Tech - News
Sony Has an iPhone SE Alternative With Android On the Way
By RAHUL SRINIVAS
Although Apple has two compact smartphones in its 2022 lineup — the iPhone SE and the iPhone 13 Mini — Sony appears to be a big proponent of the compact form factor. Popular smartphone leaker Steve Hemmerstoffer, in collaboration with Indian publication Zollege, has shared the first-ever CAD renders of the new compact Sony Xperia Ace 3.
The Ace 3 is a third-generation smartphone that will succeed the original Xperia Ace and the Xperia Ace 2, and while it is near-identical to its compact predecessor, it has a slightly smaller footprint. The Ace 3 being slightly thicker than the outgoing model (9.1mm instead of 8.9mm) does not affect the display size, as it retains the tried and tested 5.5-inch display of the Ace 2.
Sony seems to have gotten rid of the 2MP depth sensor on the Ace 3, which now only gets a single 13MP rear-facing camera and a front-facing camera housed within the waterdrop notch. As for the sensor, it is likely to be the same 8MP sensor we found on Ace 2, while the rest of the design — including the side-mounted fingerprint scanner and the volume rocker keys — are all a straight lift from the Xperia Ace 2.
However, given that the Ace 2 came powered by the MediaTek P35 SoC, the Ace 3 will be targeted at the budget market, and it may feature an entry-level chipset. The marginal change in dimensions is not expected to impact the battery size of the Xperia Ace 3, and there is a good chance it will retain the Ace 2’s 4,500mAh battery.
It remains to be seen if the Ace 3 will finally make a jump to 5G networks this time around, as well as if the device will receive a wider launch net compared to the Japan-only Ace 2. Although we do not have a confirmed launch date for this one, Hemmerstoffer indicates it’s likely this model will launch by June 2022.