Sony is hard at work on new entries to its Xperia XA range. Ahead of the launch of the new handsets, a slick new concept video has unveiled a closer look at what the next-generation smartphones could have in-store for us.
The new Xperia devices, tipped to follow up on the Xperia XA2 mid-range offering launched at CES this year, will purportedly boast ultra-thin bezels, a rear-mounted dual-camera system, and a 3.5mm headphone port.
The video of the Xperia XA3 and XA3 Ultra, courtesy of Concept Creator, is based on the latest leaks and renders of the new handsets. According to the renders, one of the biggest changes to hit the mid-range Xperia line-up will be the 18:9 display.
This new aspect ratio allows Sony to stretch the 1080p HD display to the very edges of the phone – minimising those pesky bezels around the screen.
This design is something we've already seen from Sony in the Xperia XZ2 and XZ3.
Flip over the Xperia XA3 and XA3 Ultra and it appears Sony plans to kit-out its newest mid-range handsets with a dual-camera system, with horizontally-aligned lens, like the LG V30 instead of the stacked design seen in the iPhone XS.
Watch the full Sony Xperia XA3 video in full:
While the exact specifications aren't yet known, we expect the cameras to be fairly well-endowed – as the single rear-mounted shooter on the XA2 clocked-in at 23MP. Like other dual-camera handsets from Sony, expect the dual camera to be used to add an artificial bokeh blur effect to the background of your portrait photographs.
The new Xperia XA handsets will be going head-to-head with the latest mid-range offering from Samsung, which bundles four (yes, you did read that right) separate camera lens on the back of the handset.
The quadruple-camera totting Galaxy A9 can not only manage bokeh shots, but is also capable of 2x optical zoom and wide-angle images, too. Whether this hurts the comparatively modest dual-camera Xperia remains to be seen.
Like the Xperia XZ2 Premium before it, expect the dual-cameras on Sony's upcoming XA3 to add an artificial bokeh blur to the background of your portrait shots
Elsewhere, it looks like the Xperia XA3 and XA3 Ultra will ship with a 3.5mm headphone port on the top of the phone, and a side-mounted fingerprint sensor.
Powering the mid-range handsets is widely-tipped to be a SnapDragon 660 chipset, coupled with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of in-built internal storage.
The Sony Xperia XA3 series is expected to be unveiled during a press conference at CES 2019 in January. Expect more details ahead of the launch date.
