Latest news with #SonyMobile
Phone Arena
3 days ago
- Phone Arena
The Xperia 1 VII backlash feels like a cautionary tale about the end of Sony's golden era
Sony's decline feels like the final chapter of the golden age On paper, the company's response has been relatively swift and transparent. But for some users, this latest incident has reopened old wounds. The Xperia brand has long attracted a loyal — if niche — fanbase, especially among those who value features like a 3.5 mm headphone jack, expandable storage, and Sony's unique design philosophy. However, that loyalty has been tested over the years by limited availability, high pricing, sluggish software updates, and past hardware with another flagship suffering from early reliability problems, many are asking whether Sony can still compete in the premium smartphone market. "I've stuck with Sony through thick and thin," wrote one Redditor. "But I can't justify another thousand-dollar gamble." Others echoed similar feelings, noting that while the replacement program is appreciated, it doesn't undo the damage done to consumer Xperia 1 VII costs €1,499 in Europe and £1,399 in the UK — pricing that places it above Samsung's Galaxy S25 Ultra and Apple's iPhone 16 Pro Max in many regions. That alone raises expectations for polish and reliability. Add to that the fact that Sony only offers four years of Android version updates and six years of security patches, and the value proposition starts to look less competitive compared to brands like Google or Samsung, which now promise seven years of full software timing also couldn't be worse. As we reported earlier, Sony had positioned the Xperia 1 VII as a turning point — the company's most accessible yet professional flagship, aimed at bridging its Alpha camera system and its mobile division. But what was supposed to mark a fresh start has instead sparked fears of a deeper worth noting that not all Xperia 1 VII units are affected. Sony has been clear that only specific batches have the faulty component, and the replacement program is free for those with qualifying IMEIs. But in the eyes of some fans, this is just another misstep in a long pattern of missed opportunities. A brand that once set trends in mobile photography now risks becoming a cautionary tale about legacy and those who grew up with Sony's Walkmans, Cyber-shot phones, and Bravia TVs, Xperia's continued struggles feel personal. This isn't just about one defective handset. It's about watching a brand they once admired lose ground — and dare I say it— perhaps "lose its way" in a fiercely competitive market.
Phone Arena
14-07-2025
- Business
- Phone Arena
Sony's issues with the Xperia 1 VII might be worse than anyone could've imagined
Sony Xperia 1 VII | Image credit — PhoneArena Sony appears to be significantly downscaling its smartphone business across Europe. The company has also stopped selling the Xperia 1 VII in Taiwan and Hong Kong, after suspending its sales and shipments in Japan. In a move that might signal the end of Sony smartphones in most of Europe, Sony has stopped selling its phones in Finland. The company has removed the listings for the Xperia 1 VII and other models from its Finnish website and those of local retailers and carriers, according to Suomimobiili (translated source) . In an official statement, Sony has confirmed that it's changing its focus and won't sell the Xperia 1 VII in Finland. Instead, the company is selling the phone in its stores and through Amazon in select markets in Europe. Here's the machine translation of the complete statement Sony shared with Suomimobiili: A quick check of Sony's local websites across Europe reveals that the Xperia 1 VII isn't listed on many of them. The ones with existing listings, like Germany, France, Spain, and the United Kingdom, show that the flagship and most other models are out of would confirm the claims that Sony is downsizing its smartphone business, but it doesn't answer the question of why the company would do that. The answer might be darker than anyone would've guessed. At the beginning of July, Sony stopped the sales and shipments of the Xperia 1 VII in Japan. The reason was multiple reports for units that were turning off on their own, rebooting sporadically, or failing to turn on entirely. Soon afterwards, the company announced the same move in Taiwan (translated source) and Hong Kong (translated source) . Days later, the company notified consumers in the UK that it was investigating the cause of the issues and 'the extent of the affected stock.' Those issues add up to Sony's limited release of the Xperia 1 VII, and the rumors that the company might no longer build Xperia smartphones. Sony Xperia 1 VII | Image credit — PhoneArena I think there is a big chance Sony will exit the mobile business altogether. The Xperia phones have been facing significant challenges in recent years, leading to lower sales. The exit from the US market with the Xperia 1 VI, and the limited release of the Xperia 1 VII were signals that Sony doesn't want to keep investing in its mobile phones. Add to that all the recent issues the company has been having, and the future of Xperia phones appears dire. Secure your connection now at a bargain price! We may earn a commission if you make a purchase This offer is not available in your area.
Phone Arena
09-07-2025
- Phone Arena
Sony has the chance to challenge Apple and Samsung, but it keeps wasting it
For years, Sony has been one of the few manufacturers that could challenge the tedious status quo of the smartphone market, but that might have never been among its goals. More disturbingly, instead of reaching closer to such an achievement, the company appears to be doing its best to hinder the success of its flagships, including the recently released Xperia 1 last week, Sony stopped the sales and shipments of the Xperia 1 VII in Japan. The reason the company has given is the multiple reports of technical issues that made people's phones turn off or reboot on their own, and sometimes fail to turn on such news is always worrying, when it comes to Sony, it was another drop in the ocean of apparent setbacks. And the worst part is that most of those hiccups appear to be of Sony's own making. Sony Xperia 1 VII | Image credit — PhoneArena The Xperia 1 VII is packed with amazing features that could easily make it stand out from the crowd of mostly repetitive flagships, especially on the US market. On the one hand, Sony's commitment to top-notch quality is obvious from the phone's specs. It has a great 6.5-inch 4K OLED display, the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, and solid battery life. On the other hand, unlike virtually everyone else, Sony doesn't exclude any hardware element from its flagship phone. That's why the Xperia 1 VII is one of the few of its kind with a 3.5mm headphone jack, microSD card slot, and front-facing stereo top of all that, Sony has understands the fine touches that could make various enthusiasts more excited about the device. There is a Creator Mode for the display, which provides very accurate colors, making any image editing process more reliable. The high-res audio and LDAC support should sound exciting to every audiophile. For the camera enthusiasts, there is a continuous optical zoom with a range from 3.5x to 7.1x, and a two-step camera shutter on their own, all those features are a sure-fire way to grab people's attention and make them buy the phone that offers them. However, that's not the case with the Xperia 1 VII. Sony Xperia 1 VII | Image credit — PhoneArena Sony's greatest letdowns might be few, but they're of great importance and all of their own making. The Xperia 1 VII has some software issues that are unacceptable on a flagship smartphone. Despite the impressive camera sensors, the phone's camera delivers inconsistent results, which is a software issue. Last week's sales suspension was also likely caused by software issues. The Xperia 1 VII will only receive four years of OS updates and six years of security updates, compared to the seven OS updates the Pixel 9 and Galaxy S25 have promised. Even more damningly, Sony is usually very late with its software releases. None of this would've been such a big deal if Sony hadn't released the Xperia 1 VII as one of the most expensive smartphones on the market. The phone started at €1,499 in Europe and £1,399 in the UK for the 256GB version, which is more expensive than both the iPhone 16 Pro Max and the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. On top of that, Sony doesn't even sell the Xperia 1 VII in the United States. Sony Xperia 1 VII | Image credit — PhoneArena We are living in the age of incremental smartphone updates, which is anything but exciting. Year after year, we are subject to flashy keynotes trying to sell us new smartphone models that are essentially the same as their predecessors, except in some minor is one of the companies that appears capable of delivering something different. More importantly, people seem ready and eager to get that thing. Last week, we asked you if you would buy a Sony Xperia 1 VII if you could, and only 15% of the responses were negative. For 32% of you the price is what's stopping you from jumping on the Xperia train. Shockingly, 46% of you say they would buy it if it were available. I know this is a poll on a specialized website, and most of the people who saw it are already fans of Sony, so the results are skewed. Nevertheless, if such a huge group of enthusiasts is eager to get an Xperia flagship if only Sony would sell it at a more reasonable price, I'd imagine such a device could be a big success with small tweaks. First, Sony needs to find a way to lower the price of its flagships. If the Xperia 1 VII were slightly cheaper than the Galaxy S25 Ultra and the iPhone 16 Pro Max , some of its issues could have been easily overlooked. Considering Sony has released the phone in a bundle with €299 headphones, a discount shouldn't be Sony has to return to the US market and sell its phones globally. Missing the biggest market in the world is a mistake, but succeeding there could be a boon for any company's global presence. That could help the company follow Motorola's steps instead of LG's. The former is doing great and growing around the globe, while the latter quit the mobile market despite making great phones. Hopefully, Sony has the foresight to turn things around and deliver what its fans appear to be ready to pay for. Secure your connection now at a bargain price! We may earn a commission if you make a purchase This offer is not available in your area.
Phone Arena
23-06-2025
- Phone Arena
Sony could be preparing a second Xperia phone for 2025, and it's not the one fans were hoping for
Xperia 10 VII could follow the Xperia 1 VII Receive the latest mobile news Subscribe By subscribing you agree to our terms and conditions and privacy policy Xperia 5 series remains absent for a second year What might be a more noteworthy piece of news, however, is revealed by the lack of any Xperia 5 VII mentions. Traditionally, the Xperia 5 line has served as the company's smaller alternative to the Xperia 1 series, with similar camera tech and chip performance but in a more compact form factor. But at this point, we might be looking at a second consecutive generation without the smaller Sony flagship. Uncertain future for U.S. and other global markets The new mid-ranger was spotted in a database listing with model numbers ranging from PM-1510-BV to PM-1515-BV, and carries the internal code name XQ-FE44. Based on this timing, the device could arrive later this year, possibly sometime in new information follows the recent global launch of the Xperia 1 VII , Sony's current flagship for the year. So far, it's the only Xperia phone Sony has officially released in 2025. The emergence of a second model aligns with Sony's tradition of offering a more affordable Xperia 10 variant later in the technical specifications have leaked yet, but the Xperia 10 series typically aims at the mid-range segment, offering lightweight designs, long battery life, and 5G connectivity in a more accessible package. Last year's Xperia 10 VI featured a 5,000mAh battery, Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 processor, and a 6.1-inch OLED display — specs we may see lightly upgraded this lack of new Xperia 5 seems to support speculations that Sony has abandoned this segment in favor of focusing on larger flagship phones and mid-range devices. Although, it might even be that Sony is slowly abandoning the smartphone market altogether The new Xperia 1 VII has yet to launch in North America, raising questions about Sony's commitment to that market. If this is any indication of the company's broader strategy, the upcoming Xperia 10 VII may follow a similar path of remaining limited to Asia and Europe, at least now, it seems the only Sony phones we'll see in 2025 are the Xperia 1 VII and the Xperia 10 VII. Hopefully, the latter performs better in its category than the flagship has in its own.
Phone Arena
31-05-2025
- Business
- Phone Arena
Report: Sony won't build any more flagship Xperia phones
Sony had been building its Xperia flagship handsets in three manufacturing facilities. Two of these plants are located in Thailand and one is in China. According to Sony's manufacturing websites, all three of these factories no longer list smartphones among the devices that are built at these locations. The first Xperia flagship to be assembled by a third party is the new Xperia 1 VII. We just reviewed the Xperia 1 VII and gave it a score of 7.2 out of a possible 10. For the second consecutive year, Sony has decided not to ship its flagship smartphone to the U.S. Sony's inability to snag a deal with any U.S. carrier has been one of the big reasons why the Xperia line didn't catch on in the States leading Sony to stop shipping its phones to the third-largest smartphone market in the world. One thing for sure is that having a third-party build the Xperia 1 VII won't result in a lower price for the phone. The price tag on the device reads £1,399 for the model with 256GB of storage. This is the same starting price for last year's base model which also was equipped with 256GB of storage. The global version of the Xperia 1 XI is available via Amazon. This is a GSM phone which means it won't work on Verizon. With T-Mobile, the phone does support key 5G bands used by T-Mobile including the important n41 2.5GHz band. The latter delivers the carrier's faster 5G Ultra Capacity service. It also supports the n71 band delivering the slower nationwide 5G over 600MHz low-band spectrum. If you are a T-Mobile subscriber and must have the Xperia 1 VI, purchase the XQ-EC64 model. The latter works with 7 out of 12 T-Mobile bands including sub-6GHz and mmWave. The Sony 1 VII is manufactured by a third-party firm according to a new report. | Image credit-PhoneArena As for AT&T, the network support isn't as strong as it for T-Mobile . The XQ-EC72 model of the Xperia 1 VI for Asian Pacific markets supports 10 out of AT&T 's 17 frequency bands including nationwide 5G over 850MHz and mid-band 5G using C-band frequencies. The crazy thing about Sony's inability to get traction for its Xperia smartphones is that Sony is a consumer electronics powerhouse. Before the popular PlayStation video game platform, Sony was known for huge hits such as the Walkman. This was a portable device for playing music that included earphones and a cassette player. Later versions featured a CD player. Sony is also a major supplier in the smartphone industry. The company supplies phone manufacturers with the best-selling line of image sensors for smartphone cameras. As of Q4 of last year, Sony had a 55% share of this business and the company expects to take 60% of the market this year.
