Somewhat surprisingly, Sony Mobile may be shortly looking to launch new flagship entries to the Xperia range according to a report from WinFuture.de. The report claims that two new models (Xperia S60 and Xperia S70) are tipped to launch prior to the IFA tradeshow, which takes place in Berlin from 4-9 September 2015.
There was a feeling that Sony would not release its H2 flagship until later in the year, especially if it was moving to a new chipset (Qualcomm Snapdragon 820?) If the above timing is true, then there is a strong likelihood that Sony will continue to use the Snapdragon 810 for its new Xperia devices.
Little details are known about the new models, but the above report points to these devices having 32GB of internal storage, highlighting that they are likely to be premium models. WinFuture.de says the devices could launch as early as mid-August 2015. In terms of price point, the Xperia S60 will be broadly similar to the Xperia Z3+ (€699), whilst the Xperia S70 will be more expensive, closer to the €800 mark.
Xperia Blog’s take
We can confirm that the Sony Xperia S60 and S70 codenames are real, according to multiple sources of ours. In addition, other codenames for this series include the S50 and S70+. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that we are probably looking at a normal flagship, a compact version and larger phablet version.
What is not clear to us, is what the S50, S60, S70, S70+ codenames refer to. We find it hard to believe that these are new marketing names that Sony will use, after all, the Xperia Z series has built up a lot of brand recognition.
Could these be new model numbers from Sony, trying to simplify things? It could be, but up until now the other model numbers are still in use. We count at least five model numbers that may launch this year:
Sony E5503, E5563 [Lavender]
Sony E5663
Sony E5803
Sony E6683
Sony E6833, E6883
For those thinking that the new codenames may signal a design refresh this year, don’t get your hopes up. Separate sources have confirmed to us that H2 flagships will be very similar to the Xperia Z3+/Z4 in terms of design language. We guess Sony is readying its new Xperia design for a 2016 launch.
