At the start of the year, Sony unveiled two new mid-range smartphones in the Xperia XA2 and XA2 Ultra. They offered familiar Sony stylings, with chunky bezels and squared off corners, but the Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 chips and rear fingerprint sensors represented a considerable improvement over their XA1 predecessors.

Today, Sony has announced another entry in the lineup, the Xperia XA2 Plus. It features the same Snapdragon 630 SoC, and many of the same specs as the XA2 Ultra, but is the first in the series to include an elongated 18:9, 6-inch FHD+ display. This phone will sound better, too, with Sony's High-Resolution Audio technology and DSEE HX audio upscaling.

SPECS

OS

 Android Oreo (no version number given)

Display

6” Full HD+ 1080p 18:9, Corning Gorilla Glass 5

Processor

Qualcomm Snapdragon 630

Memory

 4/6GB RAM

Storage

 32/64GB eMMC (up to 400GB with microSD card)

Rear Camera

23 MP, 1/2.3” Exmor RS, Hybrid Autofocus, 84° wide-angle F2.0 lens - 4K video recording, 120fps slow-motion

Front Camera

 8 MP 120° super wide-angle, 1/4” Exmor R, F2.4 - Bokeh, Soft skin, Skin brightness, Eye enlargement, Slender face effects

Battery

 3,580mAh, Qnovo Adaptive Charging, Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0

Connectivity

 GSM GPRS/EDGE (2G), UMTS HSPA+ (3G), LTE (13G) Cat4/Cat12 - A-GNSS - WiFi Miracast, NFC

Audio

 High-Resolution Audio (LPCM, FLAC, ALAC, DSD)5, LDAC5, DSEE HX, Bluetooth 5 wireless technology, aptX / A2DP, FM radio

Other

Dual SIM, rear fingerprint sensor, includes headphones

Dimensions

157 x 75 x 9.6 mm

Weight

205g

Ports

USB Type C, 3.5mm headphone jack

The rear camera specs are much the same here as the XA2 Ultra, but there's only a single lens on the front compared to the Ultra's dual-camera with flash setup. In terms of design, the XA2 Plus retains the anodized aluminum and dated style of the other phones in the series, but at least the black front obscures the still sizable bezels somewhat. The 3,580mAh battery is also no different to that on the Ultra.

An unspecified Android Oreo version will ship with the phone, likely 8.0. The XA2 and XA2 Ultra were added to Sony's Open Devices Program — allowing for easy flashing of custom versions — so you would hope this model will make the list too.

Silver, Black, Gold, and Green color options will be available when the Sony Xperia XA2 Plus goes on sale in late August, although the price is TBA. There will be both single and dual-SIM variants depending on the region.

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