Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen different pictures and specs leak out of Sony Mobile. The biggest of the leaks thus far have been photos of what appeared to be the Xperia C6 Ultra. A key characteristic of the Ultra series is their enormous 6-inch display while the C family (most recently the Xperia C5) has typically offered a powerful front-facing camera with flash, all which again fit with the leaked photos.

Even the leaked F3216 and F2211 model numbers pointed towards what could be the C5 successor, especially seeing how the front-facing camera was pegged at an incredible 16-megapixels while internal specs were a more modest 2GB RAM and 16GB internal memory, all befitting the mid-range status of the C family. But now Steve Hemmerstoffer from Digi-wo suggests that the new phone could actually be the Xperia XA Ultra, and it makes a lot of sense.

A few sites have been running with this piece as well and calling the phone the Xperia X Ultra, but I think Steve is right. If the specs pan out, the phone is more in line with the Xperia XA than the Xperia X which enjoys 3GB RAM like the Xperia X Performance. It would be odd for Sony to design a larger Xperia X and cut down on the RAM.

Sony is also clearly positioning the Xperia XA as a more mid-range model, something that’s also been true with the C5 family. With Sony now investing heavily in the Xperia X family of phones and even building a factory to support their future endeavors, it would make sense that Sony would launch what could have been the C6 Ultra as the Xperia XA Ultra. Sony is currently doubling down with their marketing and branding of the Xperia X family and I have a feeling that a majority of their phones in the future will fall under the same naming structure.

One problem Sony typically faces is a wide product lineup with little marketing budget and due to that, causing confusion even amongst the consumers who are aware of their products. On the other hand, Samsung has the Galaxy line, specifically the Galaxy S7 currently, which also comes in the Edge variant. For Sony, instead of needing to market:

• Xperia X Family
  • Xperia X
  • Xperia XA
  • Xperia X Performance
• Xperia C6 Family
  • Xperia C6
  • Xperia C6 Ultra

they can now hedge their bets on the X family branding and bring the phone under the same name. In fact, the team at Nowhereelse.fr were able to get schematics of the leaked phone and put together a 3D render which can be see below.

If you look closely, the design language isn’t that far off from the Xperia XA. With Sony Mobile, it’s hard to predict how things will play out but seeing how the company has already done away with the Z branding which was far more known than the C family of phones, it might make sense to further simplify their lineup by eliminating what would have been the C6 Ultra and bring it under the Xperia X family umbrella.

Discuss:

If the leaked phone proves to be what would have been the C6 Ultra, would you prefer for Sony to keep that naming scheme intact or bring it under the X family and call it the Xperia XA Ultra?

[Via Nowhereelse.fr and Digi-wo]