Samsung and HTC don’t have much competition in the high-end smartphone market niche these days, but we knew for a while that Sony is preparing a charge against the S3 and the One X. But, while Sony's future flagships look really special in theory, the release delays might seriously affect their practical chances of making a difference.

According to official information on NTT DoCoMo’s webpage, the Japanese carrier will start taking pre-orders for the Xperia GX on August 2, and ship the phone a full week later, on the 9^th. That means that, for some reason, the initial plans – to put the handheld up for sale in July – have been modified. Sure, we might not be dealing with the most serious delay in history, but we know that even a day or two mean a lot in such an ever-changing market (especially when Samsung and HTC are preparing another super-phone duo).

The GX’s Japanese delay might also have a serious impact on the global Hayabusa release, a phone that is thought to come with the exact same spec sheet as the Asian version. Also known as the LT29i, this itself was initially rumored as coming in July, but could now be pushed back to September. Moreover, this might have a domino effect on another much awaited launch, that of the Sony Mint, which could now be delayed to late September or early October.

These are all speculations (hence the “coulds” and “mights”), so for the time being, we can hope to see both the Hayabusa and the Mint unveiled at Sony’s special Berlin event.

Before that, though, we have two more juicy rumors for you about Sony’s upcoming phones. First off, it seems that the Xperia GX (SO-04D) is set to start selling at 72,240 Yen, which would convert into around $920. That, however, will surely not be Hayabusa’s US price tag, which should be cut down with at least a couple hundreds bucks.

Finally, the Sony Xperia SX (SO-05D), another interesting Japan-bound phone, is rumored to start selling on August 10 for 58,800 Yen (around $750). We’re not certain if that handheld will ever come to the rest of the world, but again, if it will, it will most likely come at a significantly lower price point.

Do you think Sony has a chance to challenge Samsung and HTC in the Android high-end universe? Do the Hayabusa, Mint, and/or Xperia SX sound like something you would be interested in?