Ah, Sony, a company known around the world for its long-playing PlayStation consoles and Walkman music players. Its television production arm, Sony Pictures Television, is even the distributor of Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy. But did you know that Sony offers a wide range of Android phones?
Years after the Sony Ericsson days, the company’s Xperia phones sat alongside its Samsung and LG counterparts on store shelves in the early 2010s. Then, starting in 2015, it spent a few years in the direct-to-consumer unlocked phone business, until it stopped selling Xperia phones at U.S. retailers in 2024. While Sony made them available to U.S. residents through online marketplaces like Amazon, the company has focused on positioning itself in the European and Japanese mobile markets, as well as those in Taiwan and Hong Kong. So, yes, Sony continues to release smartphones, but apparently it doesn’t make them anymore either.
In May 2025, Japanese media outlet Smartphone Digest noticed that Sony had updated some documents about the types of products it makes at its various factories. Two Thai factories and a Chinese factory that were previously listed as smartphone producers are no longer listed as such. At the time, Sony was selling the Xperia 1 VII – which happens to be one of the best Android phones you can get and still has a headphone jack – and that model marked the start of the third-party assembled product line. During Sony’s August 2025 earnings presentation, the company’s CFO Lin Tao told investors that Sony remains committed to its smartphone lineup, but she made no mention of production details.
The story of the Sony Xperia is improbable
When it came to the uniqueness of its Android phones, the Japanese multinational’s approach was reminiscent of Korea’s LG, which sought a curved chassis, a modular design, and even a weird phone concept with a rollable screen that famous tech critic Marques Brownlee demonstrated on YouTube. Given the fierce competition in this area, LG has completely abandoned the smartphone business in 2021 – Sony hasn’t, but the company is more reserved on the features front.
Sony’s Xperia Compact series included six models released between 2014 and 2018, with screen sizes limited to 5 inches or less. These were arguably better, more powerful options worth buying over the contemporary iPhone SE, and they were even slightly smaller than the iPhone 12 Mini and iPhone 13 Mini. During the same period, Sony also launched the Premium X, Z and XZ series phones, which became the first entries in the current Xperia 1 range. On these phones, 4K panels were the name of the game. In fact, Sony was the first manufacturer to offer a smartphone with a 4K display.
Sony’s modern cellular offerings, however, are comparatively more pedestrian than their predecessors; Recent models in the Xperia line are no longer niche compact devices with flashy 4K displays. The 2024 Xperia 1 VI brought the flagship line back down to earth with a 1080p display and a focus on triple-threat cameras powered by Exmor sensors. The company also produced the more affordable Xperia 5, but Sony has completely discontinued that specific lineup starting in 2023. However, Xperia fans have some good news to look forward to: according to Sony’s recent claims, the mid-range Sony Xperia 10 VIII is expected to launch the week of August 23, 2026.
