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Sony’s ‘super mid-range’ Xperia XZs goes on sale April 5th for $700

Sony’s ‘super mid-range’ Xperia XZs goes on sale April 5th for $700

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It’s got the same camera as the XZ Premium, but a slower processor and lower-res screen

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The Sony Xperia XZs
The Sony Xperia XZs
Image: Sony

When Sony announced the Xperia XZs at MWC this year, it described the phone as a “super mid-range” device. This moniker supposedly refers to the phone’s specs, but now it’s safe to say the price-tag on the XZ is also super mid-range. As in, not mid-range at all. The phone goes on sale tomorrow, April 5th, costing $700 unlocked from retailers including Amazon and Best Buy.

In terms of specs, the XZs shares a number of features with its high-end sibling, the museum-piece-in-waiting known as the XZ Premium. These include the camera (capable of shooting video at 960 frames-per-second) and design (no deviation from the Xperia playbook there). Other internal have been taken down a notch, with the Snapdragon 830 processor downgraded from the Premium’s Snapdragon 835, and the 5.2-inch display merely 1080p, rather than 4K. (Although that’s not necessarily a bad thing considering how 4K screens chomp away at battery life.)

All in all, it’s a decent phone with solid specs. But at $700, it’s not going to attract many customers, especially when there are similarly-specced alternatives that cost hundreds of dollars less.