Sony Xperia Z6 Specs, Release Date: New Flagship Device To Arrive In Second Half Of 2016?

By Jackie Villegas, Christian Post Contributor Saturday, January 23, 2016

Sony's Xperia Z5 has only just hit store shelves so it may be a bit early to start talking about the next model in the tech giant's flagship smartphone lineup. Still, Sony appears to be continuing on its frenzied smartphone release schedule, with the Xperia Z5 coming out just three short months after the Z4, and the Z4 being released less than a year after the Z3 came out.

Unlike most other smartphone manufacturers that release new devices about once a year, Sony has chosen to launch a new flagship phone about six months apart. This may sound like a good thing, but it has, in fact, meant that Sony's Xperia phones resemble each other too closely, with each succeeding model not having too much to offer over its predecessor.

Will the Sony Xperia Z6 suffer a similar fate?

Possible release date

According to PC Advisor, Sony, which has just sent out invitations for a February 22 press conference, may launch the Sony Xperia Z6 at the MWC 2016 in Barcelona. Though the Mobile World Congress is roughly six months away from the IFA 2015, reports from other sources indicate that Sony is launching one of its new tablets, and not the Xperia Z6 smartphone, at the Mobile World Congress.

Specs

Tech insiders expect most of the premium Android smartphones coming out in 2016 and 2017 to come with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 processor, and this may be what's under the hood of the Xperia Z6. However, Digitimes has reported that Sony may be developing its own processors, following the lead of Apple, Samsung, and Huawei.

The Japanese tech conglomerate may opt to keep producing its flagship Xperia smartphones with 5.2" Full HD screens instead of switching to Quad HD. It is also expected that Sony will keep the recently-introduced fingerprint scanner in the home button and that the company will introduce wireless charging and reversible USB Type-C ports.

As with most Android smartphones coming out this year, the Sony Xperia Z6 will likely run Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Sony is expected to release 2 versions of its new flagship smartphone, with 16GB and 32GB variants.