The Sony Xperia XZ Premium is an

Android Android may refer to: Science and technology * Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system ** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...

smartphone manufactured and marketed by Sony. Part of the Xperia X series, the device was announced to the public along with the Xperia XZs at the annual

Mobile World Congress MWC Barcelona (formerly but still commonly referred to as Mobile World Congress) is an annual trade show organised by GSMA, dedicated primarily to the mobile communications industry. The event is held in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain at the Fir ...

in February of 2017. Pre-orders for the Xperia XZ Premium started in Europe on May 22, 2017. The device went on sale in the UK on June 2, 2017, and in the US on June 19, 2017. It supersedes the

Xperia Z5 Premium The Sony Xperia Z5 Premium is an Android smartphone produced by Sony. Part of the Sony Xperia Z series, the device, at that point known by the project code name "Satsuki", was unveiled along with the Sony Xperia Z5 and Xperia Z5 Compact during ...

and it was Sony's latest flagship after the Xperia XZ and before Sony Xperia XZ2. Notable features include a 4K HDR ultra high resolution display and slow-motion video capture at 960 frames per second.

Hardware

Design and Build

The Xperia XZ Premium refines the Xperia XZ's "Loop Surface" design with its "Glass Loop Surface", consisting of a nylon side frame, metal top and bottom edges that together make up the chassis of the phone, and scratch-resistant front and back glass panels made of Corning's Gorilla Glass 5. The top and bottom part of the chassis are flat and diamond-cut along the edge to form a reflective facet. The most defining change in the XZ Premium, as well as the XZ1, is the placement of the image sensors on the back. It is now placed across the camera lens and slightly off-center, as opposed to being placed longitudinally below the lens like on the XZs. The

NFC NFC may refer to: Psychology * Need for cognition, in psychology * Need for closure, social psychological term Sports * NFC Championship Game, the National Football Conference Championship Game * NCAA Football Championship (Philippines) * Nati ...

antenna is at the center part of the rear glass panel, just below the "XPERIA" nameplate. The front of the phone consists of dual front-firing stereo speakers, one on the top bezel and the other on the bottom bezel, along with a 13 MP front camera, ambient light sensor, proximity sensor and

notification LED A Notification LED is a small RGB or monochrome LED light usually present on the front-facing screen bezel (display side) of smartphones and feature phones whose purpose is to blink or pulse to notify the phone user of missed calls, incoming SMS ...

. The Xperia XZ Premium's dimensions are in height, with a width of and a depth of and weighs approximately . It has an

IP rating The IP code or ingress protection code indicates how well a device is protected against water and dust. It defined by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) under the international standard IEC 60529 which classifies and p ...

of IP68, making it dust proof and water resistant for over 1.5 meters and 30 minutes under water. The device also features a fingerprint sensor embedded into the power button that can be used to unlock the phone and secure it from unauthorized access. This feature, however, is disabled on units sold in the US.

Display and Performance

The Xperia XZ Premium is the second phone with a 4K (2160p) display, the first one being the

. But unlike the latter, the Xperia XZ Premium has a 4K HDR display, making it the first smartphone to feature such a display. It is HDR10 compliant, but has no

Dolby Vision Dolby Vision is a set of technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories for high dynamic range (HDR) video. It covers content creation, distribution, and playback. It includes dynamic metadata that are used to adjust and optimize each frame of the ...

support. The IPS LCD screen has a

pixel density Pixels per inch (ppi) and pixels per centimetre (ppcm or pixels/cm) are measurements of the pixel density of an electronic image device, such as a computer monitor or television display, or image digitizing device such as a camera or image scanner. ...

of 806 ppi when rendered in 4K resolution and features Sony's TRILUMINOS display and X-Reality for mobile technology. It is powered by the

Qualcomm Qualcomm () is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, and incorporated in Delaware. It creates semiconductors, software, and services related to wireless technology. It owns patents critical to the 5G, 4 ...

Snapdragon 835 This is a list of Qualcomm Snapdragon systems on chips (SoC) made by Qualcomm for use in smartphones, tablets, laptops, 2-in-1 PCs, smartwatches, and smartbooks devices. Before Snapdragon SoC made by Qualcomm before it was renamed to Snapdr ...

(MSM8998), built on 10 nm process technology with 8 custom Kryo 280 processors (4x 2.45 GHz and 4x 1.9 GHz), 4 GB of LPDDR4X RAM and uses the Adreno 540 GPU for graphics rendering. The device also has an internal storage of 64 GB and comes in single-SIM and dual-SIM versions, with both featuring

LTE LTE may refer to: Science and technology * LTE (telecommunication) (Long-Term Evolution), a telephone and mobile broadband standard ** LTE Advanced, an enhancement *** LTE Advanced Pro * Compaq LTE, a line of laptop computers produced by Compaq * ...

Cat. 16 with 3x carrier aggregation, a 4x4 MIMO antenna design and a total of 8 antennas. It also has

microSD Secure Digital, officially abbreviated as SD, is a proprietary non-volatile flash memory card format developed by the SD Association (SDA) for use in portable devices. The standard was introduced in August 1999 by joint efforts between SanDis ...

card expansion of up to 512 GB (in a hybrid slot for the dual-SIM variant).

Camera

Sony debuted in the Xperia XZs and the XZ Premium the world's first ''3-layer stacked image sensor with

DRAM Dynamic random-access memory (dynamic RAM or DRAM) is a type of random-access semiconductor memory that stores each bit of data in a memory cell, usually consisting of a tiny capacitor and a transistor, both typically based on metal-oxid ...

'' for smartphones. Known internally as Sony IMX400, the new ExmorRS sensor features a RAM chip sandwiched in between the sensor and control circuitry layers which serves as a large and fast buffer to where the sensor can temporarily offload a significant amount of captured data before transferring it to the phone's internal memory for processing. This enables the camera to record super slow-motion videos at 960

fps FPS may refer to: Arts and entertainment * "F.P.S." (''Law & Order: Criminal Intent''), an episode of the TV show ''Law & Order: Criminal Intent'' * '' fps magazine'', a defunct magazine about animation * ''The Fabulous Picture Show'', a televi ...

, at a steady 720p resolution. Recording at super slow motion is limited to 0.18 seconds per buffer, due to limitations. Officially called Motion Eye, the Xperia XZ Premium has a 19 MP 1/2.3” Exmor RS for mobile sensor with a 1.22

μm The micrometre ( international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: μm) or micrometer (American spelling), also commonly known as a micron, is a unit of length in the International System of Unit ...

pixel pitch, f/2.0 aperture and 25 mm wide G Lens. It also features 4K video recording, which supports SteadyShot video stabilization alongside the standard 1080p/30 fps and high-speed 1080p/60fps and a 120 fps recording in 720p options. The front selfie camera has a 13 megapixel sensor (1/3.06") with 22 mm, f/2.0 lens and 90 degree wide angle lens, same as the Xperia XZ but now features SteadyShot with Intelligent Active Mode (5-axis stabilization) like on the XZs. The Xperia XZ Premium has Sony's ''Triple Image Sensing technology'' first introduced in the Xperia XZ as standard. It is composed of the ''Image sensing'' (

CMOS Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS, pronounced "sea-moss", ) is a type of metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) fabrication process that uses complementary and symmetrical pairs of p-type and n-type MOSFE ...

sensor with PDAF), ''Distance sensing'' ( Laser AF sensor) and ''Color sensing'' ( RGBC-IR sensor) systems, featuring a hybrid autofocus that utilizes Phase Detection (PDAF) to lock focus on a subject within 0.03 seconds. It also includes phase and contrast detection along with predictive motion tracking, and a laser autofocus sensor for fast tracking and focus-locking on an object, as well as an RGBC-IR (''RedGreenBlueClear-InfraRed'') color sensor that assists the white balance function of the camera by providing additional data about the light conditions of the surrounding environment. It also has SteadyShot with Intelligent Auto in addition to the five-axis sensor-shift

image stabilization Image stabilization (IS) is a family of techniques that reduce blurring associated with the motion of a camera or other imaging device during exposure. Generally, it compensates for pan and tilt (angular movement, equivalent to yaw and pit ...

first seen in the Xperia XZ. The Motion Eye camera also has a new feature called ''Predictive Capture''. When it detects fast-paced movement, the camera automatically captures a maximum of four photos before the shutter button is pressed, and lets the user select the best one afterwards. This is done without any user intervention and is possible due to the same built-in RAM chip on the image sensor used in capturing the 960 fps super slow-motion videos. In November 2017, after receiving user feedback, a software update within the camera features menu was released, titled "Correction for image distortion". The camera received a DxOMark score of 83.

Battery

The Xperia XZ Premium is powered by a non-removable 3230

mAh ''Mångha'' (') is the Avestan for "Moon, month", equivalent to Persian ''Māh'' (; Old Persian ). It is the name of the lunar deity in Zoroastrianism. The Iranian word is masculine. Although Mah is not a prominent deity in the Avestan script ...

battery. Charging and data transfer is handled by a USB-C port with support for

USB 3.1 USB 3.0, released in November 2008, is the third major version of the Universal Serial Bus (USB) standard for interfacing computers and electronic devices. Among other improvements, USB 3.0 adds the new transfer rate referred to as '' ...

. It also has Qualcomm's QuickCharge 3.0 and Qnovo adaptive charging technology built-in. This allows the device to monitor the cell's electrochemical processes in real time and adjust charging parameters accordingly to minimize cell damage and extend the battery unit's lifespan. It also comes with Battery Care, a Sony proprietary feature, that controls the charging process of the phone by learning and recognizing the user's charging patterns, preventing the phone from damaging the battery's cells from excessive heat due to overcharging. For example, when charging overnight, Battery Care stops the initial charge to 90 percent and then continue charging until full where it left off the next day.

Audio and Connectivity

The Xperia XZ Premium comes with a standard

3.5 mm audio jack A phone connector, also known as phone jack, audio jack, headphone jack or jack plug, is a family of electrical connectors typically used for analog signal, analog audio signals. A plug, the Gender of connectors and fasteners, male connect ...

for plugging in wired headphones. It also has LDAC, an audio coding technology developed by Sony, that enables the transmission of 24-bit/96 kHz High-Resolution (Hi-Res) audio content over Bluetooth at up to 990 kbit/s, three times faster than conventional audio streaming codecs, to compatible audio devices. Other connectivity options include Bluetooth 5 with aptX and Low Energy,

, dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac with 2x2 MIMO antennas, Wi-Fi Direct, MirrorLink, screen casting via Miracast, Google Cast, DLNA,

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a Radionavigation-satellite service, satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of t ...

(with A-GPS), GLONASS, BeiDou and

Galileo Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He was ...

satellite positioning. The Xperia XZ Premium has no FM radio.

Software

The Sony Xperia XZ Premium launched with Android 7.1.1 Nougat along with Smart Stamina battery saving modes and Sony's proprietary multimedia apps. Android 8.0 Oreo started rolling out in late-October 2017. Android 9.0 Pie was rolled out for the XZ Premium in February 2019.

Variants

References

External links

XZ premium
{{Sony phones Android (operating system) devices Discontinued flagship smartphones Sony smartphones Mobile phones introduced in 2017 Mobile phones with 4K video recording