Earlier this month at IFA, Sony unveiled the Xperia Z5 Premium — the world’s first smartphone with a 4K resolution display. However, hands-on of the device from different publications revealed that for some reason the UI on the Z5 Premium was running in Full HD resolution itself.

This led many to claim that Sony fooled everyone into thinking that it has released a smartphone with a 4K display which was nothing more than a proof-of-concept since in reality the software ran at Full HD resolution. Now, Sony has issued an official statement to Phone Arena explaining the matter.

The company says all content on the Z5 Premium is displayed at Full HD or lower resolution to make sure that there is not a significant hit in performance or battery life. Only media content on the Xperia Z5 Premium will be rendered at 4K resolution, so that you can enjoy the extra pixels when it matters the most.

Xperia Z5 Premium features a 4K display with a resolution of 3840×2160 pixels based on SID Standard and enables all video and image content to be enjoyed in 4K resolution. All other content is displayed at 1080P or lower resolution in order to optimise the performance and battery stamina for this device, ensuring you can enjoy the 4K resolution when you need it most.

Considering that the 4K display resolution would heavily strain the Snapdragon 810 chipset and greatly deplete the battery life of the Z5 Premium, Sony’s compromise does make sense here.

[Via PhoneArena]