Sony Xperia C5 Ultra, Xperia M5 Selfie-Focused Smartphones Launched

Both the Sony Xperia C5 Ultra and Sony Xperia M5 (alongside Xperia C5 Ultra Dual and Xperia M5 Dual) will be available in select countries across emerging markets starting mid-August. Sony is likely to reveal the pricing of both the handsets at launch locally. The single-SIM and dual-SIM variants are identical in terms of specifications, with the exception of the latter sporting two SIM card slots.

Much like Sony's Xperia C3 selfie-focused smartphone, the newly announced Xperia C5 Ultra is also targeted at selfie lovers and sports 13-megapixel front and rear cameras. Both the front and rear cameras are accompanied by LED flash modules and include Sony's Exmor RS sensor. Some of the camera tools on the Xperia C5 Ultra include video stabiliser, auto scene recognition, 25mm wide-angle lens (rear) with an 80-degree field of view, 4x digital zoom, full-HD video recording, image stabiliser, geotagging, and red-eye reduction among others.

The smartphone features a 6-inch full-HD (1080x1920 pixels) IPS display powered by Sony's Mobile Bravia Engine 2. The company touts that the handset sports a "near borderless" display.

The Android 5.0 Lollipop-based Xperia C5 Ultra is powered by a 64-bit octa-core MediaTek (MT6752) processor clocked at 1.7GHz coupled with ARM Mali760 GPU and 2GB of RAM. The handset packs 16GB of inbuilt storage which can be expanded further via microSD card (up to 200GB). Unlike Sony's other mid-range and premium smartphones, the Xperia C5 Ultra doesn't sport water and dust protection. Connectivity options on the handset include GPRS/ EDGE, GPS/ A-GPS, NFC, Glonass, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Micro-USB, 3G, and 4G LTE (not available in all markets). It packs a 2930mAh battery; measures 164.2x79.6x8.2mm and weighs 187 grams.

The Sony Xperia M5, on the other hand, is touted to be a mid-range "waterproof Android smartphone." It features IP65 and IP68 certification making the handset water and dust proof. Much like Sony's flagship smartphones, the Xperia M5 also features a cap-less USB port.

Much like the Xperia C5 Ultra, the Xperia M5 also features a 13-megapixel front-facing camera with Sony's Exmor RS sensor. The smartphone sports a 21.5-megapixel rear camera with what Sony calls "Hybrid autofocus" and a f/2.2 lens. The rear camera offers 5x image zoom, 4K video recording, auto scene recognition, image stabiliser, and geotagging among other features. It features a 5-inch full-HD (1080x1920 pixels) display.

The Sony Xperia M5 is powered by a 64-bit octa-core MediaTek Helio X10 (MT6795) processor clocked at 2GHz with 3GB of RAM. It features 16GB internal storage which can be expanded via microSD card (up to 200GB).

The Android 5.0 Lollipop-based Xperia M5 supports GPRS/ EDGE, 3G, and 4G (not available in all markets) connectivity options. The smartphone packs a 2600mAh battery.

Commenting on the launch, Tony McNulty, Vice-President, Value Category Business Management at Sony Mobile Communications said, "We are pleased to present two new products that highlight Sony's advances in camera technology. We understand that camera capabilities are important to smartphone users, so we ensured that Sony's existing camera brilliance was once again surpassed in the new Xperia C5 Ultra and Xperia M5 without compromising on other features across design and performance."