Sony just unveiled the new Xperia 10 VIII so quietly, it almost makes you ask why it's still making phones
The Xperia lineup looks weirder all the time
It can be a little bit challenging to get one's head around Sony's approach to its smartphone business, which seems to continue chugging along, making phones slightly unlike the rest of the market, with a dedicated user base but widespread rumours of slowly shrinking sales.
The Xperia brand is still a decent one in terms of recognition, though, so it perhaps isn't any surprise to see the Xperia 10 VIII unveiled this week. What is more surprising, though, is how Sony's chosen to do it – with just a low-key blog post that's really quite sparse, and basically no fanfare.
Sure, this is just a mid-range phone launch, but it doesn't exactly scream "pride" about its new device.
The phone launches at £549 here in the UK, €599 in Europe, and it isn't currently announced for the US, which is another notch in the belt for those who think Sony's not really trying to be a global smartphone player any more.
What's also eye-catching is the lack of meaningful upgrades over last year's Xperia 10 VII, other than a big bump in the price. In fact, it's got a brighter display, better stereo speakers, and that's just about it when it comes to actual changes. That means there's a lot that's the same, including the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 chipset, and the same 6.1-inch OLED screen at 2340x1080 with a 120Hz refresh rate.
That doesn't necessarily make this a bad phone, but it's certainly as small an upgrade as you're likely to see this year between two generations of the same device. Given that the price has gone up by £150 here in the UK, a major bump on the launch price of the Xperia 10 VII (which has seen price hikes since), that's not the most exciting news.
Sony says the phone will be available to order very soon, in three colours: Frozen White, Frosted Grey and Misty Lilac. That's well and good, but in a world where the mid-range Android market is as competitive as ever, it's a little hard to see where the Xperia 10 VIII really fits. Nothing, Google and Samsung all make cheaper phones with better specs, after all.
Sony's fans might well find some positives about the phone, and power to them if so, but this is looking like one of the more downbeat product launches I can remember seeing recently.
