a 23MP rear camera with an ISO6400 sensor for low-light photography, a 24mm wide-angle F2.0 lens and more. Earlier version Xperia XA only offered a standard 13 MP camera. The phone also has an 8MP front-facing camera for perfect selfies and video calling assistance.
The phone will go on sale in late April or early May in the U.S for the price of $299.99. It will also be available on online marketplaces such as Best Buy, Amazon, B&H Photo and others.
Sony Xperia XA1 Ultra
Sony Xperia XA1 Ultra runs on a similar processor MediaTek Helio P20 octa-core processor, though offers a larger 4GB of RAM. The device comes in two variants — 32GB and 64GB of storage. Both the variants will be capable of having 256GB of additional storage (via microSD card slot). Apart from enhanced storage, the phone also beats XA1 in the battery department by sporting a 2700mAh battery.
The Xperia XA1 Ultra will have the same 23MP rear camera as that of the smaller Xperia XA1 but the Ultra model presents a huge shift with its 16MP front-facing camera. Here, the camera also incorporates better features such as Optical Image Stabilization (OIS), front-facing LED flash and an ISO6400 sensor for low-light photography. The price tag for the device is yet to detailed but it is expected to be released in the market by late spring 2017.
Both the devices will be released with Android 7.0 Nougat support and offer related connectivity features including LTE (4G), LTE Cat6/4, GSM GPRS/EDGE (2G), UMTS HSPA+ (3G). The color palette for the devices also remains the same offering four variants — White, Black, Pink, and Gold.
