Sony unveiled the Xperia XZ2 Premium with much
fanfare back in April, but the company has so far stayed mum on pricing or the
phone's release date. Thankfully it's given us both of those details today. The
unlocked Xperia XZ2 Premium will cost US$ 999.99 when it becomes available in the
US on July 30. Pre-orders will go live in the States at Amazon and Best Buy on
July 9. If you pre-order from Amazon, you'll receive a free pair of Xperia Ear
Duo wireless headphones, which should somewhat sweeten the deal.
That said, it's impossible to call the XZ2 Premium
reasonably priced. It's competing head-on with Apple's iPhone X, but in the US
its market share is currently negligible. The fact that the phone launches
unlocked (like most Sony devices in recent years) isn't helpful either, since
we're not sure how many Americans have it in them to just casually drop a grand
on an Android smartphone, all at once.
Anyway, the device is certainly high-end, though
Sony is still immune to the bezel-killing trend that's taken the mobile world
by storm this year. The XZ2 Premium boasts a 5.8-inch 4K HDR display, a unique
gimmick in this day and age.
Inside the heavy 236g case you can find the
Snapdragon 845, 6GB of RAM, 64GB of expandable storage, and a 3,540 mAh
battery. The handset has a 19 MP main camera sensor on the back with f/1.8
aperture and 1.22µm pixels, as well as a secondary 12 MP black and white sensor
(f/1.6, 1.55µm pixels). On the front you get a single 13 MP snapper for
selfies. The XZ2 Premium runs Android 8.0 Oreo.
