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Sony Xperia XZ3 review: One flagship too many
This isn't a case of déjà vu -- Sony is indeed launching yet another high-end handset next month. The new Xperia XZ3 is the latest in Sony's rapid-fire approach to smartphones, first announced just a month after the XZ2 Premium went on sale. It's also been less than six months since the Xperia XZ2 hit retail, and in many ways, the XZ3 is a repackaged XZ2 with a bigger and better display. It's a unique device for Sony, though, being the company's first handset with an OLED screen. I'm just struggling to see why we, the consumer, should care.
Will 2018 be the year small phones die?
Sony is perhaps the last bastion of smaller smartphones. Or at least, it used to be. For years now, Sony has been making "Compact" versions of its top-tier handsets that are more or less flagships in their own right. Each generation of Sony's latest XZ series of phones hasn't deviated from this tradition until IFA 2018, where Sony announced the new Xperia XZ3, but no XZ3 Compact. Has the appetite for smaller phones finally vanished? Or are manufacturers content to let the hungry starve either way?
The Sony Xperia XZ3 vs. the XZ2: What's changed?
If it feels like it hasn't been that long since Sony's last flagship phone, you're not wrong. It was only a hair over six months ago that we met the Xperia XZ2 at this year's Mobile World Congress. We liked it well enough, though the XZ2 still fell a bit shy of the competition in our review two months later. Today we're looking at the new Xperia XZ3 and if you're thinking that there hasn't been enough time for major changes, you'd be somewhat right: This new handset still boasts a Snapdragon 845 processor and a 19-megapixel rear camera. But the screen did get bigger, and there are a few more notable upgrades if you dig in, including a better resolution and a larger battery. Check out the chart below for the full rundown versus the XZ2, and stay tuned for our review later this fall.
