Sony Xperia XA2 Plus in for review

The Sony Xperia XA2 Plus is a mid-season upgrade to the XA2 Ultra. It introduces the first 18:9 screen to the mid-range series – a 6” 1080p+ panel – and offers almost the same surface area, but in a phone that’s both narrower and shorter. The Gorilla Glass protection was updated to version 5 (up from 4) to boot.

There’s a new tier that offer 6GB of RAM (and 64GB storage), up from 4GB max in the Ultra. The base remains at 4GB/32GB and the chipset is the same as well – Snapdragon 630.

A tall 18:9 screen is a first for the Xperia XA series • The XA2 Plus is more compact than the Ultra

Another advantage of the XA2 Plus is that it’s lighter (205g vs. 221g) while offering the same battery capacity of 3,580mAh (and it keeps Quick Charge 3.0). Considering the Ultra got an impressive 100h Endurance rating, we expect the XA2 Plus to do the same when we test the battery (which is underway).

The one place where the Plus can be considered a downgrade from the Ultra is the selfie camera – you get the regular 8MP cam from the Xperia XA2 instead of the dual 16MP + 8MP sharpshooter of the Ultra, whose top feature was OIS. However, despite the impressive (on paper) hardware, the XA2 Ultra selfie camera wasn’t too great.

Plus, the main camera is the same – with the 23MP 1/2.3” sensor that’s larger than some (most?) flagships.

Impressive 23MP camera with a large 1/2.3" sensor • The dual selfie cam with OIS from the Ultra is MIA

Sony definitely offers a more modern design with the Xperia XA2 Plus compared to the XA2 duo it unveiled at the beginning of the year. So we’re going into this review with cautious optimism, but it lost what made the Ultra special and we can tell you right now the conclusion will include a discussion about price.