On the heels of learning when the two new smartphones from Sony would launch, I’ve now learned about their pricing. According to Amazon UK, the new phones will be priced as such:

• Xperia X – £549
• Xperia XA – £279

Starting with the latter of the two phones, the pricing makes sense. This roughly puts the Xperia XA, a high-end mid-range phone at a $299 – which if ever released in the US would be $100 cheaper than the recently launched iPhone SE. While the price range does put the Xperia XA in a hyper competitive field, it allows Sony to be more in range with its competitors and the eventual price drop, and more near term promotions will make the phone accessible to a far wider demographic.

If Sony can market the Xperia XA and allow the phone to be widely available, they should be able to achieve a level of success (read: volume) they haven’t attained in some time. However, with the Xperia X, things get a bit more tricky. More on that after the jump.

While nothing new for a great many of you, the biggest issue with the Xperia X currently is its pricing. Now it’s worth noting that Amazon could have things wrong but if true, £549 (roughly $599) puts the Xperia X in iPhone 6s territory, otherwise known as flagship status. Now I don’t tend to think Sony is competing with Apple when it comes to phone sales but even when compared to its peers, Sony is coming out on the high side.

To put things into perspective, here are a few newly announced flagship smartphones:

• Samsung Galaxy S7 – £526
• LG G5 – £499
• HTC 10 – £570

You might say the Xperia X is priced fairly close to most of the those phones but there is one catch to all of this – the Xperia X isn’t Sony’s flagship smartphone. That honor goes to the Xperia X Performance which could now be priced around £699? Higher?

For comparison, the Xperia X Performance comes with the faster Snapdragon 820 chipset, newer Adreno 530 graphics chips, faster LTE bands, and is IP68 water certified to name a few differences. Most recent rumors even peg the phone to have an HDR display though it’s unclear if the rumor is in regards to the Xperia X Performance or a new unannounced Xperia X Premium model.

Either way, this will place the Xperia X Performance pricing well above its competitors which enjoy better carrier support, marketing, and brand awareness. I covered extensively why in many respects, Sony is doing better than its competitors, thanks to higher ASP on each smartphone sold. However, as I explained then:

Sony also faces another danger. While they are making a profit, eventually the lack of volume will catch up with them because they will inevitably hit a ceiling. As unrealistic as it sounds, let’s assume that Sony is able to make 100% profit on each unit sold. If we take their $421.58 ASP as the profit on each device, unless they are able to increase their volume, their profits and revenue will begin to decline as their units sold number slips.

For Sony’s sake, I hope that either the revealed pricing turns out to be false or that some grand vision is near rollout which includes marketing and carrier partners. Otherwise, Sony is about to launch a series of smartphones that will arrive well after their competitors that are also far more expensive.

Discuss:

How do you think the Xperia X, Xperia XA, and Xperia X Performance should be priced?