Sony is reviving its Xperia Compact smartphone series

Sony used to be associated with compact high-end smartphones, but since 2018 the Japanese brand has ignored the segment in favor of larger products. Soon, though, the Xperia Compact line will be revived.

Tipster Steve Hemmerstoffer, whose unrivaled track record includes the Galaxy S21 series and 2020 Xperia flagships, has shared CAD-based renders of an upcoming iPhone 12 mini rival to be launched under the Xperia Compact series.

The smartphone measures in at only 140 x 68.9 x 8.9mm, making it much smaller than most modern flagships but a little bigger than the older Xperia XZ2 Compact (135 x 65 x 12.1 mm) and the aforementioned iPhone 12 mini (131.5 x 64.2 x 7.4 mm).

Making the reduced dimensions possible is a 5.5-inch notched display that’s surrounded by slim bezels and a chin. The latter’s thickness suggests that, unlike previous models, this will be more of a mid-range product than a premium flagship.

An 8-megapixel selfie camera sits in the notch and Sony has paired it with a dual-camera setup on the rear, which itself includes a 13-megapixel main shooter and an unspecified second sensor. There is also an LED flash inside the vertical module.

The frame design used on last year’s Xperia 1 II and Xperia 5 II has been carried over to this phone, so you can expect a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, a volume rocker, and a dedicated shutter button.

Also on the table is a 3.5mm headphone jack, a USB-C port on the bottom for fast charging, and a bottom-firing speaker that pairs up with the in-ear speaker for a stereo setup.

Not much else is known about the smartphone at this stage, but rumors dating back to last November suggested the product would be presented as the Sony Xperia 1 III Compact. The mainstream Xperia 1 III flagship is expected to arrive in late February or March, so the next-gen Xperia Compact could certainly make its international debut then too.

As for the all-important chipset, it was listed as the Snapdragon 775G. This should arrive later this quarter as the successor to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 765G, which can be found inside the Pixel 5.

It’ll likely offer 5G network support as standard and improved performance, but we don’t know much else.