Sony's Xperia 1 VII manufactured by OEM, future models to follow the same trend

Sony recently announced the Xperia 1 VII, its flagship smartphone for 2025, but it turns out that like its non-flagship models, the phone is actually manufactured by an OEM and not Sony itself.

Many smartphone brands use OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) to produce their phones instead of doing so themselves. They design the smartphone but award the contract of manufacturing to someone else (an OEM) who builds the smartphones to their specifications and standard. Sony was known to manufacture its own smartphones, but that appears to no longer be the case.

According to the Japanese publication, Sumahodigest, following an update to Sony's website in mid-May, smartphones have been removed from the list of products manufactured at its factories. This wasn't the case before as its factories in Chonburi and Bang Kadi, both of which are in Thailand, as well as its factories in Wuxi, China used to be known for smartphone production.

The removal of smartphones from the list of products it manufactures is said to confirm rumors that Sony is no longer into the production of smartphones but now uses an OEM. It also indicates that this isn't a temporary decision and that future models will also be manufactured by OEMs.

This development is considered a big deal as Sony was known to use OEMs for its other smartphone models but not its flagship series as the latter required a high-level of quality. With smartphone production now missing from the list of products it manufactures at its factories, it means it now has an OEM that can produce its flagship Xperia smartphones to its standard.