Sony has struggled in recent years to garner the same level of hype and success as Samsung or Apple – despite being one of the most innovative smartphone manufacturers. In the past, the company has introduced IP-rated waterproofing, 4K displays, 960fps video capture and gigabit download speeds to the phone market and, as you’ll see below, they continue to add more feathers to the Sony Mobile cap.
Read on and you’ll find that Sony’s most recent phones are not only worth your time, but may also save you a lot of money too; its newest flagship phones are considerably cheaper than both the iPhone X and Samsung Galaxy S9, despite having identical cutting-edge specs you’ve come to expect from a high-end flagship handset. These are the best Sony smartphones you can buy right now.
Which is the best Sony phone for you in 2018?
1. Sony Xperia XZ2
Price:£699 | Buy now from Amazon
Sony’s latest flagship smartphone, the Xperia XZ2, is a good £200-£300 cheaper than both the iPhone X and Samsung Galaxy S9. Granted, it is £100 more than its predecessor – which came out only six months before – but its improved design and fancy new features more than justify the price hike.
The Xperia XZ2 is the first smartphone that’s capable of shooting video in 4K and HDR. Its 19-megapixel rear camera can also capture 960fps super-slow-motion footage at Full HD resolution. Neither the new iPhone or Galaxy can do such things. There are frame-rate issues with the new 4K HDR recording capabilities, though, which you can read about in our full review.
The XZ2 also has a long-lasting battery life. There’s also the sleek, new and improved unibody design and its 5.7in, 2,160 x 1,080 display, which matches the quality of the rest of 2018’s flagships. Rest assured, this is a top-notch handset.
Sony Xperia XZ2: Who is it for?
People who want a flagship smartphone that rivals – and in some aspects beats – the iPhone X and Samsung Galaxy S9, but for a lot less money. Likewise, this is a phone for anybody who wants to have the cutting edge of camera and video technology in their pockets.
![Image of Sony Xperia XZ2 Dual SIM, 4GB RAM, 64GB UFS internal memory - UK SIM-Free Smartphone - Liquid Black (Exclusive to Amazon) [UK]](http://images-eu.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/415bcNIg68L._SL160_.jpg "Sony Xperia XZ2 Dual SIM, 4GB RAM, 64GB UFS internal memory - UK SIM-Free Smartphone - Liquid Black (Exclusive to Amazon) [UK]")
2. Sony Xperia XA2
Price:£300 | Buy now from Amazon
With £300 to spend in 2006 you would struggle to buy even a Motorola Razr, which initially launched for £350. In 2018, however, £300 gets you a top-rate Sony smartphone with a Full HD 5.2in display, 23-megapixel camera, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of expandable storage, and an octa-core processor. That’s a lot of things, isn’t it?
The Xperia XA2 is the perfect mid-range smartphone. It’s one of a slew of new Xperias that have been unleashed on the public already this year, but it’s also one of the best. In our original review, we gave it top marks, with its one (slight) downfall being the camera’s poor image quality in low-light conditions. Still, for a phone at this price, it’s way out in front of the competition.
Sony Xperia XZ2: Who is it for?
Savvy tech-heads who want the best without breaking the bank. It’s equipped with a gorgeous display, speedy performance, respectable battery life and captures, for the most part, lovely high-quality pictures.
3. Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact
Price:£529 | Buy now from Amazon
As you’d expect, being the Xperia XZ2’s smaller sibling, the XZ2 Compact shares many of its larger counterpart’s traits – both the good and the, er, not so good. They have the same internal hardware, for a start: a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor, with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of expandable storage. This makes the XZ2 Compact an extraordinarily high-powered device for a phone with a display that’s only five inches across, corner to corner.
It also has identical camera capabilities (which, alas, does include the inconsistent HDR video frame rate), is IP67 dust- and water-resistant, and has the same 18:9 display as its larger relative. You can read our full XZ2 Compact review here.
Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact: Who is it for?
If the XZ2 sounds right up your street, and you want access to the best of what it has to offer, but you want to save cash and have a smaller-form-factor smartphone. Rather than the XZ2’s shiny, slippery glass back, the rear casing of the XZ2 Compact has anti-scratch polycarbonate coating over its aluminium frame, too.
![Image of Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact UK SIM-Free Smartphone - Liquid Black (Exclusive to Amazon) [UK]](http://images-eu.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/414pPxdc8iL._SL160_.jpg "Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact UK SIM-Free Smartphone - Liquid Black (Exclusive to Amazon) [UK]")
4. Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra
Price:£379 | Buy now from Amazon
The addition of the word ‘Ultra’ to the Sony XA2 would, naturally, lead you to believe that this handset is both bigger and better than its smaller equivalent we mentioned above. And you’d be half right. Yes, with an extra 1in of screen, the Ultra is considerably larger than the XA2, but it performs just as well.
At £379, it just about manages to go toe to toe with several other similarly priced handsets, and this is a decent choice if you’re stuck on what phone to get at this price. Read our full Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra review.
Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra: Who is it for?
Anyone looking for a slightly below mid-range phone with as big a screen as can fit in your jeans – although it might poke out a bit, if your pockets aren’t deep enough. You probably won’t regret buying this phone, but if you're not lusting over its huge screen, then maybe go for the cheaper but equally proficient XA2.
5. Sony Xperia XZ Premium
Price:£475 | Buy now from Amazon
This may have been Sony’s flagship device last year, but even in the fast-moving world of smartphone development, it still holds up to phones launching today. It is a speedy performer, has a fantastic camera with an awesome 960fps slow-mo capture feature, and doesn’t muck around in the display department either, with a 4K resolution screen.
At the time of our original review, the XZ Premium was going for around £650. Less than a year on and it’s roughly £175 cheaper, so it won’t burn a hole in your pocket – but it might just tear a hole right through them thanks to its very sharp corners.
Sony Xperia XZ Premium: Who is it for?
Don’t mind lagging a bit behind the times? The XZ Premium is as good as any of the flagship phones that came out in 2017, and at only £475 it’s a hell of a lot cheaper than any of the big-name, top-of-the-line smartphones released so far this year. Just make sure you buy a nice cosy case to cover up those knife-like corners and prevent trouser-tearing.
Want something cheaper?
Most of Sony’s handsets squeeze into the mid-range price level for smartphones, compared with, say, the iPhone X and Samsung Galaxy S9, which are decidedly top-end handsets. But if the price tags on these Sony smartphones are prohibitively high for you, or you simply do not want to spend that much money on a mobile phone, you might consider looking at some of the lower-end budget choices.
These price cuts will come at a cost; cheaper phones tend to have fewer features, lower-quality cameras, weaker screen resolutions and...we’re sure you get the idea. But if you don’t want anything fancy – just a device that covers all the smartphone bases – then you’ve got a few options to choose from. Head over to our best budget smartphones list, where you can read about the champions of the cheap phone market. They start from just £59 – that’s right, you could have almost 17 smartphones for the price of a single iPhone X.