Sony Xperia 1 VII: New leak signals international release for Sony's first Snapdragon 8 Elite flagship

Officially, the Xperia 1 VI (curr. $1,039.99 on Amazon) is the most powerful smartphone that Sony sells. However, there is an increasing amount of evidence to suggest that the company has a seventh-generation model waiting in the wings. Incidentally, it looks as though Sony is finally ready to replace its WH-1000XM5 headphones too with the WH-1000XM6.

To that end, a second Xperia 1 VII variant has now appeared on Geekbench, following the emergence of the device on the benchmarking platform last week. To recap, a device bearing the model number XQ-FS54 surfaced with all the hallmarks of a new Xperia 1 handset. For example, the device features the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, a logical upgrade from the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 that powers the Xperia 1 VI.

Now, a new model XQ-FS72 has leaked on Geekbench's AI, CPU and GPU databases. If past Xperia 1 releases are anything to go by, then XQ-FS72 is the variant that Sony will sell in China or Hong Kong. By contrast, it seems that XQ-FS54 is intended for Europe and the UK. Based on recent rumours, Sony will deliver the Xperia 1 VII later in May alongside the WH-1000XM6. Potentially, Sony's next flagship smartphone may not start shipping until the summer, though.