Sony's new Xperia E5 is going to be a tough sell

After the false start from last week, Sony has officially introduced the Xperia E5.

There are not many surprises to talk about here. The rumors were accurate, with the notable exception of the Xperia E5’s screen, which is 5 inches, instead of the 4.6 inches that leaked benchmarks had us believe. That means the Xperia E5 will match almost spec for spec the Moto G4 Play, a phone that we expect to be quite cheap.

The Xperia E5 will be powered by MediaTek’s MT6735 chipset, a quad-core SoC that competes directly with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 410. You get 1.5GB of RAM and 16GB of storage, and the screen is HD LCD with a pixel density of 294 ppi. Other main specs include 13MP and 5MP cameras, NFC, LTE Category 4, and a 2,700 mAh battery.

Xperia E5 is garbed in a basic plastic design and will be available in either black or white, eschewing the distinctive green or orange of higher-end Sony phones.

Sony will sell the Xperia E5 in select markets in Europe, Middle East, Africa and Latin America, with availability slated for the end of June.

In Europe, the device is confirmed to sell for 199 euros. That’s not horrible in itself, but looking at some other phones you can get in this price range, it’s really hard to recommend the Xperia E5.

With 200 euro, you can get older devices with better features, like Moto G (3^rd generation), some ZenFone 2 variants, or a device from Alcatel. Pay just a little more, and you can get the OnePlus X or the HONOR 5X, a phone that features a fingerprint scanner, a bigger, Full HD screen, and a metal body.

And there’s a new batch of affordable devices coming soon, including the Moto G4 (not to mention the Moto G4 Play) and the new ZenFone 3.

In this context, it’s hard to understand what Sony hopes to accomplish here. Perhaps the company isn’t willing to sacrifice margins for the sake of sales anymore, but phones that simply sit on the shelf won’t help Sony achieve mobile profitability this year.

Let us know your thoughts!