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Sony's USB Type-C Xperia XZ Premium Phone Boasts the Latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 835

Sony remains a stronghold in Japan despite Apple/Samsung's dominance which has just released the Sony Xperia XZ Premium. Branded as their premium flagship, the Sony Xperia XZ Premium phone supports USB 3.1 Gen 1 (5 Gb/s speeds) and Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 technology for fast charging over a USB Type-C connector. The phone doesn't support USB Power Delivery charging just like the ZTE Axon 7, also a USB-C 3.1 Gen 1 phone that also uses Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0. While the Axon 7 uses an older Qualcomm MSM8996 Snapdragon 820 processor, the Sony Xperia XZ Premium gets a newer and faster Qualcomm Snapdragon 835.  

The Sony Xperia XZ Premium unlike the Axon 7 comes without a 3.5mm audio jack to join phones like the Le Max 2, Le 2 Pro, Le 2, and Moto Z Droid. Sony has also ditched the MHL video interface on the Sony Xperia XZ Premium but still used by other Xperia phones like the Z3+, Z4, and Z5. There's also no DisplayPort video support on the Xperia XZ similar to the Samsung Galaxy S7 which also no longer supports MHL. 

An advantage Sony phones have over other Android phones is to fully embrace Android through Sony's partnership with Google's software and cloud dominance. It's assumed the Sony Xperia XZ Premium is also able to enjoy the full benefits of its Android 8.0 Oreo platform.

Inside the Fortress electronics and telecom store at the Hong Kong International Airport, the Sony Xperia XZ Premium was seen showing off its 5.5 inch HDR display supporting 4K video. It's a really attractive phone with a 13MP front and 19MP rear high end cameras. The phone also comes with other premium features such as high res audio with noise cancellation, Bluetooth 5.0, IP65/68 water resistance, and Corning Gorilla Glass 5 front and back protection.

The Sony Xperia XZ Premium is designed to be used with the Sony Quick Charger UCH12W to keep the phone charged. This Sony charger supports charging using both Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 and MediaTek Pump Express Plus 2.0 technology but uses Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 to charge the Sony Xperia XZ Premium given the phone is Qualcomm Snapdragon based. The phone doesn't take advantage of the latest Qualcomm Quick Charge 4.0 standard enabled on Qualcomm Snapdragon 835.

Despite the premium pricing, the Sony Xperia XZ Premium is a good choice for any Android users that want to take advantage of Sony's hardware expertise. We'll next be taking a closer look at the phone and also doing several compatibility checks with other products and peripherals.