New reports out of Asia claim that Sony is not only ditching its Xperia Z line, but also the Xperia C and Xperia M series, as part of a new chapter.
Sony reportedly wants to focus solely on the Xperia X, which means the company will offer a single smartphone series to cover all segments, from the entry level to the high end and everything in between.
Leaked slides from a Sony presentation surfaced on Chinese website ePrice and the Marco Kao blog on Pixnet, seemingly showing a timeline for the company's plans broken down into chapters.
According to these presentation slides, Chapter 1 was between 2010 and 2012, focusing on an "open OS for web communication." The highlight of this chapter was the Xperia X10, Sony's first Android phone, launched back in 2009.
Chapter 2, stretched between 2013 and 2015, was all about the "best of Sony," with the Xperia Z series front and center.
Sony is now up to Chapter 3, from 2016 to 2018, which will be the golden era of the "Xperia for new communication." Xperia X shines here as Sony's new brand communication ambassador and identity. Sony will aggressively use its "X" logo in all of its TV ads and promotional prints, and will focus heavily on marketing the Xperia X line.
This indicates that, at least until 2018, Sony will bank on its Xperia X series exclusively, pushing it as a single brand for all of its future smartphones. While Sony has yet to confirm such plans, this move does fall in line with the company's previous announcement that it will not launch an Xperia Z6 this year.
At the same time, this could also mean that the recently leaked Sony Xperia C6 Ultra may in fact launch as the Xperia X Ultra, or something along those lines.
The new brand identity does not mean that Sony will compromise on specifications, or offer fewer models. It simply means that instead of releasing handsets under multiple lines, such as the Xperia C, Xperia M or Xperia Z, it will push all smartphones under one big Xperia X umbrella.
It remains to be seen just how Sony will deal with names, however, as multiple Xperia X handset names are bound to cause some confusion if not handled properly.
Sony has yet to make a statement regarding this, so it's all based on leaks at this point. If the presentation slides turn out to be the real deal, however, the company should make a formal announcement soon enough.
Until then, you know the drill: take all leaks with a dose of skepticism.
