Japanese consumer electronics giant, Sony, introduced its ‘OmniBalance’ smartphone design with the 2013 flagship Sony Xperia Z. Over the four years that followed, Sony has done little in revising its squared-off slab design. Though, a new report makes the claim that the company will soon switch to a totally new design language in order to be more competitive.
Sony’s India Director, Kenichiro Hibi, explained that: “we are planning to launch new generation of products and you can expect a complete new design from the devices.” Hibi went on to state that Sony is aware of the changed aspect ratio, moving away from 16:9 towards the 18:9 or similar ratio as introduced by LG, Samsung and others. It would appear that Sony is planning to change its devices to follow suit, so for 2018, we could see a Sony badge on a bezel-free, 18:9 flagship smartphone.
The official word from Hibi is that the new design language would be implemented “soon,” but he did not provide any guidance as to when, exactly, soon would be. Previous industry rumors have previously pointed towards Sony introducing a new design called ‘Mirai,’ the Japanese word for “future.” These rumors point towards the next Sony smartphone using this Hibi design language, which could be showcased at or around the time of the Mobile World Congress 2018 show scheduled for late February.
Sony’s OmniBalance design has been refined over the years. The ethos behind OmniBalance was to create a comfortable-to-handle phone with a symmetrical build. This means that one side is not heavier nor thicker than the other, so the smartphone or tablet can be held in any way (portrait, landscape, one or two hands) and be equally comfortable. In recent years, the design has been criticized as having a large bezel over the top and bottom of the device. Despite this, Sony’s flagship devices have a good reputation for being well made and solid. Still, a more modernized design could rejuvenate the brand, which has been suffering due to lack of change among other factors. Now, we’ve heard this type of report before, so don’t get too excited just yet. But if Sony were to go through with a new design able to compete with modern-day high-end Android smartphones, the company could find its way back in the race.
Current Sony lovers are going to criticize this report by saying, “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it.” This is a chance for Sony to do something bold, be the old Sony, the innovative, early adopter Sony, who wasn’t afraid to be among the very first to try something new. What do you think, do you believe this support. Will it be too little too late?
SOURCE [The Indian Express]
