First shown off at Mobile World Congress earlier this year, Sony’s revamped flagship line has now arrived in Australia, with pricing announced for the new Xperia X series.
Jason attended Sony’s launch last week, and now we know that much of the range is now available locally, with the Xperia X Performance to arrive in a couple of weeks. We’ve got all the details on pricing below.
Firstly, the outright options:
| Retailers | Handset | Pricing | Availability |
| Sony Kiosks and Sony Centre | Xperia XA (Graphite Black, White, Lime Gold, Rose Gold) |
$499 | 7th July |
| Xperia X (Graphite Black, White, Lime Gold, Rose Gold) |
$799 | Available now | |
| Xperia X Performance (Graphite Black, White, Lime Gold, Rose Gold) |
$999 | July | |
| JB Hi-Fi | Xperia XA (Graphite Black) | $499 | July |
Harvey Norman |
Xperia XA (Graphite Black) | $499 | July |
| Xperia X (Graphite Black, White) | $799 | July |
For those contemplating a carrier-contract option, Sony has offers available from Telstra, Virgin Mobile and Vodafone, though Optus are conspicuously absent from the offerings. The pricing appears to be mostly rather competitive, too.
| Carriers | Handset | Pricing | Availability |
| Vodafone | Xperia XA (Graphite Black) |
$40 Red plan + $3 phone + bonus 500MB[iv] (Over 24 months, Min cost $1032) | Available now |
| Xperia X (Graphite Black) |
$70 Red plan + $0 upfront phone (Over 24 months. Min cost $1680) | Available now | |
| Virgin Mobile | Xperia XA (Graphite Black, Rose Gold) |
$40 per month ($40 plan + $0 upfront. Min total cost over 24 months is $960) | Available now online; available in-store 4thJuly |
| Telstra | Xperia X Performance (Graphite Black, White) |
Details to be provided at launch | July |
Perhaps the only disappointment is the rather high price of the Xperia X Performance. When we saw it had been pitched at $700 USD, we immediately feared that the Australian price would be significantly higher (factoring in the notorious Australia tax). The good news is that it’s not grossly inflated; the price of $700 USD comes to about $920 AUD, against the $999 AUD outright price here.
We’ve not yet completed our review, but we do have a couple on the way for Sony’s Xperia X range. From what we’ve read elsewhere, though, the camera performance could be a little lacklustre, and some of the design decisions are a bit… odd. Retaining MicroUSB, when many are moving to USB-C, having a volume rocker in a rather awkward place, and the NFC antenna is on the front of the phone, rather than the rear like most others … these are some curious choices.
We look forward to seeing how the Xperia X range goes, and with some rather affordable handsets (particularly the Xperia XA at just $499) they’re bound to do alright despite potential misgivings.
At a personal level, we’d love to see Sony turn their fortunes around in the mobile space. We know (and they’d probably have to agree) that the Xperia Z5 was not their finest hour, and I’m crossing a lot of things hoping that the Xperia X range improves in some key areas. Jason will tell us all in due course.
For those wanting to compare the range, here’s our Ausdroid comparison table which you can tweak as you see fit.
| Sony Xperia X | Sony Xperia XA | Sony Xperia X Performance | Release date | February 2016 | February 2016 | February 2016 | Screen size | 5.0-inch | 5.0-inch | 5.0-inch | Screen technology | IPS LCD | IPS LCD | IPS LCD | Resolution | 1,920 x 1,080 | 1,280 x 720 | 1,920 x 1,080 | PPI | 441 | 294 | 441 | Rear camera | 23MP | 13MP | 23MP | Front camera | 13MP | 8MP | 13MP | Chipset | Snapdragon 650 | MediaTek Helio P10 | Snapdragon 820 | Core config | 1.8 GHZ x 2 + 1.4 GHZ x2 | 2.0 GHz x 8 | 2.15 GHz x 2 + 1.6 GHz x 2 | Ram | 3GB | 2GB | 3GB | Storage |
| 16GB | 32GB | MicroSD | Yes, up to 200GB | Yes, up to 200GB | Yes, up to 200GB | Battery | 2,620 mAh | 2,300 mAh | 2,700 mAh | Battery removable | — | — | — | Connector | MicroUSB | MicroUSB | MicroUSB | Headphone Port | Yes | Yes | Yes | Headphone Location | — | — | — | Speaker Configuration | — | — | — | NFC | Yes | Yes | Yes | Android OS | Android 6.0.1 | Android 6.0.1 | Android 6.0.1 | Vendor skin | Xperia UI | Xperia UI | Xperia UI | Dimensions | 143 x 69 x 7.7 mm | 143.6 x 66.8 x 7.9 mm | 143.7 x 70.4 x 8.7 mm | Weight | 152g | 137g | 164g | Colours |
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Not only did Optus decide not to get aboard with X series, they quietly increased the price for Z5 Premium, which is just unbelievable.
If the recent performance of Telstra-Sony Android updates is anything to go by, don’t go on contract with these phones! There is no word of Marshmallow on the horizon, and both companies are pointing at each other at fault.
OPPO offer better value for money
ZTE Axon 7 even better!