It’s absurd that Sony expects this marketing strategy to work

The Sony Xperia 1 VII is out and costs €1,499 in Europe. Sorry, no release in the USA, but if you want a quick conversion — that price tag is a bit above the iPhone 16 Pro Max and Galaxy S25 Ultra in Europe.

It’s a big ask, so does the Xperia 1 VII deliver? Well, we already reviewed it, and while we find it to be a well-performing handset with a grippy feel and a design that will definitely be liked by many, it just doesn’t have enough of an oomph. The software is just a clean Android with no bells or AI (though, Sony claims certain things to be AI-enhanced), the performance is stable but not awe-inspiring, and the cameras are… Well, not on par.

But it’s OK, everybody — we are selling them with headphones!

In order to sweeten the pot, or make that €1,499 price-tag go down easier, the Xperia 1 VII is actually bundled with a Sony WH-1000XM5 headset. Yes, an XM5, not even the newer XM6.

Sony proudly states that you are saving €299 on the purchase. Literally losing money unless you grab that deal!

And look, while the Sony WH-1000XM5 is an excellent pair of headphones and I like it very, very much, the fact that the Xperia 1 VII comes in this forced bundle is just absurd. Is Sony only looking to sell to customers that are looking to buy a flagship phone and a set of premium headphones as well?

This would be like Apple selling the iPhone 17 Pro Max only as a bundle with the AirPods Max, for the low-low price of $1,700 (hopefully, Apple is not getting any ideas here).

And yes, I’ve seen some dedicated Sony fans post that you can “Easily buy the Xperia 1 VII and sell the WH-1000XM5 to make €200 back”, but I hope we can see how absurd this sounds. Right?

Oh, to top it off — this bundle is only available in major markets. If history repeats itself like it did with the Xperia 1 VI — when the Xperia 1 VII launches in secondary territories, they will get the phone at full price, with no headset to speak of. This just rubs extra salt in the wound.

The value problem

I read a quote once, it was from another tech reviewer, maybe in a tweet. Sorry I can’t attribute it, as I have long forgotten who it was from, but the quote rings true to this day. “Sony phones look and behave like you should buy them just because they are Sony”.

Slapping the Bravia logo inside the software, promising Sony Alpha expertise for the camera, and 360 Reality Audio upscaling for music sounds impressive on paper. But you have to execute flawlessly on those points to even think about approaching that €1,499 price.

And then, there’s the question of investment and long term viability. Sony now promises 4 years of Android updates and 6 years of security patches, which is OK, not great. Samsung and Google commit to 7 years of Android builds, which is much, much better. Then, there is the question of how quick Sony will be with deploying these updates — historically, it hasn’t been very rapid.

Still, the Xperia phones are struggling to get some mainstream attention. Some believe this is due to lack of marketing, but the reality is that even positive word of mouth or glowing reviews would’ve done the trick. No, the Xperia team needs to rethink the value offer here. It’s certainly not about a pair of headphones!



Smartphone companies that started off with simple “flagship killer” products, such as Xiaomi and Vivo, now offer “Photography kit” phones with lenses, hardware grips, and extra buttons that truly make you feel like you are holding a smartphone-camera hybrid. Meanwhile, Sony — a camera behemoth — is trying to get by with a tiny camera module that can do a sub-par optical zoom. That’s… not a good look.