We’ve covered the Sony Xperia E4 in almost an exhausting nature. After the initial announcement, we dissected the entry smartphone’s specs and showed off the phone via a video highlight video. Though the specs certainly fit the bill for an budget-friendly Android smartphone, albeit with impressive specs, the big unknown has been the price. All the specs in the world won’t mean much if the phone is priced above the market it’s trying to reach, which makes todays news that much more impressive. So let’s talk about price after the jump.

Entry level phones are a tricky category to nail. For that reason, giants like Apple have decided to stay out of that market which might be smart. While there is a lot of upside for market share, profits and competition are cutthroat. Sony and Samsung have both operated in this space for some time with the latter at least holding some market share. Sony, on the other hand, has had trouble gaining any meaningful market share and their slowing sales figures in mobile show that. With the Xperia E4, the battered giant hopes to change. As I mentioned, the Xperia E4 already has an impressive spec sheet attached to it but all that is meaningless if its target audience cannot afford it.

While still unofficial at this point, it’s believed that the Sony Xperia E4 will launch in UK with a £99 price tag. For those playing at home, that’s about €135 or $154, making it a fairly affordable unit. It’s hard to see Sony making much profit off each unit but that might not be the ultimate game plan. Instead, Sony might be after the elusive market share they’ve been striving for. If successful, an increased market share can help Sony achieve an increased market awareness which could turn people towards their higher end fleet like the Xperia Z line which also commands more profits per unit. Sony should be announcing an official price for the Xperia E4 in the next week.

Discuss:

What do you think about the £99 price tag for the Xperia E4?

[Via Clove]