Xperia fans may have been biting their nails after Sony put its prestigious Bravia TV brand under TCL control, but during the recent earnings call Sony Corporate Executive Officer and CFO Lin Tao said that there will be “no change in status” for the Xperia phones.
Further, Japanese site S-Max did some digging and discovered the model names for the Sony Xperia 1 VIII and Xperia 10 VIII in the GSMA IMEI database.
These models go in sequence, e.g. the Xperia 1 VII and 10 VII were the PM-150X-BV and PM-151X-BV, respectively (X is a digit denoting regional variants).
Sony Xperia 1 VIII and Xperia 10 VIII model names registered with the GSMA
So, the PM-152X-BV and PM-153X-BV should be the Mark VIII successors. The flagship model has these additional model names: XQ-GE44, XQ-GE54 and XQ-GE74. The 10-series mid-ranger has these: XQ-GH44, XQ-GH54 and XQ-GH74.
Yes, model names are as cryptic as ever, but the crucial thing is that they exist and will be replacing the Xperia 1 VII (which launched in June last year) and the Xperia 10 VII (which arrived in September). Unfortunately, this will be the third generation without an Xperia 5 model – the last one was the Mark V from September 2023.
GSMA registration details: Xperia 1 VIII (PM-152X-BV) • Xperia 10 VIII (PM-153X-BV)
There isn’t much else that we can tell from the GSMA IMEI database – the two phones are listed with 1 slot and two IMEI numbers, so they will have a single nano-SIM slot and an eSIM.
There are no further details on the phones themselves or when they will be announced. But this is Sony – they launch new phones when the mood strikes them, there is no set timeline.
Thanks for the tip!
Source 1 | Source 2 (in Japanese)
Sony Xperia 1 VII 5G
Sony Xperia 10 VII 5G