Knowing what we do about Sony and its love of releasing handfuls of new handsets every year, we were pretty confident the three Xperia phones it announced at CES 2018 were just the beginning.
And we were right. At MWC 2018, the Japanese giant took the covers off its latest high-end handsets – the Sony Xperia XZ2 and the Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact.
READ NEXT: MWC 2018 highlights
As the names suggest, the phones are from Sony’s XZ range and are successors to the XZ1.
Sony Xperia XZ release date and price
Both the Sony Xperia XZ and Xperia XZ Compact release dates have been set at 6 April 2018.
The Sony Xperia XZ2 price is set at £699 and the Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact will cost £549, SIM free. Pre-orders from certain mobile operators are now open – scroll down to Three and Carphone Warehouse – and we’ll update this page as more links go live.
Sony Xperia XZ deals
Three
Three UK opened pre-orders for the Sony Xperia XZ2 and Xperia XZ2 Compact on 16 March with an incredible deal. Anyone who orders the XZ2 range in silver and blue can choose between a free PlayStation 4, or PSVR Starter Kit (worth £349.99) plus a free 12-month PS Plus Membership, which normally costs £49.99 a year. Sony released this deal on the same day the Samsung Galaxy S9 deals went on sale, which is a timely coincidence we’re sure…
Pre-order the Xperia XZ2 from Three
Carphone Warehouse
Like with Three, the Sony Xperia XZ2 is now available for pre-order at Carphone Warehouse, with the same free PS4 deal, available in Liquid black, liquid Silver, blue and pink.
Pre-order the Xperia XZ2 from Carphone Warehouse
EE
EE will open pre-orders for the Xperia XZ2 on 22 March but if you pre-register your interest between 27 February and 21 March, EE will enter you in for a prize draw to win a trip to Japan, including a visit to Sony HQ.
O2
O2 will exclusively sell the “white” silver Xperia XZ2 Compact in the UK, alongside the black option, whilst the Xperia XZ2 will be available in black, liquid silver and blue. All handsets will be the O2 Refresh tariff, which comes with a cash payment if you decide to trade-in an old handset, up to £240.
Vodafone
Vodafone will also be stocking the Xperia XZ2 but has not revealed any more details.
Sony Xperia XZ2 specs
The Sony Xperia XZ2 has a 5.7in, 18:9 display with a resolution of 2,160 x 1,080, giving it a PPI of 423.
It is powered by a 2.8GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor and runs on 4GB of RAM. The standard model ships with 64GB of built-in storage but a microSD card means this can be expanded to 400GB and it has a 3,180mAh battery.
On the rear of the device is a 19-megapixel camera capable of 4K HDR video recording and capturing Full HD slow-mo footage at 960fps, while there is a 5MP camera on the front.
The Sony Xperia XZ2 comes in silver, black, pink and blue.
Read our Sony Xperia XZ2 hands-on review
Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact specs
Coming in at slightly smaller than the Xperia XZ is the 5in, 18:9 Xperia XZ Compact.
Elsewhere, though, the phones are almost identical. The Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact has the same FHD+ display (which actually gives the Compact a better PPI of 483), it’s powered by the same 2.8GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor, comes with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, expandable up to 400GB via microSD.
The cameras on the front and rear are the same on both handsets, and both will ship with Android Oreo.
The Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact also comes in silver, black, blue and pink, although in slight variations as the Xperia XZ2.
Read our Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact hands-on review
The Xperia XZ versus XA2
So how do these phones compare to the Xperia handsets from CES? Well, the Xperia XA2 and XA2 Ultra were apparently created “for those who are living online and are creating and consuming content on social media daily” so had impressive camera specs.
Namely 23-megapixel rear cameras with ISO 12800 sensitivity and 120° super-wide cameras on the front, for those important selfies.
The XA2 Ultra has a 6in screen (up from 5.5in on the standard XA2 and both have 1080p displays. Elsewhere, both use the Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 processor.
The Xperia L2 has a 5.5in display, is powered by the quad-core MediaTek MT6737T processor and backed by 3GB RAM, running Android Nougat, making it the budget handset in the collection.
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