Sony Xperia 5 IV and Xperia 10 IV take a trip to the EEC ahead of global releases

There have been plenty of leaks about upcoming Sony Xperia smartphones of late, most recently with the Xperia 10 IV. Renders of the Xperia 1 IV and Xperia 5 IV have also leaked, discussed separately. In short, the trio will all resemble their predecessors, which Sony unveiled simultaneously last year on April 14. It turns out that Sony has certified two upcoming devices with the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) in Russia, as the screenshot below shows.

Typically, manufacturers register devices with the EEC if they intend to sell them in Europe, like Apple did last month for the A2615, A2681 and A2686. According to the EEC, Sony has registered XQ-CT72 and XQ-CQ72, both smartphones. While the EEC does not reveal any other details about the pair, their model numbers indicate what smartphones they could be.

Specifically, Sony assigned 'XQ-BQ72' to the Xperia 5 III's South-East Asian variant, which it also sells in Russia. Hence, it seems probable that XQ-CQ72 relates to the equivalent Xperia 5 IV variant. Similarly, XQ-CT72 succeeds XQ-BT72, the global version of the Xperia 10 III. Incidentally, the Xperia 1 II had the model number XQ-AT72 but Sony adopted XQ-BC72 for the Xperia 1 III. As such, the Xperia 10 IV should be XQ-CT72, not the Xperia 1 IV. 

If the Xperia 1 III, Xperia 5 III and Xperia 10 III are anything to go by, the XQ-CQ72 and XQ-CT72 could arrive as soon as next month. However, Sony took until June before releasing the Xperia 10 III and a further two months for the Xperia 1 III. For some reason, Sony waited until early October to release the Xperia 5 III. In other words, Xperia smartphone releases follow an unusual pattern, so it is unclear when Sony will release the XQ-CQ72 or XQ-CT72.

Purchase the Sony Xperia 5 III on Amazon