Sony Xperia C5 Ultra and Xperia M5 leak ahead of official announcement with interesting hardware

With Sony’s mobile division up against the ropes, you’d think they’d dial back launching new devices every few weeks. With a new announcement planned for next week, we really weren’t quite sure what they’d announce but they seem to be teasing some kind of new camera tech. And that’s good. It’s arguably the most important hardware spec in this year’s smartphone arms race, something any smartphone needs to excel at in order to be crowned king.

Sony Xperia C5 Ultra

Now, we didn’t think they’d be announcing a new flagship, not with the Sony Xperia Z4 launching only a few weeks back. But if Russian site Hi-Tech.Mail.ru‘s new leak is what Sony has up their sleeves, it appears they could be taking a stab at the affordable device market with a pair of new Xperias that seemingly target camera quality over performance.

Sony Xperia M5

The newly leaked 6-inch Sony Xperia C5 Ultra and 5-inch Sony Xperia M5 both feature relatively modest specs on paper, but have their standout features (like Sony’s new IMX230 image sensor on the M5 which is also found on the Moto X Style/Pure Edition). As for looks, the M5 is the usual Xperia fare while the C5 Ultra has the most striking design thanks to razor thin side bezels and its huge overall size. Let’s take a look at the rest of the specs:

Sony Xperia C5 Ultra

6-inch 1080p edge-to-edge display (0.8mm thin)
MediaTek MT6752 chipset (1.7GHz octa-core)
16GB internal storage
2GB RAM
Micro SD card slot
13MP rear / 13MP rear camera with front facing flash
2,930mAh battery
Around $343 – $359

Sony Xperia M5

5-inch 1080p display
MediaTek Helio X10 chipset (2GHz octa-core)
16GB internal storage
3GB RAM
Micro SD card slot
21.5MP camera hybrid auto focus, 5x lossless zoom / 13MP front facing camera
2,600mAh battery
IP65/IP68 dust/water resistance
Around $390 – $406

Really, it’s not all that bad, especially for those looking for an affordable mid-range device that doesn’t compromise on camera quality (something that typically doesn’t go hand-in-hand). No word on availability quite yet, but we expect we’ll learn more on August 3rd when Sony makes everything official.