14 DAY TRIAL // Japanese mobile phone maker Sony Mobile was present at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week with a brand new flagship smartphone, in the form of Xperia Z2, but it appears that it is already working on the next high-end device in its lineup.
The company is determined to keep up with the pace at which the industry evolves, which would include the release of a new flagship handset every six months or so.
In fact, Kurozumi Yoshiro, Sony Mobile’s creative director, told Watch Impress (via XperiaBlog) during an interview at the MWC that the newly unveiled Xperia Z2 should be seen as the flagship handset for the first half of the year.
Basically, this means that a new such device is set to become official in about six months, most probably at IFA in Berlin, which is usually held in early September. Of course, the company might plan on announcing the phone in August, though we highly doubt that.
Provided that nothing was lost when translating the original story to English, the idea would make perfect sense when looking back at the pace at which Sony announced the latest flagship models in its Xperia lineup.
Xperia Z was made official in early 2013 at CES, Xperia Z1 was unveiled in Q3 2013 at IFA, and Xperia Z2 was announced this week at MWC.
Moving forth, Sony Mobile’s focus remains on the high-end market, though the company does have mid-range smartphones up for sale as well. In fact, it launched a new one on Monday in Barcelona, in the form of Xperia M2.
In a recent interview with CNet, Calum MacDougall, director of product marketing for the Xperia franchise, said that Sony’s aim is “to secure value, not volume.”
Basically, this means that there will be no entry-level smartphones coming out from the company anytime soon, because that would damage the brand. The mid-range Xperia M2 is expected to prove a success even in emerging markets, where Sony’s brand is strong.
Ravi Nookala, head of Sony's US mobile division, also unveiled that the phone maker has managed to secure its position on the market in Japan and Europe, and that it is now considering expanding to more of them.
The United States is on the radar, and the recent launch of Xperia Z1S at T-Mobile confirms that. However, Xperia Z2 won’t be launched in the US in the near future, despite the fact that a specific release date for the device was not provided as of now.
One other thing that Ravi Nookala unveiled is the fact that Sony is aiming to become the third smartphone vendor in the world. For that, the company will also focus on shortening the timeframe between the unveiling of new handsets and their actual release.