Sony WF-1000XM6: New evidence casts 2025 release into doubt
The Walkman Blog has discovered new details about what is believed to be Sony's next pair of WF-1000X wireless earbuds. To recap, initial rumours about the WF-1000XM6 turned up over a year ago. However, it was not until the spring that the first concrete information appeared.
Now, Sony has certified what The Walkman Blog believes is the WF-1000XM6 in China. Embedded below, the screenshot itself does not reveal the WF-1000XM6 by name. Instead, it refers to the device as 'YY2985'. For context, Sony assigned the model number 'YY2984' to the WH-1000XM6 (curr. $448 on Amazon). Additionally, Sony was spotted linking YY2985 and the WF-1000XM6 earlier this year.
Unfortunately, this Chinese regulatory body finding does not confirm any hardware details about the WF-1000XM6. Nonetheless, its certification date potentially provides an insight into Sony's release plans. As The Walkman Blog notes, Sony introduced the WF-1000XM5 and WH-1000XM6 roughly six and four months after certifying them in China.
These timescales would indicate Sony will not be ready to launch the WF-1000XM6 before the end of the year. Consequently, The Walkman Blog has inferred that Sony could be lining up a CES 2026 showcase for the WF-1000XM6, just a it did with the original WF-1000X nine years earlier during CES 2017. Either way, one would expect to see the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) publish initial WF-1000XM6 documentation within the next month or so based on past performance.
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