Now, we won’t go into detail on what the companion products bring to the table, but the handsets certainly deserve attention, especially for those in the market for a mid-to-high-end Android device in 2016.

Neither the Xperia XA, Xperia X, and Xperia X Performance will set the world alight with bleeding-edge specifications, but Sony may have done enough to make them seem as desirable as any option in the midrange. And if you think about it, a standout mid-tier phone or two, or three, might be what the Japanese outfit needs to make its smartphone efforts lucrative again. Based on what we know so far, the Xperia X series fits the bill.

Obviously, there’s the design, which stays true to Sony’s smartphone styling: boxy, with subtle curves along the metal edges and top and bottom bezels that are a little big for our liking. All phones come encased in metal bodies and feature 2.5D curved glass on the front, giving them a better feel in the hand. The finish on the rear varies from model to model (matte for the Xperia XA and Xperia X; brushed metal for the Xperia X Performance.)

Another bright spot for the Xperia X series is the rear camera; Sony’s mobile division has worked more closely with the people behind the Sony Alpha cameras, and what they have come up with is a camera module that not only focuses on the subject at a blistering speed, but eliminates motion blur as well by predicting movement.

As for the specs, you’re looking at a 5-inch IPS display across the board, with the higher-end Xperia X models flaunting a resolution of 1080p. Speed-wise, the Xperia X Performance is the McLaren of the bunch, packing a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chipset under the hood. That said, the combination of Qualcomm’s most powerful system-on-a-chip yet and a modest, full-resolution screen should translate into a premium gaming experience — and some intriguing benchmark numbers.

The Xperia X, on the other hand, carries a hexa-core Snapdragon 650, and the Xperia XA an octa-core MediaTek MT6755.