Is a 4K display heading to the Xperia Z5 Plus? The UAProf says it is

Sony Mobile may be among the first manufacturers to release a smartphone with a 4K UHD (Ultra HD) display later in the year. The Sony E68XX (E6833, E6853 E6883) is expected to be the larger phablet version of Sony’s H2 flagship and could be called the Xperia Z5+.

That much is known, but now the UAProf (user-agent profile) for all variants have appeared which suggest the handset may have a whopping 2160 x 3840 resolution display. The UAprof also suggests the handset will run the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 (MSM8944) chipset, in line with what is expected for the Xperia Z5 and Z5 Compact.

What remains to be seen is the display size, which is likely to be 5.5-inches or larger. If it is 5.5-inches, it means the Xperia Z5+ would have a crazy 801 PPI pixel density. Whilst the Snapdragon 810 chipset would be able to handle that resolution, we wonder what effect pushing that many pixels would have on performance and battery life.

So far Sony has stuck to FHD (1080p) resolution when it comes to its devices, apart from a couple of models including the Xperia Z4 Tablet, which has a WQXGA resolution (2560 x 1600) display, and the upcoming Verizon Xperia Z4v with a WQHD resolution (1440 x 2560 display.

Moving to a 4K resolution smartphone display in 2015 might sound like fantasy, but Sony has the scale to make it happen. However, the benefits of using such a display in such a small device remain to be outlined.