Sony partially withdraws from European market, availability of Xperia phones to be limited

Smartphones like the Sony Xperia 1 VII are rather unusual devices because Sony offers a 3.5mm headphone jack and a microSD card reader, both of which are extremely rare in the high-end segment. Furthermore, the company is the only smartphone manufacturer that offers a telephoto camera with a true zoom lens. Despite these interesting features, Sony cannot compete with brands like Samsung. According to Insider Monkey, Sony had a global market share of only 3.5 percent in the first half of 2024, which is just ahead of HMD Global, ZTE and Asus.

Recently, Xperia 1 VII sales have been halted worldwide after an increasing number of users complained about crashes and shutdowns. The cause of this issue is not yet known. Sony has now confirmed to Suomimobili that the distribution of Xperia phones in Europe will be limited in the future. In Finland, many models won’t be offered at all. In some other European countries, Xperia smartphones will primarily be sold at Sony’s official online store and Amazon, which means that other (local) retailers in these regions won’t be able to sell these Sony handsets. Additionally, Suomimobili speculates that Sony is preparing to withdraw entirely from the European smartphone market.

As a response, Sony merely confirmed that the company will continue to meet all warranty and update obligations. According to Sony, demand and profitability are continuously analyzed in order to determine whether it makes sense to sell Xperia smartphones in certain regions. According to a Bloomberg report that refers to IDC data, Sony's smartphone sales in its home country of Japan plummeted by a whopping 40% in 2023. Since then, Sony has not published official sales numbers for Xperia smartphones.