Earlier this year, Sony announced its first 5G smartphones in the form of the Xperia 1 II and Xperia Pro. Both devices came with the Snapdragon 865, a platform that requires a 5G modem. Along with flagships with 5G support, the Japanese company presented the Xperia 10 II – a mid-range smartphone. It came with the less attractive Snapdragon 665 SoC. Since then, 5G has become quite popular among an increasing number of mid-range phones that support fifth-generation networks. Sony seems to be aware of this demand and will release a mid-range 5G phone next year, dubbed the Xperia 10 III.
The Xperia 10 II Plus has been canceled and was reportedly supposed to come with the Snapdragon 720G SoC. Sony seems to have ditched the phone in favor of a mid-range phone with 5G connectivity. According to Twitter leaker NodSikharulidze, Sony is working on two 5G phones. One of them is a flagship with a Snapdragon 875 processor, presumably the Sony Xperia 1 III, and another with a Snapdragon 690 chipset, the Xperia 10 III.
For those who don't know, the Snapdragon 690 5G is an octa-core chipset with support for fifth generation networks. The chipset is the first SoC with 5G support in the SD6xx family. This is a powerful Octa-Core chipset, which is slightly inferior to the SD7xx series in terms of performance. Apart from the new mid-ranger, the new flagship may come with a Quad-Camera setup with its smartphone.
Apart from the new Xperia phones, a Twitter user previously claimed that the company is also working on a budget device with the Helio P35 chipset. This isn't a new chipset, so we don't expect Sony to invest heavily in marketing this device. The new smartphone may appear on the shelves as the Xperia L5.
The Xperia 1 III, Xperia 10 III and L5 are expected to arrive in the first half of 2021. In the second half, Sony may introduce the flagship device Xperia 5 III. The Xperia 5 II was introduced a couple of months ago with a 6,1-inch OLED display with a FHD + resolution of 120 Hz, a Snapdragon 865 processor, 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage. The phone has a 12MP triple camera, an 8MP front-facing camera, a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, and a 4000mAh battery with 21W fast charging support.
Sony has been struggling to keep its smartphone business alive. Apparently, they will be alive next year as well. We believe that there is a certain niche of users who buy Sony phones.
