Unreleased Sony Xperia smartphone leaks with nearly bezel-free design, likely C6 model

Surprisingly few smartphone makers used CES as a platform to announce, or even tease, new Android products this year. Arguably, only Huawei took the opportunity to show off its new products at the biggest US-based trade show this year. With that said, Mobile World Congress is shaping up to be really busy this year. The conference kicks off at the end of next month, and many manufacturers are expected to unveil their spring/summer portfolios at the Barcelona event. Sony being one of them…

An unnamed, but familiar-looking Sony Xperia device recently leaked by IT168 could be announced at the annual mobile-centric conference next month. Although there are no official details on what this particular smartphone is, it seems very likely it’s the next generation of C-series Xperia devices.

Design-wise, it looks very similar to the C5 Ultra, but isn’t identical. It has the same nearly bezel-free display, and the rounded metal edges with the side-mounted round power button. Because the button is round, we can safely assume there’s no fingerprint scanner installed, meaning it’s almost certainly not a premium flagship phone to follow the Xperia Z5 range. What’s more, it’s not gigantic, so it’s clearly no ‘Ultra’ series phone.

Rumors indicate the screen will measure no more than 5.5-inches diagonally, and will likely feature a resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels. Unlike the higher end smartphones in its range, it’s speculated that Sony has opted for MediaTek processors in this upcoming C-series phone. Specifically, it’s claimed it will feature a 2.0Ghz MediaTek Helio P10, a mid-range octa-core processor, built using TSMC’s 28nm process.

While MWC has been mooted as a possible launch platform, we’re not sure exactly when the phone will make an appearance. But when Sony chooses to announce the next mid-tier smartphone is almost a non-issue. More importantly for the once-giant of mobile tech is how much marketing attention the phone gets, and how competitively it’s priced.

There are already several phones boasting full HD 1080p screens and octa-core processors from lesser-known companies that are incredibly good values for the money. Phones like the OnePlus 2, Moto X Play, Wileyfox Storm and Honor 5X will all compete with this handset (if the specs turn out to be true), all of which are well priced. The mid-range market is getting more crowded by the month, and sadly for the big names, it’s the smaller (or lesser-known) companies that are winning.