Sony Xperia XA2 and XA2 Ultra: Your selfie expert

The camera-focused Sony Xperia XA2 and Xperia XA2 Ultra left the rumor mills in January 2018. Sony was at the CES 2018 to unveil the three handsets, contrary to previous rumors that had pointed towards an MWC 2018 launch. Even though the trio is official, availability begins towards the end of January. Sony is keeping a larger part of the design we saw on the outgoing Xperia XA1 handsets, still, there is a lot to be excited about.

Of course, there’s still no bezel-less design for the Sony Xperia XA2 and Xperia XA2 Ultra. On the brighter side, you get an edge-to-edge design on the XA2 family with curves on the sides, but the huge bezels at the top and bottom still prevail.

Sony Xperia XA2 and XA2 Ultra specs

Xperia XA2
  • 5.2-inch 16:9 FHD LCD display
  • Snapdragon 630 chipset
  • 3GB of RAM
  • 32GB of expandable storage
  • 23MP main camera
  • 8MP front camera
  • 3300mAh battery
  • Android 8.0 Oreo
  • Extras: Bluetooth 5.0, USB-C, NFC, 3.5mm audio jack, rear-mounted scanner, etc.
Xperia XA2 Ultra
  • 6.0-inch 16:9 FHD LCD display
  • Snapdragon 630 chipset
  • 4GB of RAM
  • 32GB or 64GB expandable storage
  • 23MP main camera
  • Dual 16MP + 8MP front camera
  • 3580mAh battery
  • Android 8.0 Oreo
  • Extras: Bluetooth 5.0, USB-C, NFC, 3.5mm audio jack, rear-mounted scanner, etc.

In terms of specs, the Sony Xperia XA2 and XA2 Ultra have their similarities and differences. Where the former ships with a 5.2-inch screen, the latter gets a bigger 6-inch panel. Both have the same 1080p resolution. For the raw power, you get the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 SoC, but there’s 3GB of RAM on the XA2 and an extra gig on the XA2 Ultra. There’s one storage option of 32GB on the standard XA2 while the XA2 Ultra has two options: 32GB and 64GB. Both phones have a microSD card slot that can handle up to 256GB of storage.

The back cameras of the Xperia XA2 and XA2 Ultra are the same: 23MP, f/2.0 aperture, 4K video recording and 5x zoom. Although both selfie cameras have an 8MP shooter with 120-degree wide-angle lens, the Xperia XA2 Ultra gets a second 16MP lens, cementing the fact that the Xperia XA lineup is indeed camera-centric.

Software-wise, you get Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box. Keeping the XA2 alive is a 3300mAh battery unit while the XA2 Ultra has a bigger 3580mAh unit. Both phones have the new Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity standard, USB-C, NFC and 3.5mm audio jack.

Sony Xperia XA2 and XA2 Ultra price and release date

As mentioned, Sony has confirmed that the Xperia XA2 and XA2 Ultra will start selling later in January while availability in the U.S. will begin in early February. To get your hands on the standard Xperia XA2, you need $350 and for the Ultra variant, the price goes up to $450, but of course, with time, these prices will be discounted.

The phones will be sold in a variety of color variants: Silver, Pink, Blue and Black for the XA2 and Silver, Gold, Light Blue and Black for the XA2 Ultra.