Sony is looking to up its game in the smartphone market with its next flagship smartphone. In an interview with the German-language Financial Times Deutschland, Sony Mobile’s Communications CVP Sales & Marketing Dennis van Schie said that a flagship model to be released “in the near future” will compete directly against Apple’s iPhone and Samsung’s Galaxy S III.
It remains to be seen if this new flagship is the Sony Yuga or Sony Odin recently spotted on benchmarking sites. Rumoured specifications include a 1.5GHz quad-core processor, Android 4.1.1 (although that could be bumped up by release time), a 5-inch 1080p display, 2GB of RAM and a 12MP camera.
Sony could unveil this device in early 2013 either at January’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) or February’s Mobile World Congress (MWC).
Van Schie also added that Sony is keeping a close eye on Windows Phone 8. “We have a good relationship with Microsoft and we are watching the development of Windows Phone closely. If it succeeds, we will not be caught off guard,” he explained.
Sony is also looking to launch additional tablets. Due to “intense price competition,” it will only launch a few other Android tablets. “It has become very difficult to earn money with tablets.”
On the content side, Sony will focus on improving cross-device support for its library of music and video content. By the end of next year, users will be able to access content through a single sign-on across all devices.
2013 promises to be a busy year for Sony!
Read more: Financial Times Deutschland (in German) [Google translation] (Source: XperiaBlog)