We’d say that we’re only a little bitter about Sony’s decision to pull its smartphones out of South Africa to focus on a niche set of markets. We’ve changed, Sony. Honest. The average Saffa is generally more receptive to a foreign company’s rare earth materials inside their phone than, say, Samsung or Apple. That’s good, because fresh leaks indicate that Sony could be gearing up for a near-global launch of its next two devices.
Sony might be ready to love us back
Those would be the Xperia 1 VIII and the Xperia 10 VIII, a flagship and mid-ranger, both of which were initially spotted inside the GSMA IMEI database by Japanese outlet S-Max (via Digital Trends). Each was accompanied by several model numbers, whose suffixes “44”, “54”, and “74” tell us that Sony has a bigger launch than usual on the cards. The devices are bound for Japan, Europe, and the rest of Asia, respectively.
That doesn’t mean we won’t see the device turn up in South Africa, at least eventually. The company’s recent partnership with TCL, which saw it relinquish control of its TV business, could mean that South Africa has a built-in shipping corridor. It’d beat picking up the company’s last flagship for a cool R37,000, anyway.
Seeing as the last time Sony put out a flagship in quite so many markets was 2023, it’ll want to come out swinging. Early leaks indicate that the Xperia 1 VIII could pack in the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip, while the 10 VIII would make do with a 6-series SoC. Other details are still scarce, though more should surface soon. The company is likely targeting a release between spring and winter, so it won’t be long to wait.
