Copy Apple and stay a premium niche.
Impossible. Android is about to go commodity like PCs did. Even Samsung with all their brand power can't resist, so there is no way a Sony with very little mindshare can. I predict within two years iPhones at the high-end will cost a solid $100+ extra out of contract over the high-end Android competitor. Or more.
So, again, just because it runs Android does not mean it has to be a me-too bottom-feeder product. It can be premium.
You are correct that there will continue to be high-end Androids. Sony's challenge is that NONE of these high end devices are successful unless they are sold with a subsidy on AT&T or Verizon in the US. China is driving the volume on the low-end, we do it to the high end.
Sony's problem is they are late to the party. If they had some flagship model on Verizon back in 2012 then MAYBE they have enough mindshare today to compete. They didn't, so it is smart to get out while they are ahead.
And there is nothing special about iOS that keeps them in that walled garden.......Apple has an illusion of high status.
You make a statement and then contradict it later on. The special part about iOS and iPhones is the fact that they are seen as the premium product.
What you personally like doesn't matter. You and me are a SLIVER of the total market, less than 1%. What matters for high-end phones is what normal everyday people think. Those normal people are only buying phones that they have heard of- aka in their consideration set. In 2015 that means Apple or Samsung. Sony is a gaming brand, maybe a TV brand, but it is not a smartphone brand. It takes resources to get into that consideration set, they don't get to roll any of that 1990's consumer electronic momentum (which is almost all gone anyway) into a new segment.
They have been making good devices but now is the time to get out. The OnePlus One was a glimpse of the future last year- Android is about to go the way of the PC with low margin devices. I personally hope that the subsidy model keeps around a premium product at the high-end, but if you aren't in that part of the North American market you are toast. The future of most of the Android market belong to Xiaomi, ZTE, Huawei, Alcatel, etc.