Regarding the launch in TaiwanXperia 5VThe price has increased significantly compared to the previous generation of products. In an interview, Tomotaka Tsutsushio, general manager of Sony Mobile Taiwan, said that the main considerations were the market raw material costs, as well as factors such as exchange rates and inflation, which made the price of this phone indeed higher than previous products. However, he also emphasized that the phone will have higher product appeal by improving its usage functions and Sony's long-standing audio and video experience. On the other hand, the phone's price will be controlled as much as possible to avoid exceeding the acceptable range of market consumers.
While Sony will not adopt the cost-absorbing approach of its competitors, maintaining the same pricing as last year to increase overall purchasing interest, Tsutsumi emphasized that Sony's approach will still focus on improving functionality and enhancing the mobile phone's audio and video experience, including the camera function, which Sony has always emphasized, to ensure that the product's value is more in line with the current pricing.
Tomotaka Tsutsushio explains that this new model incorporates the same new Exmor T for mobile sensor as the flagship phone of the year, and leverages Sony's proprietary technology to enable the wide-angle lens with a native 5000-megapixel resolution and an effective 4800-megapixel resolution to achieve pristine image quality with a center crop right on the sensor itself. This, combined with AI processing, creates a shooting effect nearly equivalent to that of a native 2x telephoto lens. While the telephoto lens is essentially missing, the Xperia 5 V boasts a more minimalist design, while also freeing up internal space for additional heat dissipation components to maintain stable operation.
As for whether the price is too high, Tsutsumi Shio believes that based on the current Taiwanese consumer market, young consumers are relatively more willing to invest in phones with more complete functions and better specific user experiences. Therefore, he believes that the Xperia 5 V is also positioned as a flagship phone and is targeted at younger consumers. If it can provide better usage functions and audio-visual experience, it is expected to attract more user groups.
However, Tomotaka Tsutsushio also revealed that this does not mean that Xperia brand mobile phones will allow price increases. Therefore, in addition to continuing to provide mobile phone products with higher product value and greater appeal, they will also try to control the selling price of mobile phones so that Xperia brand mobile phones can be sold at a more appropriate price point.
Regarding the recent competition in the high-end flagship smartphone market, Tsutsumi Shio believes that the current mobile phone market is shifting towards a higher-end position, with each brand beginning to capitalize on different market demands to capture development opportunities. Consequently, Sony Mobile's recent mobile phone launches, while maintaining its "One Sony" marketing strategy and integrating its audio and video technologies within the handset, have also targeted gaming, live streaming, and video creation needs. By combining Sony's expertise in these areas, Sony is able to meet the creative needs of these user groups. Consequently, Sony Mobile believes that it still maintains considerable market competitiveness.
As for the fact that many of the designs pioneered in recent years have been "tested" first on the Xperia 5 series, and whether this practice will become the "norm" within Sony Mobile in the future, Yu Junhong, Marketing Assistant of Sony Mobile Taiwan, stated that there are currently no such plans. While it is true that many designs were first offered on the Xperia 5 series, such as the higher frame rate design, game enhancer, and even the practice of using the wide-angle lens "doubling as" the telephoto lens, many innovative designs were also first used in the Xperia 1 series. Therefore, it depends on the technology application plan at the time.
Furthermore, given the Xperia 5 V's removal of the telephoto lens and its shift to a wide-angle lens, will this also be applied to the future Xperia 1 series? Theoretically, this seems unlikely. After all, the two smartphones have different product positionings. The Xperia 1 series primarily offers complete "One Sony" technology integration, while the Xperia 5 V focuses on younger users and a more compact user experience. Therefore, the "merging" of wide-angle and telephoto lenses is more suitable for the Xperia 5 series.
