What you need to know
- Sony is reportedly letting go of its smartphones, specifically, its flagship Xperia line, from its production facilities.
- The report claims Sony’s Thailand and China factories have also removed the device, signaling its leverage of third-party companies for such work.
- Sony recently launched its Xperia 1 VII, which has allegedly been created through the company’s outsourced assistance.
Information from overseas sources reportedly states Sony is no longer interested in manufacturing its Xperia line itself.
This report was made by Smartphone Digest (Japanese), stating Sony has removed all evidence of smartphone creation from its website (via GSMArena). This leads the publication to believe that Sony has completely moved away from manufacturing its Xperia phone in its own production facilities.
With this, it seems almost certain that Sony has opted to “outsource” the creation of its Xperia phone line to third-party companies. The publication mentions that Sony has done this before, just not with its flagship series. The Japanese OEM’s mid-range devices have had their production outsourced for a while, but Sony has remained adamant (until now) to keep its Xperia close to heart.
Its research adds that not only has Sony removed all mentions of its smartphone devices from its official website, but sites from its overseas plants in Thailand and China have also dropped it.
While the future of Sony’s Xperia line seems to fall on third-party sources, it’s also reportedly looped in the Xperia 1 VII, per reports.
The Latest from Sony
Sony’s Xperia 1 VII launched earlier in May with a strong focus on its available camera selection. The phone features a triple camera array with a 52MP primary lens leading it off. This camera is joined by a 50MP secondary lens and a 12MP ultra-wide-angle lens. Sony continued to feature its Alpha-powered tech and ZEISS for the cameras, as it has done with its previous generation.
Sony’s flagship phones rock Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8 Elite chip with a 6.5-inch display with a 19.5:9 aspect ratio.
Another shining highlight for the Xperia 1 VII is Sony’s software commitment. The company states the phone will receive four years of major OS upgrades and six years of security updates.
For now, the future of Sony’s Xperia series seems relatively the same as before, barring the company continues development before leaning on third parties. However, the Japanese publication’s report says there has been a rise in consumer concern about Sony’s move. Some have questioned the future of the Xperia’s quality, but only time will tell.
