When the expected Xperia Z6 failed to appear at this year's Mobile World Congress, fans started thinking that Sony Mobile may have been planning a late 2016 introduction for the premium flagship and speculated on its specs and features. However, it is now confirmed that Sony has instead switched flagship lineups, and there will be no Xperia Z6 at all.
According to Xperia Blog, the tech giant replied to their query about the new Xperia lineup, as there are rumors that the new Xperia X will replace the Xperia Z. It turns out that the rumors are true.
In a statement, Sony Mobile said: "The Xperia Z line has reached its culmination – Xperia X series represents a new chapter and evolution of our product strategy. Whilst the Xperia Z series was all about bringing the best of Sony's advanced technologies to smartphones, Xperia X series is based on bringing smart, adaptive Sony user experiences across camera, battery performance and hardware/software design."
This officially ends the long-running Xperia Z lineup. Engadget mentioned that the Xperia Z series was one of the more popular and long-running smartphone series of Sony, having at least 10 iterations. However, the industry follower added that while the Z series stops with the Xperia Z5 lineup, it seems that the new Xperia X flagship is what fans expected the Xperia Z6 to be. Unveiled at this year's MWC, the Xperia X Performance iteration carries a Snapdragon 820 processor paired with 3 GB of RAM and comes with Android 6.0 right out of the box.
However, GSM Arena countered that while the Xperia X Performance features the latest in its internals, it still falls short of the expected top-tier looks that fans have fantasized about the next premium Xperia. For one, the new Xperia X series still retains the same 1080p display that fans already saw in the Xperia Z3 and Xperia Z5.
