Sony teases a new Xperia reveal on August 3rd, looks to debut new camera sensor

Sony has used the same, albeit impressive, 21MP camera sensor in its last four flagship Xperia Z devices, and while not many other devices in the market can boast such performance, it’s probably time for a change. To that end, Sony has started teasing a new Xperia device today, posting a rather abstract photo on their Twitter page with the caption “Focus closely now, a new way to capture split-second photos is coming,” and says that the announcement will be made on August 3rd. We’re assuming that’s a not-so-subtle way to suggest that Sony will be announcing a new Xperia device that has this new formidable camera sensor, alleged to be the Sony Exmor RS IMX230 sensor.

Focus closely now, a new way to capture split-second photos is coming. 03.08.15 #Xperia pic.twitter.com/VVE21DKLyk

— Sony Xperia (@sonyxperia) July 30, 2015

Based on prior rumours, we’re not sure that this Xperia device is going to be the Xperia Z5 – Sony typically saves its big announcements for IFA in September. There’s also the possibility the device could be the Xperia C5 Ultra, but frankly with Samsung announcing its device early this year, it’s possible anything could happen with Sony on August 3rd – we’re up for being surprised.

What device do you think Sony will launch on August 3rd?

Source: Twitter via XperiaBlog

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Sony Q1 profits surge, despite making a loss on smartphones

Sony has just released its financial results for Q1 2015, which has seen the company’s profit jump by a huge 39 percent compared with the previous year. However, Sony’s mobile division fared less well, with sales falling by 16 percent year-on-year.

Starting with the good news, overall quarterly revenue reached $14.5 billion, remaining virtually unchanged from the year before at only -0.1 percent. Thanks to the company’s major restructuring program, this resulted in a 39 percent increase in profits, up to $780 million for the quarter.

That isn’t so say that all of the company’s divisions all performed equally or remained stagnant over the past year though. The majority of Sony’s additional revenue came from its growing music and gaming divisions, which saw income jump by 173 and 350 percent respectively.

Sony’s image sensor business was also another big winner, with income reaching $244 million, up a huge 164 percent year over year. Sony has seen increasing demand for its high-quality image sensors not only for use in flagship smartphones, but also from lower-cost Chinese brands looking to one-up their competitors. Increasing demand for high quality front cameras for smartphones is also boosting revenue.

Sony’s mobile division is a different matter though. Sales slumped by 16 percent YoY, resulting in a net loss of $184 million, an even greater loss than the company’s movie business. Sony suggests that the decline comes as a result of trying to improve profitability rather than pursuing scale, but I have a suspicion that it’s more to do with the company’s product line-up.

The new Xperia Z3+ flagship, or Z4 if you prefer, is another minor upgrade to the Xperia Z range, which probably leaves the average consumer scratching their head as to what’s changed. The company has also been caught out at the low and mid tiers of the market, where hardware specifications and price points have become substantially more competitive in the past twelve months or so. New releases like the Xperia M4 Aqua just don’t offer the same value for money as Sony’s competitors.

The Xperia Z3+ may be a fine phone, but is it a worthwhile upgrade over the Z3 or even the Z2?

Sony now expects that its full-year loss for the mobile division will reach a substantial 60 billion yen ($480 million), which is worse than the 39 billion yen ($310 million) loss that it anticipated back in April.

It seems clear that Sony needs to overhaul its smartphone strategy if it hopes to return the division to a profit. Perhaps the future is in flying drones or resorting to a more stock-like Android experience?

Sony teases new phone to launch on August 3rd

Sony has just released a teaser hinting that a new smartphone will be heading our way on August 3^rd. Playing to one of Sony’s strengths, it seems that the phone will feature some new high-end camera technology, which is capable of capturing split-second photos.

We are quite possibly looking at the first Sony smartphone to make use of the company’s high-end Exmor RS IMX230 image sensor. The IMX230 was announced last November and features the same 21 megapixel resolution as Sony’s other high resolution mobile sensors.

The major new feature is the inclusion of 192 point phase detection autofocus (PDAF), which can track objects with high accuracy for fast and accurate focusing. The sensor is also capable of capturing 30fps 4K footage and 120fps slow motion video at 720p. Some of this may have something to do with the teaser’s wording?

Focus closely now, a new way to capture split-second photos is coming. 03.08.15 #Xperia pic.twitter.com/VVE21DKLyk

— Sony Xperia (@sonyxperia) July 30, 2015

Unlike laser autofocus technology that relies on additional hardware, PDAF uses a number of pixels embedded into the image sensor to detect the phase of light reaching the sensor, from which it can calculate the distance to an object. PDAF isn’t entirely new to smartphones, but the IMX230 could be best mobile implementation of the technology to date.

This new Sony handset wouldn’t be the first smartphone on the market to use this sensor though. The component has already found its way into a few flagship smartphones this year, including the Huawei Honor 7 and the new Moto X Style and Play handsets. The Xperia Z3 and Z3+ used Sony’s older IMX220. Sony also has a 16MP version, the IMX234, which was used in the LG G4’s camera.

Anyway, we should probably wait for the official announcement before getting anymore ahead of ourselves. We don’t have any other clues about the smartphone yet. Fortunately, August 3^rd isn’t far away.