Sony Xperia XZ Premium

Sony is back with its 4K screen party trick, and it’s only marginally less silly than it was in 2015.

- Alan Martin

Back in 2015, I reviewed the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium. What made it premium, according to Sony, was its 4K screen at a time when almost all screens on smartphones were 1080p. It was silly, especially given that it only worked in 4K mode for two Sony apps; YouTube and Netflix didn’t support mobile 4K. Even if they did, the awkward truth is that you don’t have magic eyes: you can’t see the difference between 4K and 1080p on a screen that small.

At the risk of sounding like a stuck record, 4K remains silly on a 5.5in display. It’s silly because there’s still precious little 4K content for Android. It’s silly because it drains the battery. That last point also means that Sony doesn’t run the phone in 4K most of the time: just an upscaled 1080p. Which in turn generates another silly point: if it’s not dazzling enough to bother with 90% of the time, is 4K worth it for the handful of cases when it can be used? “It’s great for virtual reality,” I hear you cry. Sure, but VR games aren’t rendered in 4K anyway.

Fortunately, the LCD screen stacks up rather well for quality. Brightness goes up to a very solid 524cd/m2 and the contrast ratio is great at 1,116:1. When Netflix and Amazon get round to supporting HDR through their mobile apps, the Xperia XZ Premium will be there to take advantage, too.