Created: 28 September 2021 · Last edited: 25 September 2026

Sharp's winter 2021 collection features the now familiar Aquos R6 and an upgrade to the mid-range series, the Aquos sense6. It has been officially announced by docomo and by KDDI, start of availability scheduled for mid-November 2021.

The Aquos sense6 represents a substantial upgrade over the previous Aquos sense5, bringing several features that had previously been reserved for Sharp's higher-end models. Let's see.

The display is a 6.1-inch IGZO OLED with a resolution of 2432 x 1080 pixels. It supports 10-bit image processing and is capable of displaying 1 billion colours. This was previously reserved for the flagships (Aquos R3, R5G, R6 and Aquos zero2, zero5G). It is also Sharp's first mid-range phone to feature an IGZO OLED. The Aquos sense6 display offers 1300 nit peak brightness and 13,000,000:1 native contrast, while its touch panel detects input at up to 120 Hz – stuff that many flagships by other makers out there can't get.

The Aquos sense6 is equipped with a triple-camera setup using Sharp's ProPix 3 image-quality engine, introduced with the Aquos R6:

• a standard camera with a 48 MP sensor, aperture f/1.8, wide-angle 79°, focal length equivalent 26 mm, electronic image stabilisation;
• a wide-angle camera with an 8 MP sensor, aperture f/2.4, ultra-wide-angle 120°, focal length equivalent 15 mm, electronic image stabilisation;
• a telephoto camera with an 8 MP sensor, aperture f/2.4, telephoto 45°, focal length equivalent 53 mm, electronic image stabilisation.

The front-facing camera has an 8-megapixel sensor with aperture f/2.0, wide-angle 78°, focal length equivalent 26 mm, no image stabilisation.

The Aquos sense6 comes with 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of ROM, except for the SIM-free SH-M19, which also offers a beefed-up 6 GB RAM/128 GB ROM version. At its heart is Qualcomm's Snapdragon 690 5G (SM6350), an octa-core processor combining two 2.0 GHz Cortex-A77 cores with six 1.7 GHz Cortex-A55 cores.

The energy-saving IGZO OLED technology, along with the 4570 mAh battery, should ensure one week of use on a single charge, based on Sharp's estimate of 1 hour of use per day and 23 hours of standby.

Despite the relatively big battery capacity and display size, Sharp have managed to reduce the phone's thickness by 11% (compared to the Aquos sense5) to 7.9 mm, the width being 70 mm and the height 152 mm. The Aquos sense6 weighs just 156 grams – considerably less than most phones in this class.

Face and fingerprint recognition are now standard features, just as water- and dust-proofing. Oh, and shock-resistance!

Connectivity is comprehensive, although the sense6 leaves out a few of the traditional Japanese extras. Wi-Fi supports IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, while Bluetooth 5.1 provides wireless audio and peripheral connectivity. The phone also supports NFC and FeliCa, including mobile payments through Osaifu-Keitai. An analogue FM tuner with Wide FM support is built in, with wired headphones serving as the antenna, but there is no infrared communication and neither 1seg nor full-seg digital TV reception is supported. A USB Type-C port provides the wired connection and charging interface. Yes. The AQUOS sense6 has a 3.5 mm headphone jack. Unlike many others.

The AQUOS sense6 rolls out with Android 11 and is scheduled to receive two major (OS) upgrades.