Sony just announced it’s launching a new smartphone next week

Shortly after Sony bragged about the success of the flagship Xperia 1 VIII, the company appears ready to launch a new smartphone. This is apparently happening in only a few days, and a fresh leak may have revealed part of what the online premiere will be all about.

Sony is launching a new Xperia smartphone in a few days

Sony confirmed that it’s launching a new Xperia product next week. The company has set up a YouTube stream for August 25, 2026, at 11:00 AM JST. Folks in the US can tune in on August 24, 2026, at 10:00 PM ET.

While Sony hasn’t mentioned anything more than this being an announcement of a new Xperia product, we can confidently assume the Xperia 10 VIII is about to launch. The device hasn’t been the subject of too many leaks, but it still appeared on an FCC database last month.

See the latest news about Sony:

• Sony is planning to relaunch old flagship headphones, make them a lot cheaper
• The Xperia 1 VIII turned out to be a success for Sony, thanks to these features
• New Xperia leak suggests Sony hasn't given up — will this time be different?

What do we know about the Sony Xperia 10 VIII?

The same FCC leak revealed several intriguing details about Sony’s upcoming mid-ranger. The device is expected to keep offering a 3.5 mm headphone jack, as well as four LTE bands support, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi 6. 

What was missing from the FCC filing were details about 5G support, which sounds as shocking as the lack of Wi-Fi 7 support. That’s not all, as a fresh leak may have revealed even more details.

A device with the codename Sony XQ-GH54 showed up on Geekbench with a Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 chipset and 8GB of RAM. This model number fits earlier leaks that first mentioned the potential launch of the Xperia 10 VIII, so it’s very likely this is the hardware Sony will announce next week.

What’s disappointing about this leak is the fact that last year’s Xperia 10 VII used exactly the same combination of processor and memory. Sony did something similar with the Xperia 10 IV and Xperia 10 V, so there could be a camera refresh or some other upgrade to make the new model more intriguing.

Users on Reddit were speculating about the potential changes to the device, but hardly anyone seemed surprised, considering the ongoing RAMpocalypse. Some users commented this could be done to keep the price in check, while others considered it just Sony being Sony.

Is the Xperia 10 VIII launching in the US?

Simple logic says that it’s very unlikely for Sony to launch the Xperia 1 VIII in the US. Even though the device cleared the FCC, the company hasn’t sold its phones stateside for years, so there’s no reason to expect the new one to break the pattern.

On the other hand, the launch event is scheduled in the late morning Japanese time and late evening US time, but it’s in the middle of the night in Europe. The phone is certainly launching in Japan, but either its European premiere is cancelled or Sony just doesn’t care all that much about any other market.

Wasted chances

Even after years of lagging behind, Sony still has many devoted fans and strong brand recognition. Not utilizing this is a waste of opportunities, and I’d love to see the company putting more effort into the global market.

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