Ah, Sony — an organization identified the world over for its long-lasting PlayStation consoles and Walkman music gamers. Its TV manufacturing arm, Sony Photos Tv, is even the distributor behind Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy. However do you know that Sony has a big product line of Android telephones?
Years following the Sony Ericsson days, the corporate’s Xperia telephones sat alongside its Samsung and LG counterparts on store shows within the early 2010s. Then, beginning in 2015, it spent a very good few years within the realm of unlocked, direct-to-consumer telephones till it stopped promoting Xperia telephones at U.S. retailers in 2024. Whereas Sony has made them out there to U.S. residents through on-line marketplaces like Amazon, the corporate has centered on positioning itself within the European and Japanese cellular markets, plus these in Taiwan and Hong Kong. So, sure, Sony remains to be releasing smartphones — however, purportedly, it is also not manufacturing them.
In Might 2025, Japanese outlet Smartphone Digest seen that Sony had up to date some documentation concerning the forms of merchandise it manufactures at its varied factories. Two Thai crops and one Chinese language plant that have been beforehand listed as smartphone producers have been not listed as such. On the time, Sony was promoting the Xperia 1 VII — which occurs to be probably the greatest Android telephones you may get that also has a headphone jack — and that mannequin marked the start of the product line being assembled by a 3rd social gathering. Throughout Sony’s August 2025 earnings transient, the corporate’s CFO, Lin Tao, instructed traders that Sony remained dedicated to its smartphone line, however she made no point out of manufacturing particulars.
The Sony Xperia story is an unlikely one
In the case of the individuality of its Android telephones, the Japanese multinational’s method was not in contrast to that of Korea’s personal LG, which went after curved chassis, modular design, and even one oddball idea telephone with a rollable display that widespread tech reviewer Marques Brownlee demonstrated on YouTube. Given fierce competitors within the area, LG stop the smartphone enterprise solely again in 2021 — Sony hasn’t, however the firm is extra reserved on the options entrance.
Sony’s Xperia Compact sequence spanned six fashions that launched between 2014 and 2018, with display sizes restricted to five inches or smaller. They have been arguably extra succesful, highly effective choices price shopping for in comparison with the up to date iPhone SE, and so they have been even barely smaller than each the iPhone 12 Mini and the iPhone 13 Mini. Throughout the identical interval, Sony additionally launched the X-, Z-, and XZ-series Premium telephones that morphed into the early entries of the present Xperia 1 line. On these telephones, 4K panels have been the secret. In reality, Sony was the primary producer to have shipped a smartphone with a 4K show.
Sony’s modern-day mobile choices, nonetheless, are comparatively extra pedestrian than their predecessors have been; latest fashions within the Xperia line are not area of interest compact gadgets with flashy 4K shows. The Xperia 1 VI of 2024 introduced the flagship line again right down to earth with a 1080p show and a give attention to triple-threat cameras powered by Exmor sensors. The corporate additionally produced the extra reasonably priced Xperia 5, however Sony gave up on that particular line solely as of 2023. Nevertheless, Xperia followers do have some excellent news to look ahead to: per latest Sony claims, the mid-range Sony Xperia 10 VIII is ready to launch the week of August 23, 2026.
