Sony is betting on the selfie

Sony has been lagging in the smartphone arena, having lost share and brand equity to other competitors over the past few years. In addition, the squeeze put on by extraordinary competition at the high- and low-price markets has made it much more difficult to gain back market share. However, Sony does have one big advantage in the smartphone arena: its cameras. Sony supplies the camera module to a number of top-tier smartphones, including the Apple iPhone 6 and the Samsung Galaxy S6.

Now it appears as though the company is going to leverage its expertise in this area to try to breathe new life into its smartphone business. The company’s newly announced midrange phones, the Xperia M5 and Xperia C5 Ultra, will include not only a 21MP high-resolution camera on the back, but a 13MP camera on the front as well.

Given that the “selfie” is continuing to be one of the most common ways that a consumer user takes a photo, this move makes sense. With a high resolution camera on the front of the phone, Sony is positioning its devices as a better way to take a selfie. In addition to the camera, the $400 5in M5 and $425 6in C5 Ultra will include full HD displays and Mediatek octa-core processors, and will run Android 5.0. Both will go on sale globally in late August.

Will a better selfie camera prove to be a differentiator? Only time will tell, but it appears that Sony is not quite out of the market yet.