Amidst the rumors that it could be killing off some of its smartphone lines, Sony just announced a new Xperia smartphone. The Xperia XA Ultra is being pushed as the "perfect nighttime selfie" phone with its 16-megapixel front-facing camera, low-light sensors, and optical image stabilization for blur-free shots.
The "selfie" appeal comes from the powerful front camera, but the rear camera is formidable as well at 21.5MP. The front camera also has a "gesture control" feature which lets you wave your hand in front of the lens to start a shutter timer. Aside from strong cameras, the Xperia XA Ultra is designed with a huge, 6-inch borderless screen and is supposed to last up to two days on a single charge. That's quite a claim since the handset only has a 2,700 mAh battery. A quick charger will be available for the handset, allowing it to get 5.5 hours of battery life with just 10 minutes of charging.
While Sony's previously announced Xperia X and X Performance tout top specs, the XA Ultra instead will impress with its cameras and large display. It's powered by an eight-core MediaTek MT6755 processor and comes with just 3GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage, which is expandable via microSD card to 200GB.
Sony certainly isn't the first to market a smartphone to selfie lovers. HTC did the same in the past with the 13MP Desire Eye. While a 16MP camera makes for much sharper, clearler images than the 5MP front-facing cameras on both the iPhone 6s and the Samsung Galaxy S7, every smartphone is a decent "selfie" device. The large size of the device will likely appeal to some customers as well, especially since a 6-inch display will let you view and edit those selfies much better than smaller handsets would.
The launch of the XA Ultra lends weight to the rumors that Sony is abandoning its C, M, and possibly its Z handset series to focus its mobile efforts solely on the X range. That's not to say that Sony won't make affordable and mid-range smartphones anymore—the company may still produce them but lump all of the models into the X series. Sony hasn't released pricing for the Xperia XA Ultra yet, but it will be available starting in July in select markets.
