Sony has already fallen behind in the mobile industry opting not to release a quad-core smartphone until 2013, for fear of adverse battery performance.
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| Sony’s Dual Core Xperia S |
Now that Sony has bought out Ericsson, the company has an invaluable opportunity to redefine its reputation. With the right combination of hardware, software and content, Sony has the chance to prove it is the underdog people want to love. Unfortunately, the company is writing a story with much less romance.
Stephen Sneeden, Sony Mobile’s Product Marketing Manager, spoke to the Asian arm of CNet and said Sony will abstain from releasing a Quad Core smartphone until 2013. This is tough news to swallow considering HTC, LG, Huawei and Fujitsu unveiled quad core mobiles at the Mobile World Congress. Apple and Samsung are also joining the 4 core ranks with the companies rumoured to be releasing phones with such processors sometime this year.
According to Sneeden, Sony is afraid quad-core processors will drain the battery. “We’re going to join quad-core when we feel that the performance matches the battery efficiency,” Sneeden said.
At the moment Sony is “evaluating the quad-core performance” and will release a quad-core smartphone to the market when “you’re not suffering in quality and the performance truly is there.”
Although there’s credence to his claims (quad-core phones are more powerful and therefore consume more battery), Sony’s smartphones will continue to be second-choice to more powerful alternatives, which simply employ bigger batteries to cope.
Read: Sony’s Xperia S Is A CES Stand Out
Instead the company is continuing its tradition of including aging processors in its flagship phones. Just recently the company announced its new top-of-the-range Xperia S, which will include a dual core 1.5GHz processor. Unfortunately it is Sony’s first dual core phone despite the tech being featured in smartphones for almost a year. And in the smartphone market, a year is a phone’s lifespan.
On paper the Xperia S reads like a great phone, but without the tech-repertoire to rival leading smartphones, customers will overlook them for alternatives whose parts will remain relevant over the span of their 24 month contract.
What a shame.
