Two New Sony Xperia Smartphones to Launch in First Half of 2016?

Despite less than stellar sales, Sony Mobile had a busy 2015 during which they launched a handful of phones like the Xperia C5 Ultra, Xperia M5, and their flagship series, the Xperia Z5, Z5 Compact, and Z5 Premium. With mostly positive reviews for the Z5 series as well as their mid-range devices, we might not have to wait long to see how Sony follows its 2015 phones. Thanks to a slide during a recent T-Mobile Poland press conference, it’s looking like Sony will launch at least two new phones by Q2 2016. This roughly puts the phone sometime in the June and July timeframe which isn’t all that different from when the C5 Ultra & M5 was released.

T-Mobile Poland recently held a press conference and included one very interesting slide. It shows a plan of when new smartphones from Sony, Samsung, LG, Microsoft and HTC will launch during the first half of 2016.

The slide confirms that new Samsung Galaxy and Microsoft Lumia models will launch in the middle of Q1 2016, with a new HTC One model launching at the end of that quarter. LG will then launch new models at the start of Q2 2016, with finally Sony releasing two new Xperia devices at the end of that quarter i.e. not before June 2016.

Let’s talk more after the jump.

Between now and summer, Sony has quite a few events at which new phones could be unveiled. They include CES, which takes place in the first week of January, and Mobile World Congress in February. I’m skeptical that Sony will utilize either event to reveal their new devices for two reasons. Both shows take place long before the summer timeframe which Sony has used in the past to launch devices. I would highly doubt Sony would announce new phones and not ship them for another 4 to 5 months.

The other major hurdle Sony faces is competition. All your typical smartphone makers (excluding Apple) will attend both events where they’ll unveil new devices. Sony, lacking the clout of its competitors (though it’s not like HTC & LG are doing all that well these days), will likely opt to hold their own private event as opposed to being ‘another’ Android phone that gets launched during those shows. With a private event, Sony can ensure that they’re not fighting for attention and getting lost in the shuffle and better focus on getting their message out.