There have been a lot of Sony Xperia flagships in recent years – and here’s a refresher on everything we’ve seen.
Sony has been making top-quality smartphones for longer than you might have realized, and to help jog your memory, we’re going to take a look back at the history of its flagship Xperia handsets – or at least the part of its history that goes as far back as 2013 anyway. That’s when the Sony Xperia Z arrived, and it marked one of many minor resets that the series has had down the years, with a tweaked design and new features to appeal to the masses. It’s a lot different to today’s phones, but it’s still recognizable as a Sony Xperia. Something else that has been consistent down the years has been Sony’s unconventional naming strategy for its phones – it’s been difficult to keep track of which phone fits where, with different numbers, letters and even Roman numerals making an appearance. We’ll simplify everything for you by focusing on the headline flagships of each year, with a brief mention of some of the other variants that came around the same time as each of the main phones. It’s a fascinating look back across the history of smartphone development. The smartphone scene was very different back in 2013, and the Sony Xperia Z proves it: it ran the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset and came with just 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. There was a single 13.1MP camera on the back, while the LCD display on this handset stretched to a whole 5 inches corner to corner, running at a resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels. Some of the regular traits of Sony flagships were in place even at this early stage, including dust and water protection – the IP57 rating that this phone got was very good for the time. The Xperia Z also ushered in a new design language for Sony phones, with an angular, unapologetically rectangular aesthetic that’s still in evidence today. In our original Sony Xperia Z review we praised the water resistance and audio output quality of the phone, and the addition of 4G LTE – by no means a given at the time. In terms of the negatives, we weren’t happy that the phone came without a removable battery (remember those?). The phone had Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean on board. The Xperia Z was swiftly followed by the Sony Xperia Z1 later the same year, with a very impressive 20.7 megapixel rear camera that beat out most of the competition at that time (the iPhone 5S of the same year managed an 8MP rear camera). Sony has long been prioritizing a good camera setup, and that’s been consistent down the years. While the starting RAM and internal storage specs stayed the same (a 32GB storage option was added), the processor did get a boost to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800, so together with the camera upgrade it was a worthwhile new release despite coming so quickly after its predecessor. The phone sported a 5-inch,1080 x 1920 LCD display, again like the Xperia Z, and it came running Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. In our Sony Xperia Z1 review the design of the phone and that camera were definite highlights, as was the waterproofing and the performance of the phone with that faster Snapdragon 800 inside. Sony wasn’t quite finished with phones in 2013 though, squeezing in the launch of the smaller Z1 Compact before the end of the year. The Sony Xperia Z2 wasn’t a huge jump from the Xperia Z1 – the rear camera module was the same, the 16GB starting point for internal storage was the same, and the RAM and processor got small bumps to 3GB and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 respectively. The IP rating went up a notch to IP58 and the LCD display now stretched to 5.2 inches (while sticking to the 1080 x 1920 pixel resolution). The phone came with Android 4.4.2 KitKat when it launched on the software side, and in terms of the hardware design you can see a slow evolution towards the Sony Xperia flagships that we know today. Also notable was the 4K resolution video recording offered by the phone, a real innovation back in 2014. Our Sony Xperia Z2 review mentioned a lot of plus points, though the minuses included some bugs with that 4K video recording, and what we described as a “bezel-heavy design” compared with what other phone manufacturers were doing. There was no Xperia Z2 Compact this time around, but there was, confusingly, an Xperia Z2 Tablet. Sony’s two-flagships-a-year approach continued with the arrival of the Sony Xperia Z3 later in 2014, but there was barely any change from the Xperia X2. The IP rating went up to IP68, the battery got slightly bigger, a 32GB storage option was added, and the phone came running the newer Android 4.4.4 KitKat. And that was it: this is one of the smallest upgrades in smartphone history. The cameras, processor and screen size and resolution were all identical on the Xperia Z3, so there really wasn’t any need to upgrade if you had bought the Xperia Z2 a few months prior.
