Sony Xperia XZ blue
Sony responds to user complaints on Xperia XZ and XZ Premium camera distortion issuesSony

The Motion Eye camera has been touted as the key selling point of Sony's newest flagship smartphones, the Xperia XZ and XZ Premium. However, the USP of the phone has drawn severe flak, with several users complaining about a major lens distortion issue, resulting in a ripple effect or warping along the edges of the photos.

Xperia XZ Premium camera distortion
Image of grid: iPhone (left) versus Xperia XZ Premium (right)Xperia Blog

Quite surprisingly, the warping issue seems to persist even with Sony's new anti-distortion shutter tech enabled on the Xperia handset. It is reported that the wide angle camera lens being stuck in a thin body frame of the phone could actually be causing the distortion issue.

Xperia XZ Premium camera distortion
Camera distortion: Image of keyboardXperia Blog

Consequently, it is now ascertained that the software optimisation implemented by Sony has no bearing or influence on the image warping issues at the edges of the photos as it is deemed to be a hardware limitation. Users have been flooding official Sony Mobile forums as well as XDA forums with complaints on the issue, while the folks at Xperia Blog fan site have reportedly contacted Sony to get a probable fix.

Here's what Sony had to say in response to various complaints and requests placed on its official forums:

Sony Mobile Communications has received a small number of comments from consumers that they have experienced distortion in some images taken with their Xperia XZs and Xperia XZ Premium devices. We would like to assure our customers that with our new Motion Eye Camera we are delivering the best possible balance of image quality and advanced features. The comments experienced are familiar for a wide-angle field of view lens and accepted within the industry and we believe we are still providing the highest possible image quality whilst capturing more of the scene in the photo with its wide field of view."

Sony's response indicates that it is a widespread yet normal issue plaguing several other smartphones in the industry. So the company has no intention of fixing the limitation at least on its current-gen flagship phones.