Xperia expiring: Fishy Sony Xperia 1 VII rumor may temper expectations for the 2025 flagship phone

An interesting rumor about a 2025 flagship smartphone from Sony, which would likely be the Xperia 1 VII (Xperia 1 Mark 7), has been shared by SumahoDigest. As is frequently the case, the quoted source here comes from Weibo, but there does not seem to be any existence of the user mentioned, so a pinch of salt is required. But at least this claim about the Xperia 1 VII is believable. It can be machine-translated as follows:

There is no particularly exciting evolution about Sony's next flagship product. But it won't drop like last year level. Camera? Only one sensor has changed.

A couple of entertaining unofficial Sony Xperia 1 VII render videos have already appeared on YouTube, with one of them claiming at least a return to 4K resolution for the 2025 iteration. However, if the above rumor out of China is true, then the 2025 flagship will likely stick with the FHD+ resolution sported by the Xperia 1 VI.

The camera sensor change for the 2025 Xperia 1 is unlikely going to be anything major either, with speculation that it might involve either the telephoto zoom camera or the ultra-wide-angle camera, leaving the Xperia 1 VII with a 48 MP main camera (Exmor T). A Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC from Qualcomm would undoubtedly be part of the package – should the flagship smartphone from Sony even come to the global market.

There have been frequent claims made over the years that Sony would mothball its smartphone division and that the Xperia line would essentially expire at some point. Sony only released the Xperia 1 VI (currently $1,099 on Amazon) and the Xperia 10 VI in 2024; there was no Xperia 5 VI model, no new PRO variant, and certainly no sign of a new ACE device. The question is this: Will Sony play it safe with the Xperia 1 VII and introduce minimal changes or risk launching a phone brimming with upgrades that could go unnoticed in a crowded market? At least this particular rumor implies there will be one more Xperia flagship phone to come yet.