Sony Teases New Smartphones for MWC 2018 Launch

Days ahead of Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2018, Sony has released a teaser video from the official Xperia account to suggest its arrival at the forthcoming convention with a new smartphone model. The teaser video has confirmed that Sony will launch the new model on February 26 - just a day after Samsung will unveil the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ and HMD Global will showcase new Nokia smartphones. Some initial reports already claimed that the Japanese company will bring its new Xperia flagship, likely to be called the Xperia XZ2, as well as an Xperia XZ1 Compact successor at the MWC.

The teaser video, which has been released through the Sony Xperia Twitter account, doesn't reveal any specific details about the upcoming launch. However, it gives hints about what's in the pipeline in a short time of merely 23 seconds. The mysterious video shows a hand that is receiving some ripples cascading down onto it from the top. This might be a hint about the new design language or pointing towards a new form of haptic feedback that could enable an interface sans any physical buttons on the new Sony smartphone. Apple already showed how this could happen by enabling a touch-supported Touch ID home button on the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus in 2016.

If we focus mainly on the curved design of the ripples, the video might be referring to a 2.5D curved glass panel that could cover the front and back of the new Xperia handset, similar to what we've seen on the iPhone X and Samsung Galaxy S8 in the past. There also might be a flexible display panel that could be wrapped around the edges of the new launch to give premium looks - just like the Galaxy S7 Edge and BlackBerry Priv. Alternatively, the ripples could be a hint at an enhanced sound experience that could be inspired by Sony's Bravia TV models.

As per some recent rumours, Sony is preparing its new flagship smartphone that will come with an 18:9 aspect ratio-featuring 5.7-inch OLED display, Snapdragon 845 SoC, coupled with a minimum RAM capacity of 6GB, 18-megapixel primary camera sensor, 13-megapixel front camera sensor, and 128GB of onboard storage. The handset is also expected to come in an IP68-certified build with water and dust resistance. The flagship was previously rumoured as the Xperia XZ Pro, though it was recently tipped as the Xperia XZ2.

Sony is also in the news nowadays for building the successor of its Xperia XZ1 Compact that could be launched as the Xperia XZ2 Compact. The smartphone is reported to have an 18:9 aspect ratio and might come with a near-5-inch display.

Moreover, we could expect the launch of the Xperia XZ1 Premium, Xperia XZ1 Plus, and Xperia XZ1S at the MWC. Formal details about the new arrivals will emerge on February 26, though.

We spoke about all the big launches expected at MWC 2018 on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.