Sonys Xperia XZ Premium is unworthy of its name

What defines a premium product? To my mind, its the added benefit or advantage of something that you wouldnt be able to obtain at a lower price. An example might be the $4,000 Focal Utopia headphones with beryllium drivers, whose sound is hard to rival and unobtainable without that extremely rigid material. Or perhaps its

What defines a premium product? To my mind, it’s the added benefit or advantage of something that you wouldn’t be able to obtain at a lower price. An example might be the $4,000 Focal Utopia headphones with beryllium drivers, whose sound is hard to rival and unobtainable without that extremely rigid material. Or perhaps it’s Coach’s leather briefcases, which justify their price by aging gracefully and gorgeously. Or it could be the expert craftsmanship of Canon’s universally acclaimed L lenses. In all cases, premium means you pay more to get more.

Except with the Sony Xperia XZ Premium, you don’t. This phone costs a thoroughly premium $799.99, but offers no premium advantage that I’ve been able to discern in weeks of using it. It’s fine, a lot of it is fine, but none of it justifies the XZ Premium’s price or name.

The best way to consider this flagship Sony phone is by addressing the particular components and features of smartphone design that are presently considered premium. I’ll take each of them in turn.

With its fancy mirror finish, eyebrow-raising price, and proud Sony pedigree, the Xperia XZ Premium flatters to deceive. On paper, it’s a behemoth, but in practice, it’s too much like the rest of the mainstream Android flagship pack. That’s been Sony’s problem almost since the very inception of the Xperia line, and the XZ Premium does nothing to rectify it.

Photography by Vlad Savov

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