Samsung and Huawei were the first smartphone makers to launch their flagship foldable smartphones earlier this year. A few other companies such as Motorola and Xiaomi are also expected to launch foldable smartphones before the end of the year. According to a new report out of China, Sony Mobile is planning to come out with its first foldable smartphone next year. The smartphone will reportedly carry the Xperia F moniker, with the “F” standing for foldable.
Sony Xperia F Foldable Smartphone Rumored to Arrive Next Year
The report claims the Sony Xperia F will use Samsung’s flexible OLED display panel and will have the same 21:9 aspect ratio as the current Xperia 1 flagship smartphone. What remains to be seen is if the Xperia F will offer the same 4K Ultra HD resolution as the Xperia 1. Unsurprisingly, the foldable smartphone is tipped to have 5G connectivity as well. In addition to the Xperia F, the report suggests Sony will be launching the Xperia 2 flagship smartphone as well next year.
In December last year, the folks over at LetsGoDigital uncovered a Sony patent filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) that revealed a foldable smartphone design with a transparent display. However, if the report out of China is accurate, the foldable smartphone with a transparent display may not see the light of day anytime soon.
Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida recently confirmed that the company sees the smartphone business as a “necessary” component of its hardware business and has no plans of exiting the smartphone market entirely. Unfortunately, the company’s smartphone division continues to struggle and managed to ship only 6.5 million devices over the last financial year. Going forward, Sony Mobile will only focus on four major markets – Japan, Europe, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. While Sony will continue to sell its phones in a few other markets as well, it has decided to “defocus” on other markets.
