Sony to Introduce Cyber-shot and Walkman Xperia Phones This Year

Sony will allegedly reintroduce its Cyber-shot brand to an upcoming Xperia handset to take on devices from HTC and Nokia. In fact, according to this new rumor, the device will sport "the best camera" we've ever seen in the mobile industry.

As smartphones edge toward the super phone frontier, better cameras are becoming an expected feature. The Lumia 920 essentially kicked off the "new" camera war, and the One from HTC took that even further with its UltraPixel tech. Sony's Cyber-shot smartphone will be similar in execution—i.e. include a larger sensor—and take advantage of Carl Zeiss optics, along with other "top of the line" camera specs.

There's not much information about other aspects of the device; phoneArena's source claims the handset will sport a 5-inch display, but anything beyond that is unknown. The report also says a smaller Cyber-shot branded camera will be released to take on Apple's iPhone, though information on that handset is practically nonexistent.

Finally, there's another 5-inch device coming from Sony that will include Walkman technology. "It will come with integrated amplifier chip and all other goodies of sony walkman [sic] series and same top specs," phoneArena's source said.

Mobile cameras are part of a bigger battleground, and it sounds like Sony is getting pretty serious about this growing trend. The company has been making some very excellent mirrorless cameras as of late, so we know its capable of high quality optics. In a smartphone form factor similar in quality to the Lumia 920 and HTC One, though? I guess we'll find out soon enough.