A new VAIO smartphone will reportedly skip the bloodbath at the upcoming Mobile World Congress and will be unveiled a week later.
According to Japanese mobile company Japan Communications Inc., investors of the brand will release its very first smartphone on March 12. The company will act as the distributor of the smartphone. Nikkei Asian Review previously reported that the device will be manufactured by third party companies and will be available through Japan Communications and retailers.
Japanese media source Blog of Mobile stated that it was late last year when rumors emerged claiming that VAIO is working on a handset. Aside from the 5-inch screen panel with a mediocre 720p display resolution, the report added that the smartphone will sport a 64-bit Snapdragon 410 MSM8916 clocked at 1.2 GHz paired with 2 GB of RAM. It will run with the latest Android 5.0 Lollipop OS, and will sport a 13-megapixel back camera and a 4-megapixel front-facing shooter.
The price of the smartphone is still unknown, but given the specs and features above, it will most likely be in the mid-price range. Also, it will be unlocked and SIM free. More information is expected to emerge as March 12 nears.
VAIO was known for its laptop line when it was still under Sony's wings. However, the Japanese tech giant decided to pull the plug after it sold most of its shares as the laptops suffered low sales. However, the group of investors decided to keep running the brand and obviously has plans to further expand the business.
As VAIO will jump head first in the smartphone market, it will battle against Sony's own line of devices. VAIO's handset is reportedly aimed at business professionals. Although it looks a bit late for the brand to release a smartphone, it has high hopes for the device to break into the fierce competition in the market.
