As brands like ASUS and HTC gradually withdraw from the smartphone market, public attention is increasingly focused on the future of Sony’s mobile division. After Sony recently reiterated during the financial conference that it does not plan to give up the smartphone business, more concrete evidence is now arriving in the form of new certifications.
According to the Japanese portal S-Max, a total of six new Xperia tags appeared in the GSMA IMEI database: XQ-GE54, XQ-GE74, XQ-GE44, XQ-GH44, XQ-GH54 and XQ-GH74. This number of models indicates that Sony is preparing at least two new series of phones for different markets.
Two new Xperia models arrive in the spring
Based on the current Sony naming system, the designation XQ-GE is associated with the flagship line and almost certainly denotes the Xperia 1 VIII, while XQ-GH belongs to the middle class, that is, the future model Xperia 10 VIII. The last two digits in the tags refer to the markets where the devices will be available, including Japan, Europe, and parts of the Asian market outside of Japan, such as Taiwan and Hong Kong.
The certification documentation does not reveal the technical specifications for now, but based on the previous generations, it can be assumed that the Xperia 1 VIII will use the new high-end Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor, while the Xperia 10 VIII could rely on a mid-range chipset like the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 chip.
In previous years, Sony usually presented new Xperia models in the period from April to June, so it is expected that they will follow a similar schedule this year. If this information turns out to be correct, Sony will still have a presence in the smartphone segment, despite increasingly tough competition and the withdrawal of certain long-term players from the market.