Spurious rumours have been doing the rounds recently on when Sony Mobile might launch the Xperia Z5 including a list of quite fanciful specifications. Sony is expected to launch a new flagship in the second half of this year, but exactly when that might happen remains a mystery.
Sony traditionally announces H2 products in early September at the IFA tradeshow. However, given issues around the Snapdragon 810 chipset and that no real alternative will be ready by that date, Sony could opt for a later launch. Or Sony could still announce something new at IFA but see a retail launch months later, perhaps to coincide with the new James Bond film Spectre in early November.
The Sony Xperia Z5 may bring with it an entirely new design and that is what many loyal fans have been waiting for. Specs could include a QHD 2K display, new camera sensor (Exmor RS IMX230), higher 4GB RAM and potentially even some kind of fingerprint scanner.
What remains a big question mark for the Xperia Z5 is choice of chipset. Marketing wise, the use of the Snapdragon 810 chipset has been a disaster for Sony. We receive regular reports of people complaining about heat issues and its effect on battery life. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 chipset is not due to start shipping until later this year and we’re not sure if that’s a realistic timescale for it to hit the Xperia Z5.
A March 2016 Xperia launch for the SD820 seems more likely, probably to be found in the Xperia Z6. The Snapdragon 820 is critically important for Qualcomm, following the woes of the 810 chip. The Snapdragon 820 is the first to use the company’s custom 64-bit, ARMv8 “Kryo” CPU architecture and will apparently be manufactured using a 14nm process.
Anyway, what would you like to see in the next ‘true’ Xperia flagship. We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. Try to keep it realistic in terms of technology that is expected to be around towards the end of the year.
