Official: Sony confirms new Xperia smartphone release in May 2026

Sony has finally confirmed that a new Xperia smartphone is on the horizon. For context, an unreleased Xperia smartphone surfaced earlier this week on Geekbench with the same Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset found in other modern flagships like the Vivo X300 Ultra and OnePlus 15 (curr. $899 on Amazon), among others.

At the same time, Amazon was spotted listing the Xperia 1 VIII in the UK. Shortly afterwards, images of the Xperia 1 VIII appeared on Chinese social media. While Sony is being coy about its 'Next ONE' for now, its teaser image indicates that prior leaks about the Xperia 1 VIII were accurate. Hence, Sony is finally moving on from the vertical camera arrangement that has been a feature of the Xperia 1 series since its inception in 2019.

Currently, the Xperia 1 VIII is rumoured to retain the 19.5:9 aspect ratio and 6.5-inch display size of the Xperia 1 VII, though. Reportedly, the new smartphone will launch in Graphite Black, Lolite Silver, Garnet Red and Native Gold colours, too. Sony will unveil its 'Xperia New Product Announcement' on May 13 at 02:00 UTC. The company has not indicated when the Xperia 1 VIII will be available to purchase yet.