It seems like a long time since Sony unveiled its flagship XZ Premium at MWC in February, but the luxe handset is finally going on sale in the US. The XZ Premium will be available to pre-order from Best Buy and Amazon for $799 on June 12th, or buy outright and unlocked on June 19th from the same retailers, plus Fry’s. Its stand-out features are a 5.5-inch 4K screen and camera capable of capturing slow-motion 720p, 960fps video footage, but in our first impressions earlier this year, we weren’t sure the XZ Premium didn’t belong in a museum (and not in a good way).
Also going on sale from Sony in June: the company’s Xperia Touch projector, which is capable of turning any surface into a touchscreen. It’ll retail for an eye-watering $1,699.99, and is available to pre-order online from June 16th or buy in-store exclusively at Sony’s flagship Madison Ave store in NYC. The projector is powered by Android and is supposed to be used like a digital hub for families, offering functions like Skype video chat and a shared notice board.
These are premium devices, and they follow Sony’s new strategy of focusing on the high-end of the mobile market. The company announced last week that it would be discontinuing its “premium standard” mobiles (aka mid-range) to concentrate on selling pricier handsets. Sony is launching at least two more Xperia phones later this year, and one of the last of its mid-range devices — the $299 Xperia XA1 — also goes on sale in June, available in-store from July 2nd.