Sony's lineup of Reon personal cooling devices is one of the most curious tech initiatives that I can remember seeing from any company of a decent size in recent years. After all, I'd just about get it if the Reon had had one or two versions, but it seems to get an annual update to bring new features and design touches, suggesting that someone at Sony really does value it.

Whether that's an executive with a personal mission, or whether it's because the cooling devices are selling way more than I might assume in a given year, I won't likely know anytime soon. Either way, though, when Sony offered to send me the latest version to try, the Reon Pocket Pro Plus, I jumped at the chance.

With London enduring a major heatwave right now, and having recently had a week in Taipei's sweltering heat for Computex, I've had plenty of chances to put it through its paces, and it's left me surprised by what I found. While the Reon Pocket Pro Plus definitely works, I didn't expect it to work in quite the way it does.

While everyone has called this "personal aircon" for years now, that's not the best label, in all truth. Rather than a simple fan system, Reon units use a cooling plate that you arrange (using a neck grip) so that it lies along the back of your neck and upper spine. Those vents that are there expel slightly hotter air after it's been run over that cooling plate to chill it.

So, you basically get a metallic plate that's nice and cold to cool your torso down through the patch of it that touches you, and that ends up feeling just about as weird as it sounds. You get a very cold patch on your upper back, and while the rest of you clearly isn't much colder, you nonetheless feel more comfortable overall. This system also means that the effects are comparatively gentle, even with a few years of progress behind them from Sony's side.

This isn't a device that'll instantly bring your body temperature down steeply in a minute, but it is one that can help you feel less hot when worn over a longer period of time. In fact, I found that it had one clear use case where it excelled – home working. I don't have many cooling options at home, in a top-floor flat with little ventilation, and it helped me feel more comfortable at my desk over some unbelievably hot days (up to 34C at times).

By contrast, when I wore it on a very sweaty walking excursion exploring some of Taipei in very similar temperatures but with far higher humidity, it felt far less useful, simply because of the bulk it added to my upper back, and the increased likelihood of it moving around and losing its contact with me for brief moments.

Sony might well know this already, frankly, because much of its marketing for the Reon lineup focuses on people in work attire and collared shirts. After all, keeping a consistent temperature that's lower than it otherwise would be is great for office work, but it's a lot more challenging when outside in varied conditions.

Aside from performance that I found fairly variable, though, there's still one big issue – the price. The Reon Pocket Pro Plus comes in at £200 here in the UK, and on the same trip to Taipei, I bought a handheld electric fan with USB-C charging for around £11. The latter was the device I ended up using far more, at about a twentieth of the price, and that's hard to argue against from Sony's corner.

Sure, if you're a home worker who lacks air conditioning and doesn't mind wearing something a little odd, a Reon could be in your budget if it's lofty, but I'm still pretty sure that a really fancy desktop fan, plus a portable one for when you're on the go, would be both more sensible and still more wallet-friendly than a Reon.

Perhaps with another few years of R&D developments, more progress will follow. With a climate that's only trending hotter, after all, demand for personal cooling solutions is surely going to boom in the next decade and more. Sony might have been a little early with the Reon, though, and even this flagship new version feels like it's a little too gimmicky to really be a mainstream success.

Sony is preparing to launch a premium pair of over-ear headphones, with a design similar to the Sony WH-1000XM6. The new headphones are thought to be called The ColleXion, suggesting an exclusive take on the 1000X.

This isn't the first time that we've seen these headphones, as they've been previously spotted on the head of Damson Idris, star of the recent F1 movie.

In that instance the new headphones appeared in almost-perfect images, modelled by a star, with a distinct feeling of planted leak.

Now we have full renders, thanks to Android Headlines, showing the headphones in black and white colour options. There's a distinctly different headband, with a hinge that looks a lot more substantial - although these headphones are not thought to be a folding model.

There's also a shift from the plastics that have been used on recent 1000X models, perhaps with a vegan leather finish instead, more like the original model that launched in 2014.

The shape of the cups, however, appears to be very close to the that last couple of generations of 1000X.

The renders also include the USB-C, but what we can't see are any control buttons, something that the 1000X is known for to manage ANC modes.

In our previous report about these headphones, we highlighted that it's 10 years of Sony's 1000X family, which might be the inspiration of the X in ColleXion. It might also be that these headphones carry the WH-1000XX name, something of a special edition.

Beyond that, we've heard that they will be powered by the MediaTek MT2855 and use Sony's DSEE tech, while it's been said that the battery life will run to 24 hours with ANC, rather than the 30 hours that the 1000XM6 already offer.

That puts them in an interesting position: the move away from folding and the shorter battery life might indicate that these headphones aren't designed to be the ultimate in portability, with the XM6 retaining that position. It's thought that the new model will cost €629.

What we don't know is how the sound profile might change, what the ANC performance is going to be like, and whether they will end up lighter or heavier thanks to material and battery changes.

With a number of leaks appearing, it's likely that we'll soon be learning everything about The ColleXion headphones.

Sony has unveiled its latest version of the Xperia 1, the Xperia 1 VIII, and it's come with a more significant redesign than between recent generations. The phone now features a square camera enclosure for its three lenses, and a brushed-metal finish in four colours that looks frankly luxurious.

Sony's not leaning that hard on the design in its announcement, though, preferring to spotlight the addition of an AI Camera Assistant that's been added to the phone's camera app. This will let you see suggestions for camera effects like colour tones, lens selection, and bokeh effects in real-time as you shoot.

You'll see these suggestions in the shooting process and be able to toggle to them, with the effects shown in your viewfinder so you can get a sense for how things will look before you ever take a photo. A demo we saw was indeed fairly slick, although it's a curious question as to whether the sort of camera enthusiast likely to pick an Xperia 1 actually wants those shortcuts.

The Xperia 1 VIII has a new 1/1.56-inch image sensor, which is significantly larger than the 1 VII's, which should make for better performance in a range of scenarios. It can also now use RAW multi-frame processing on all three of its lenses (16mm / 24mm / 70mm), which should help de-noise photos regardless of how you shoot them.

Curiously, Sony has also redesigned the phone's telephoto offering specifically. It'll now actually offer a fixed optical zoom of 2.9x, rather than a more flexible digital situation, which might technically make it less adaptable, but should enhance the actual quality coming from zoom shots.

This also results in a tweak to the telemacro setting, which now has a longer 15cm minimum distance (up from 4cm). This should arguably make it easier to get steady macro shots, but will undeniably mean that those shots aren't quite as close-up.

Elsewhere, Sony's packed in a new stereo speaker system, which is a bonus for the 'YouTube on your phone' watchers among us, while the whole thing is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, which means it's got authentically flagship-level power (not always a given for the Xperia 1 historically). That should also mean comfortably all-day battery life after efficiency gains.

Sony says that pre-orders for the Xperia 1 VIII should go live today, direct from its store, and it'll come in at a chunky £1399 or €1499 for the default 256GB version, or a far loftier £1849 or €1999 for the 1TB version.

You have to love a personal crusade, and while I don't know for sure that Sony's entire Reon personal air conditioning lineup is the brainchild of one particularly passionate executive, it gives me that vibe. After all, we're now a few years into Sony refreshing its Reon offering on a near-annual basis, without my ever having spotted one in the wild.

That's hugely anecdotal, of course, and Sony must be selling enough Reons to justify continuing with its R&D – as evidenced by the new, revamped Reon Pocket Pro, which joins the lineup today. It's launching as the new flagship at the top of the Reon range, with a price tag of £199 or €229.

The changes this time around are fairly subtle if you're not looking that closely. The new Pocket Pro looks much like the old one, but closer inspection reveals more ergonomics and customisability. For one thing, the main outlet vent at the top of the little unit now has the ability to change its angle, giving you more control over where it vents out.

The neckband, which keeps the Pocket Pro in place at the top of your back, is also sturdier and should keep it more stable now. That's just part of why it should have around 20% better cooling performance than the last model, although in truth, that isn't the craziest leap forward ever.

Another nice change is that the included remote is also now around 18% smaller than the last version, making it even more pocketable or stowable – attached to a keyring or lanyard, it shouldn't be an obstruction at all.

The aim here, of course, is that you can wear the Reon Pocket Pro all day to regulate your temperature in hot conditions or cold, since it can both cool and warm. Those who've tried the Reon say it's surprisingly effective, but I can't say I've ever had the privilege.

The fact remains that at £200 this is way pricier than a normal personal fan, which will likely mean it continues as a niche option rather than a mainstream one, but it's frankly quite fun to see Sony continuing to commit to an oddball device like this. Plus, of course, the climate crisis means that its utility will probably only go up over time.

Sony has a new flagship phone incoming in the shape of the Xperia 1 VIII, and it looks like the design will change for the first time in years.

You might have forgotten about Sony's mobile phones and you'd be forgiven for that – the Xperia line has a tiny market share. For years, Sony has pushed out new phones with a similar design, but for 2026, it looks like there's a change coming.

The Sony Xperia 1 VIII has dropped the line of cameras, in favour of a raised camera square containing three lenses. It sits on a slab of a phone with quite a brutalist design.

The phone first appeared in renders from @OnLeaks showing off this new design, before it was leaked on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.de – both of which have now been removed.

Today, Sony has confirmed that the launch will take place on 13 May in Japan, using the new camera layout as a teaser for the event. The event will be streamed on YouTube.

While the design renders revealed that Sony's phone would be thicker with that new camera arrangement, the Amazon listing gives us the chance to extract some more information.

What does the Sony Xperia 1 VIII look like?

The specifications are detailed as a 6.5-inch OLED display with a 19:5:9 aspect, Full HD+ resolution (probably 2340 x 1080 pixels like the Xperia 1 VII), and with a 120Hz refresh rate.

Next we see that there's a triple camera, two day battery life, 3.5mm headphone socket and a mention of Xperia AI. All these details were grabbed by Notebookcheck.

However, details from a Reddit post of the leak refer to three different pages of listings for the different colours, including Graphite Black, Garnet Red and Iolite Silver. This is then taken further with a Natural Gold colour, with all these different shades leaked in another set of images from Sumahodigest.

Note that the images shown here were cleaned up using AI to remove patterning from a photo of the phones shown on a display.

If Sony sticks to its typical load-out it's likely to be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 with 12GB RAM. It's thought to come in 256 and 512GB options, while it's expected that the old variable length telephoto will be dropped in favour of a 48-megapixel periscope fixed at 3x zoom.

The UK listing for this device said it would cost £1,728 which would be a huge jump over the Xperia 1 VII and leave this new device dead on arrival. It's more likely that the accidental early posting bundled it in with the Sony WH1000XM6 headphones which are thought to be offered as a pre-order gift.

All the details will be revealed on 13 May, so stay tuned.

British actor Damson Idris has been spotted wearing a pair of as-yet-unannounced Sony headphones. But they’re not the Sony WH-1000XM7, apparently.

The F1 movie star was papped ahead of the Met Gala wearing what are expected to be called the Sony WH-1000XX The ColleXion according to a bunch of leaks.

It’s a 10th anniversary set, marking a decade since the original Sony WH-1000X appeared in 2016.

The concept here is of a slightly more upmarket and more expensive pair than we usually see from the WH-1000XM line. There’s greater use of polished metal, and a little more weight as a result, according to previously leaked specs.

Sony’s WH-1000XX are expected to weigh 312g, up from the 254g of the current WH-1000XM6.

These somewhat more exclusive-sounding headphones are reportedly going to cost £549 ($649, 629 Euro), a hefty increase on the £399 WH-1000XM6.

Just as contentious as the higher price, the Sony WH-1000XX may return to the non-folding design last seen in the WH-1000XM5. That one ruffled some feathers among the audio crowd.

We reportedly still have a couple of weeks to stew on this one before the WH-1000XX get a rumoured official unveil on 19 May, but previous leaks already tell us plenty about what the pair will likely offer.

The Sony WH-1000XX The ColleXion are expected to come in black and white shades, and have a battery life of up to 24 hours, with ANC enabled. And they likely have a 12-microphone array just like the XM6, and share that pair’s QN3 processor.

If you’re wondering why we’re getting these and not a full generational upgrade with a Sony WH-1000XM7 pair, it’s because we’re a bit early for that in 2026. Just look at the release dates of the previous pairs in this family for proof:

• Sony MDR-1000X: October 2016
• Sony MDR-1000XM2: September 2017
• Sony MDR-1000XM3: September 2018
• Sony MDR-1000XM4: August 2020
• Sony MDR-1000XM5: May 2022
• Sony MDR-1000XM6: May 2025

Sure, the early years of this series were annual releases. But as progress in ANC effectiveness and battery tech slowed, and the audience became increasingly tapped out, that annual schedule likely stopped making so much sense.

An early 2027 release for the Sony WH-1000XM7 is more likely, not to mention having a pleasing numerical confluence.

But coming back to the Sony MDR-1000XX The ColleXion, it’s all eyes and ears on the pair’s sound quality and ANC effectiveness, as their upmarket pricing means they might cost even more than the Apple AirPods Max 2.

If you're a lover of good quality audio, you'll definitely have stumbled upon Sony's range of headphones. Currently headed by the Sony WH-1000XM6, the range celebrates ten years on the market in 2026.

If you were wondering whether the brand was going to mark that occasion, it looks like your questions have been answered. A recent leak from Sony itself suggests that an anniversary limited edition model is coming.

As reported by The Walkman Blog, the leaks come directly from the brand's regional sites in New Zealand and Australia. Those sites didn't showcase any photos, sadly, but they do confirm the model name, and the 'master the art of listening' tagline.

While the site may lack an image, it certainly doesn't lack an alt text description, which reads, "A man in a black coat stands against a brown gradient background, wearing white 1000X The Collexion headphones."

The report goes on to list some of the specs which have already been rumoured about the device. That includes two colourways – black and white – as well as noise cancellation.

Inside, a Mediatek MT2855 chip is expected to feature, while there's also confirmation of the inclusion of DSEE Ultimate. The notes also suggest that there will be metal hinges which do not fold, which will be an interesting change of design.

It also suggests a 'premium build quality', though there's no word on exactly what that means, and an expected price tag of around €629 (approx. £550 / US$740 / AU$1,035). That's significantly more costly than the standard version, which means these will need to have a pretty big USP to see people make the switch.

Of course, there's every chance these will be limited, which might just be enough to garner a few sales. Regardless, with the model expected to go on sale in around one month's time, we'll have to keep our eyes peeled for more information.

I've tested a few gaming monitors in the last couple of years, and while ultrawide behemoths often live long in the memory, one of the very best I've got my hands on has been the more traditional 27-inch Sony Inzone M10S, a true beauty of an OLED PC-centric monitor.

Now, Sony has unveiled a direct successor, the Inzone M10S II, and it looks like it keeps everything good about the old version, with some choice improvements. For one thing, the refresh rate ceiling has gone up again – it's now a 1440p/540Hz situation as standard, which is amazing.

That gets even more silly if you drop down to 1080p for 720Hz, a level of performance that underlines the fact that this monitor is really aimed at those seeking to get a competitive edge and match some tournament conditions. Sony's also added what it calls a "Super Anti-glare Film" to cut down on reflectiveness massively, which is impressive given I didn't really find it a problem on the last version.

The superb design of the last version seems to have been retained pretty much to every detail, with a little more control over tilt for more adjustability, and it will cost a pretty punchy £1,199 or €1,350, although it's worth underlining that it's a super high-end option. That said, the monitor won't actually be available to order until this June.

It's paired with another new announcement from Inzone, in the form of a lovely-looking headset, the H6 Air, which promises to be one of the lightest on the market at just 199g. Given how ludicrously comfortable the Inzone H9 was when I reviewed it last year, this could be something special.

It also brings an interesting approach in that these are fully open-back headphones by design, so you should get a nice wide soundstage as a result, but also much less of an isolating seal, so that'll be worth considering if you're in the market for a headset and have reliably quiet playing conditions.

The H6 Air will cost £175 or €200, making it a really interesting entry at the higher end of the mid-range headset market. It'll be available later this month, so you won't have to wait long to try it out.

After we were told it was coming a few weeks ago, and after Sony soft-launched it by having it included in Resident Evil: Requiem, a new and upgraded version of PSSR (PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution) is now rolling out for all PS5 Pro owners in a software update.

That's big news if you've been hoping for a bit of a visual boost to what your PS5 Pro can manage, and in my case it's a little annoying – I've played more than one of the games getting PSSR 2 in recent months, without the upgrade visual tech.

PlayStation made the announcement in a blog post that you should definitely check out if you're curious, since it includes clips from a bunch of the games that are getting patches to work with PSSR 2 straight away. Some of those games have needed performance fixes for a while, too, so it's an impressive slate.

Top of the list is the superb horror experience of Silent Hill 2, which I played through in February and massively enjoyed. It's beautiful on PS5 Pro, but there are a few locations where the original PSSR struggled to avoid major shimmering (including, awkwardly, the parking lot where the game begins).

This should be massively reduced with PSSR 2, as proved by a clip of Silent Hill f, which had the same problem but seems to resolve far more clearly in the example. This could make for a radically upgraded experience in both games, to the point where I'm a little gutted I played them before it was fixed.

The full list of games included in PlayStation's blog post is as follows:

• Silent Hill 2
• Silent Hill f
• Dragon Age: The Veilguard
• Alan Wake 2
• Control
• Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
• Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
• Nioh 3
• Monster Hunter Wilds
• Dragon’s Dogma 2
• Crimson Desert
• Assassin’s Creed Shadows
• Cyberpunk 2077

Most of these should have patches available to download today, although in Crimson Desert's case, it'll come when the game launches on 19 March, and Assassin's Creed Shadows and Cyberpunk 2077 will both get their patches in the next few weeks.

That makes it quite a solid list of visual heavy-hitters that are getting PSSR 2 in the first instance, and you'd imagine that this is just the vanguard. If you want to sell more copies of your game to PS5 Pro owners, after all, embracing PSSR 2 would be a great way to incentivise people to buy.

Intriguingly, though, even if developers don't release patches, you can still see how PSSR 2 improves things. There'll now be a toggle in the Screen and Video settings on the PS5 Pro to use upgraded PSSR in all titles that support the original version.

As PlayStation says, "While results may vary by title, many games may see improvements in clarity and image stability. If it results in any unexpected visual effects, you can turn it off at any time."

That's a super interesting option that I'll be exploring once I get the software update, which will apparently roll out over the next few days – so if you don't see it yet, don't panic!

Open-ear buds are everywhere these days. One of the fastest-growing categories of headphones, open-ears are especially popular among runners and other athletes who prefer to hear what’s going on around them while they exercise. These types of headphones can also work in office environments and for commuting.

Sony isn’t new to the open-ear game. 2022’s LinkBuds WF-L900 tackled the concept well, generally attracting positive reviews from publications and users alike. The brand’s latest foray into open-ear headphones is the LinkBuds Clip, reminiscent of the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds, which are among my favourite running headphones.

Sadly, Sony’s latest attempt doesn’t quite live up to expectations. Even though the buds feel as premium as you’d expect from the company, the sound is far from amazing. It’s also hard to distinguish the left and right buds, which is a surprising oversight from the audio stalwart, especially considering that some models, such as the Huawei FreeClip 2, can be used in either ear.

Luckily, they are on par with other open-ears on the market in terms of price, but still, I expected better from Sony. Even after years of testing headphones, I got very excited when the brand offered me headphones to test. My high expectations probably didn’t help, but in a crowded field such as open-ear headphones, Sony might have to try a bit harder. Or return to LinkBuds WF-L900’s (or LinkBuds Open WF-L910’s) form factor.

Sony LinkBuds Clip review

Price and availability

The Sony LinkBuds Clip was launched in January 2026 and is available now at Sony UK, Sony US , Sony EU and Sony AU in four colours for £179.99 / $229.99 / €199 / AU$329.95. The brand sells case cover tops and bottoms, as well as Air Fitting Cushions, small silicone pads that are said to improve fit and stability.

The Sony sells for the same price as the Huawei FreeClip 2 and the Shokz OpenDots one, and a lot cheaper than Bose’s Ultra Open Earbuds, the latter of which carry a price tag of £299 / $299 / €349 / AU$449.95.

Design and build quality

The Sony LinkBuds Clip use a distinctive clip-on design, with each earbud weighing approximately 6.4g. Instead of sitting in the ear canal, the buds use a C-shaped “ear-cuff” clip that gently wraps around the outer ear.

The bridge connecting the speaker and the control unit at the back is flexible, although not as much as the one found on Bose’s Ultra Open Earbuds. The LinkBuds Clip offer a more secure fit, especially in workout conditions, than your standard noise-cancelling in-ear buds.

The earbuds combine hard plastic and silicone elements, and carry an IPX4 water-resistance rating, meaning they can handle sweat and light splashes, making them suitable for commuting or casual workouts.

Controls are handled via touch input on the connecting loop, allowing you to play or pause music, adjust volume and switch listening modes with taps. You can change the function assigned to each bud in the Sound Connect app. I kind of liked the continuous tapping for volume control.

The compact charging case measures roughly 50.4 × 50.4 × 32.6mm and weighs about 42g, making it pocket-friendly but not the sleekest around. It’s certainly thicker than the cases of the Apple AirPods Pro 2 and the Huawei FreeBuds Pro 5.

Sony offers several colour options, including black, greige, green and lavender, with additional coloured cushions and case covers available for further personalisation.

Audio performance

Due to their open-ear design, the LinkBuds Clip’s sound quality isn’t comparable to standard ANC buds. The 10 mm dynamic drivers in the buds would be more than powerful enough if they provided a passive seal, but since they let in plenty of ambient noise, the buds only really sound good in quieter environments.

Even there, I usually listened to them with the volume cranked up almost to the maximum, which is unusual for me. I rarely raise the volume over half to protect my hearing, relying on ANC to quieten the world around me. That said, even open-ear buds often produce a more robust sound than the Sony LinkBuds Clip.

I found the best place to test the Sonys was the quiet office I sometimes work in. With hardly any ambient noise around, I could finally appreciate the nuances of the LinkBuds Clip. Clarity and midrange details are excellent, with vocals, podcasts and acoustic instruments coming through clearly.

Bass is lacking, as expected, but some of the blues songs that I listened to during testing sounded okay. Sony offers four listening modes via the Sound Connect app, but I found only the Standard mode usable. Voice Boost enhances the midrange to comically pronounced levels, while Sound Leakage Protection and Background Music modes sound boxy and distant.

(Admittedly, Background Music mode is supposed to have that effect.)

The in-app equaliser provides a more subtle way to optimise sound, and indeed, ‘Hard’ mode made the songs sound a lot more well-rounded without pushing the buds to their limits.

The LinkBuds Clip perform well in situational listening scenarios. The open design allows environmental sound to remain audible, making them useful for walking, cycling or office use. At the same time, it means performance drops in noisy environments where ambient noise competes with music. I tried them on the tube with disastrous results.

Battery life and charging

Sony claims the LinkBuds Clip offer up to 9 hours of playback on the earbuds, with the compact charging case extending total listening time to around 37 hours (9 hours from the buds plus roughly 28 hours from the case).

For quick charging, three minutes of charging delivers about one hour of playback, which is useful if you forget to top them up before heading out. Charging is via USB-C, and there’s no wireless charging support.

In testing, the battery drain appears fairly consistent. Starting at 90% at 10:09, the earbuds dropped to 58% by 12:10, suggesting a steady discharge curve that broadly aligns with Sony’s roughly nine-hour estimate under moderate volume and mixed features.

Compared with similar clip-on open earbuds, Sony’s numbers are competitive but not class-leading. The Bose Ultra Open Earbuds are rated for around 7 hours per charge, while newer open-ear rivals like the Shokz OpenDots One claim 10 hours from the buds and up to 40 hours total with the case.

Verdict

My initial excitement about the Sony LinkBuds Clip quickly turned into disappointment during testing, but I suspect my assumption that they would deliver stellar audio performance played a role. It’s hard – nay, impossible – not to expect only the best from Sony, and on this occasion, that wasn’t the case.

The buds’ mid-range price strategy would work, but only if they deliver equal or better sound performance to similarly priced open-ear headphones. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case here, and with strong alternatives from Huawei and Shokz at the same price point, the LinkBuds Clip are harder to recommend.

I can imagine the price will fall soon enough, and once the LinkBuds Clip shed 30% of their asking price, which might happen in November, around Black Friday, it will be a lot easier to recommend them.

New TVs aren't the easiest things to place in context sometimes. Take a tour around a plush CES exhibition booth like the one LG put on this year in Vegas, and you'll come away impressed as anything by the likes of the W6 Wallpaper TV and OLED evo G6, but it isn't the easiest to know how they compare to the competition.

This week, though, I got to see the LG G6 not just on its own, devoid of comparisons, but lined up against its own predecessor, the five-star LG G5, as well as the superb Sony Bravia 8 II, and the Samsung S95F to boot. That's three five-star TVs from last year, lined up against LG's next OLED G6 flagship.

What did I learn? Well, in some regards, LG's new set represents a really clear step up on its predecessor, taking some small annoyances with the last generation of hardware and solving them at a stroke. In a couple of key ways, though, I have some reservations.

Starting with the unequivocally good, there's raw picture quality from an optimal viewing angle. LG showed us a few deliberately dark and dank scenes, freezing the frame to point out that even sets as brilliant as the array of 2025 displays can show obvious banding with the most challenging material.

The G6, though, was clearly the best in the field on that front – its ability to show grades of dark colour without obvious transitions is nicely upgraded, and surely stands as one of the best consumer panels available from that point of view.

I mentioned optimal viewing angles earlier, though, and not by coincidence. From basically any side-on angle, the G5 had a really quite noticeable green tint to its picture that I can't quite get my head around, and I know it's not the first generation of LG's OLEDs to lean that way. The image below makes it relatively easy to see (with the G6 being the middle set with the plaque above it).

LG's attitude (via spokespeople) seemed to be that top-class panels all have some colour science at their heart, and that while its tuning might have a slight green hue, that's only really in contrast to, for example, a red one in other sets (like Sony's). Whether you're happy with that explanation is a matter of your own attitude, but I was fairly struck by how obvious the green was in the G6 – especially since last year's G5 didn't have the same problem.

That said, the G5 is dimmer, and it left me feeling like there was a middle ground that could have resulted in nothing but upsides, instead of needing qualifiers. We'll obviously know a lot more when we're able to review the G6 for an extended period, too.

LG was also keen to show off the new sound tuning of the TV, and it was indeed warmer and bassier than the G5's presentation. Some people might find it a little more overbearing, to be honest, and a new AI enhancement mode for sound struck me as overdone – but I'm a Filmmaker mode purist with a 5.1 sound system, so that's maybe not a huge surprise.

It can detect speech, effects and a few other layers and theoretically arrange them more clearly for you. We watched scenes from Saving Private Ryan, for instance, that made quieter moments lean more heavily on the dialogue volume, while the famous Omaha Beach scene was far louder and heavier on the explosions with the mode turned on.

To my taste, though, the tradeoffs weren't worth the benefits – those tweaks left some parts of the soundscape underserved, and it felt a little like loudness was the main selling point, rather than accuracy.

Of course, that leads me to a major caveat, and one that applies to my reservations about AI modes and indeed that green tint – these are likely solvable by individual users pretty easily.

I simply wouldn't use AI picture or sound modes, which is an easy way out, and LG offers enough tweaking options in its menus (including more tone-mapping options this year) that it's not a challenge to imagine being able to neutralise the image fairly straightforwardly.

So, a few hours with the G6 has left me super intrigued to see how it scores with reviewers (including our own) when it's closer to being available. It's clearly a panel capable of some astonishing stuff, but it might showcase some internal tension at LG between buzzy AI features and the more straightforward upgrades that are more telling in the long run.

The global RAM and storage shortages might have claimed another victim. It is claimed that we might not see a next-gen console from Sony until 2029.

Sources say that because of the issue the company is considering "pushing back the debut" of the PlayStation 6 to "2028 or even 2029". That would potentially leave the PS5 Pro as its main machine for more than three years.

Not that the PS5 Pro is bad – we've only just scratched the surface of its capabilities so far, and Sony will soon push a major firmware update that could make games run even better. But considering Xbox is still expected to release its next console in 2027, it may end up with a major advantage.

The reported delay comes from Bloomberg (via VGC). It claims that the price of 16GB of DDR RAM has rising by 515% in just a few months. Whule 512GB of NAND storage is now 479% more expensive.

Having had to buy 16GB of DDR5 RAM recently, it's something I know all too well.

Nintendo affected by RAMageddon too

Bloomberg also states that Nintendo could raise the price of the Switch 2 at some point this year – once it's existing stock has run out.

And Valve is thought to have delayed the Steam Machine – which was originally expected to release later this year. Considering it was originally announced as offering an affordable, console-like experience, component pricing may have scuppered many of the plans for now.

Of course, RAMageddon – as it's being called – may end up changing Microsoft's scheduled for its next Xbox too, mitigating the absence of the PS6. Either that or its more premium, PC-like device will come with a premium, PC-like price. And that could put it out of reach for many gamers.

Whatever the outcome, at least your existing Xbox Series X/S, PS5 or PS5 Pro have a fair bit of life left in them yet.

Well, it's official – Sony's latest flagship earbuds are finally here, and the WF-1000XM6 aim to become a whole heap of people's go-to buds over the next couple of years. With basically the same price as the last set, though, and a very new design, which should you be buying in 2026?

I've used both and compared them in detail, so read on to find out which I think you should buy out of the XM5 and XM6 generation, with a keen eye on value and features.

Price & Availability

Although the review embargo is up, and you can check out my full four-star verdict right here, we don't yet know exactly when the WF-1000XM6 earbuds will be available to buy, although it's definitely sometime this month. They'll cost £250, €300 or $299 depending on where you're located.

By contrast, the WF-1000XM5s are now a couple of years old, and that means they're available just about everywhere you could care to look. They came out at the exact same price as the new generation, but as the older model, they're now widely sold for less, even outside of sale events.

Design

Perhaps the biggest differences between the XM6 and XM5 earbuds from Sony come in the design department, where it basically seems to have gone back to the drawing board after years of incremental updates.

The XM5 earbuds have a really rounded appearance, one that fits relatively obviously into the concha of the outer ear, pinching as they narrow to the ear tip you choose. The case, meanwhile, is slim and really rounded, where previous generations had somewhat massive cases.

The XM5s are available in black, silver and a smoky pink, the latter added a while after launch, with each generally having small pricing differences from the others as stock fluctuates.

Some people complain that these buds have a design featuring slick plastic that makes it really easy to drop them as you take them out of either their case or your ears, so that's worth watching out for.

The WF-1000XM6, by contrast, are very different to look at. The earbuds themselves will be available in black and silver only, for now, and have a totally new shape that's far more pill-like in its dimensions.

This is apparently a little smaller than before in terms of narrowness, but it's six of one and half a dozen of the other – the earbuds are very similar in terms of volume, so fit ears differently but not necessarily better. I've found them to be mediocre in terms of comfort, so if you can try them on before buying, that'd be a boon.

The case is also substantially bigger on the newer earbuds, even if the measurements don't make that seem too key. The new case is squarer and harder-edged, and I think it makes it fiddlier to get in and out of pockets, which is a small but telling grievance.

Overall, in design terms, a lot will come down to taste, but I don't think there's much in it – and I prefer the more rounded design of the XM5,s given they're more comfortable and useful as a result.

Sound and features

Comparing the sound of two generations of earbud can be a little like playing spot the difference with a blindfold on, but there are contrasts to be found if you listen to the XM6 and XM5 earbuds side-by-side.

For one thing, the newer earbuds do have better noise-cancelling, which was already impressive before. It's now benefitting from an extra microphone per earbud, and that makes for better muffling and much better wind-proofing.

The overall sound quality of music is also improved a little, with a wider soundstage and slightly richer depth. That said, the XM5 earbuds are still excellent sonically, and you won't be frustrated by any limitations on that side of things.

The features are also very similar between the two, from the 8-hour battery life on a charge to the IPX4 water resistance, and there's no real difference in connection strength either. That means this is a pretty incremental upgrade that leaves the XM6 ahead, but not by much.

Verdict

This hasn't been the hardest conclusion to write, of the many comparative tests I've conducted in my time – while I really do like the WF-1000XM6 earbuds, I would definitely advise people upgrading from cheap earbuds to consider the XM5s as a far more cost-effective option now.

If you time things well and take advantage of price cuts and sales like Prime Day, you could easily save £100 by opting for the older model, and that's a pretty telling gap.

Given the difference in sound quality is pretty minor, and the noise-cancelling goes along similar lines, the biggest factor is the earbuds' design. I actually prefer the older ones on that front, which means the WF-1000XM5s clinch the win in my books.

That said, there's no wrong choice here – both earbuds earned four-star verdicts from T3 at the time they released, which means they both get our seal of approval.

Sony has unveiled its newest flagship true wireless earbuds – the WF-1000XM6 – after a couple of weeks that featured some pretty detailed photographic leaks. The earbuds, as promised by those images, have a fairly complete redesign to bring to the table.

Where previous generations had a rounded shape in the outer ear, refined over time but culminating in the WF-1000XM5, the XM6 earbuds are more pill-shaped. They also have a very different case, one that is a good chunk bigger than the last generation's, in a slightly surprising move.

The earbuds themselves are apparently 11% narrower than before, which might make them fit more comfortably in a wider range of ears. Sony's being louder about the advancements it's made on noise-cancelling and sound quality, though, both of which get big steps up.

Noise-cancelling is apparently the best in any wireless earbud (albeit without any statistical backup for the claim), not least thanks to the addition of an extra internal microphone on each earbud to process more noise data.

This also helps to cancel out the effects of a new design that allows for more airflow through the ear and earbud, apparently helping with more natural sound quality from your audio. Sony says this, too, should be improved thanks to a redesigned driver.

The airflow also means that the earbuds can more easily detect in the companion app whether you're wearing them correctly, by checking how airtight the seal in your ear is. That sounds potentially like a handy way to work out which of the included tips is best for you.

These steps forward on the audio side probably explain why there's no change in battery life – it remains at eight hours on a single charge, with two more in the case, taking you to 24 hours in total before more power is needed.

The earbuds also don't change anything much on the pricing side of things – that's static from last time, coming in at £250 / $299 / €300. Of course, as always with these new generations, you'll almost certainly see the typical price of the XM5 earbuds now start to slide downwards over time.

We've saved the best news for last, though – I've actually had these earbuds for a couple of weeks, so you can read my detailed thoughts on how they hold up to extended use right here. They'll be available to buy this month, without an exact date yet named.

Sony doesn't drop new headphones and earbuds every year, but when it does deliver upgrades to its best earbuds they tend to be pretty big news.

Last year we got the long-awaited WH-1000XM6 over-ears, which I loved. That still left the brand's in-ears getting long in the tooth.

Now, however, some two-and-a-half-years after the WF-1000XM5s came onto the scene, it's time for the WF-1000XM6 earbuds to take the stage.

I've been using Sony's top-tier earbuds for a couple of weeks, and they've left me far more conflicted than I'd expected, thanks to some impressive high-points and some frustrating caveats.

The WF-1000XM6 are going to be some of the most popular non-AirPod in-ears come what may, I suspect, but I've got detailed thoughts on their strengths and weaknesses, all for you.

Price and Availability

The WF-1000XM6 are on sale as of today, and come in at almost exactly the same price as the last generation – £250, €300 or $299.

That's good in some ways, since other brands have resorted to price rises, and means these earbuds should slot into exactly the same part of the market.

However, that leaves these earbuds fighting against much the same alternatives as before. One big option is Apple's AirPods Pro 3, which cost £219 or $249, undercutting Sony. Another is the Technics EAH-AZ100, which also launched at £259 or $299, but can often now be found cheaper.

Design

Our earbud reviews tend to follow the same structure, which in this case means I have to open up my discussion of the WF-1000XM6 with what I consider its biggest weakness – the design changes Sony has made this time around.

Looking at previous generations, it's been easy to trace the refinement of the shape these earbuds have taken on.

Now, though, Sony's taken a bigger leap, smoothing them out into a far less unique oval shape, one that looks good but doesn't have a great deal of personality.

It reminds me a little of the change from the WH-1000XM4 to XM5 generation of over-ears, where Sony ripped things up and created something very pretty – but a tad sterile.

The earbuds seem smaller in some ways, but they're still pretty bulbous on the in-ear portion, and they fit in the ear in a roughly vertical orientation that feels nice and comfortable.

The downside of this fit, though, is one that could be pretty unique to me (but such is the nature of an earbud). I have big inner ears – this is almost always a blessing for testing, since it makes it incredibly rare to find an earbud that's uncomfortable. That said, I always use the biggest available ear tips that come with said earbuds, and in Sony's case, I think the largest are still too small.

The long and short of it is that I don't get a great seal with these earbuds, despite a comfortable fit, and no amount of wiggling, rearranging or pressing in does the job to fix that. I'll talk about the downsides to this when I get to sound, but it's a rare enough issue that it's worth highlighting.

Another curious change comes where the case is concerned – it's very different to the last generation, which had been rounded off and slimmed down impressively. Sony has instead gone with a blockier design that's substantially taller once again, and I can't quite understand why – as it's not to the benefit of battery.

Sure, when the case is on a surface for photography it probably looks more iconic and clean in its lines – but it's bigger, and has far sharper edges now. That means, quite directly, that it's more annoying to get into or out of a trouser pocket, which is a fairly obvious quality-of-life shortcoming to introduce.

Finally, you can grab the XM6 earbuds in either a silver-grey colour or black, and there's another baffling item to discuss on that note. My pair, in grey, are finished in a sort of matte texture that you'd associate with recycled plastic; by contrast, black pairs that I handled had a smoother, more polished-up texture – one that I found looked and felt more premium.

That's a really confusing little disparity that doesn't normally come with a simple change of colour, and it means that I'd definitely pick up the black version of these earbuds, given the choice.

Features

The design changes Sony has made for the XM6 earbuds are obvious, then, but it takes a little more squinting at its spec sheets to establish what's actually new when it comes to features.

Some of the headline stuff is unchanged. For example: the earbuds still have IPX4 water resistance, without any bump on that front for fuller protections. Battery life is also exactly the same, at around 8 hours on a charge, with two further charges in that bigger case.

What Sony is relying on, then, is stated improvements to the earbuds' two main features: sound quality and noise-cancelling (ANC).

If you take a peek at an earbud more closely, you'll notice an extra microphone hole, revealing that there are now two more microphones in total for the upgraded noise-cancelling system.

Sony says it's the best ANC in any earbuds. A big claim that it has been unwilling to substantiate with any decibel details or further information. And, in my case, with that less-than-ideal seal, it's not my experience.

Sound quality, meanwhile, is also boosted with redesigned drivers that take up roughly the same amount of space, but should be a touch more accurate than before.

These earbuds' release also coincide with an upgrade to the Sony Sound Connect app, too, so controlling various extras is easier now. This includes setting up a simultaneous connection between two devices, customising the touch controls on each earbud, and a few more gimmicky extras.

Like the over-ear XM6 before them, these include sound modes that make your music seem as though it's coming from speakers in your room rather than being piped right into your ears. This works oddly, and perhaps there are people out there who'll really enjoy it, but I can't count myself among that number.

The app also includes a feature that lets you test whether you're wearing the earbuds correctly, to make sure you use the right tip and orientation. Part of this wasn't functional on the early build I tested, but the other section simply confirmed for me over and over that the only way to get the optimal seal was for me to push the buds into my ears with my fingers while the test ran – affirming that the fit simply isn't quite right for me.

Sound quality and performance

So, all of this means that a lot of the XM6 earbuds' potential for success – in my eyes and ears, at least – relies on their sonic performance rather than their design. The good news for Sony is that they're indeed pretty excellent on that front.

Sound quality has ceilings where wireless earbuds are concerned, depending on codecs and audio sources, but the best earbuds make you barely remember that you're compromising compared to an over-ear experience and, at their best, the WF-1000XM6 can be right up there in that bracket.

These 'buds are extremely detailed in their sound representation, meaning you'll be able to pick out audio tracks from one another, and really appreciate the layers that certain artists use for effect.

With Dolby Atmos support now included, Atmos tracks can sound pretty wonderful with that three-dimensional audio travel – albeit some people find such mixes distracting compared to original masters.

As measured against other earbuds I've tested, the soundstage that Sony summons is also impressively wide – songs really don't feel cramped regardless of genre, and I've surfed through plenty in my testing.

Olivia Dean's hugely successful The Art of Loving has all the warmth and expressiveness that I was looking for, while the opening track of Volker Bertelmann's All Quiet on the Western Front soundtrack gets the contrast between booming bass and quiet notes that is demanded.

This is all enhanced in the right circumstances by noise-cancelling that seems to do a very good job, albeit in a way that's pretty challenging to measure scientifically.

My most reliable ANC earbuds remain the AirPods Pro 3, but outside the world of Apple, I'd give the prize to the Technics AZ100s – and in all honesty, Sony's XM6 don't change that hierarchy for me.

That's entirely down to the issues with the seal that I've detailed, though, and despite this, I've been able to do enough testing to confirm that the ANC can indeed be excellent.

Whether pressing them further in on planes, trains and buses, or simply seeing how they do despite the awkward fit, I've never been in a situation where the noise-cancelling has felt obviously sub-par.

Swapping between the Sony and my AirPods Pro, though, I've generally found the latter to do a slightly better job in most scenarios. There's no shame in that, though. It still leaves the XM6 earbuds in very good company.

Sony WF-1000XM6 review: Verdict

I'm impressed and surprised by the WF-1000XM6, arguably in equal measure. These earbuds look sleeker than ever, but have a case that I'll happily label worse than before.

Their sound quality is better than ever, but their fit and comfort seem less universal – certainly for me. Noise-cancelling (ANC) is improved, but battery life remains the exact same as the previous generation.

That all adds up to a great pair of earbuds that I can't quite recommend as fulsomely as I have others – because my personal experience of their fit just about compromises some of their biggest strengths.

If you like the new design and want Sony's excellent sound on the go, though, the WF-1000XM6 might well be perfect for your ears.

Also consider

I'll recommend two sets of earbuds that I've already mentioned in this review a couple of times, because I think they're super-fair comparisons given the similar pricing, and make different cases.

If you want a device-agnostic set of earbuds that sound beautiful and have a fit I've found more natural over time, the Technics EAH-AZ100 are an obvious pick, and won the T3 Award for 2025 for good reason.

If you're all-in on Apple's device ecosystem, meanwhile, the quick device switching and great sound of the AirPods Pro 3 make them a brilliant addition to your pocket or bag. I find them super comfortable, although I know that's not true of everyone – underlining just how personal fit and comfort really are for earbuds.

If you're interested in getting a pair of the best earbuds on the market, I'd encourage you to hang on just a little longer. That's because a fresh leak has just emerged from Sony, teasing that a new pair of earbuds will be launched on the 12 February.

That's just a few days away, and is likely to showcase the brand's successor the the Sony WF-1000XM5 earbuds. It's a big deal – as anyone who knows a thing or two about consumer audio will attest, the brand is always at or about the top of the pile.

Unfortunately, there's very little we can actually gleam from the video itself. The six-second clip simply shows a few angles of a dimly-lit, open earbuds case, so we'll need to wait for some extra official material before we can decide if they're any good.

Still, I'd wager that they probably are. Prior to the current XM5 release, the Sony WF1000XM4 earbuds were widely regarded as one of the best picks out there. And while the XM5 release was still good it was perhaps a little more incremental than enthusiasts would have hoped.

With that in mind, I'd anticipate a more comprehensive update this time out. It's also pertinent as there are a slew of other brand's which have really improved in that time. Options like the Bose QuietComfort Ultra earbuds and the JBL Tour Pro 3 have made themselves at home in my personal rotation, and that's only the tip of the iceberg.

While we can't tell too much from the video, one thing we can see is that there appears to be a new case design employed. The previous generation was like a little pebble, complete with smooth edges and soft, curved lines.

This video appears to show a much squarer frame, which should make it easier to stand up. It could also mean additional real estate within the case to improve battery life, though that's entirely conjecture at this point.

With the buds set to launch on Thursday, we'll be keeping a close eye on what's on offer.

Getting into vinyl is a threat that looms over so many of us in our early-to-mid thirties and onward (keeping my age a little ambiguous there) – and I'm more vulnerable than most. I'm exposed pretty frequently to audiophile-grade hardware, and know the difference between codecs almost against my will.

So, it's scary news that Sony just unveiled its first new vinyl turntables for a couple of years, and that they're aimed at seducing people exactly like me, with easy-to-use features and super attractive designs.

First up, there's the PS-LX3BT, which will replace the successful and very popular PS-LX310BT as Sony's new entry-level Bluetooth-enabled turntable aimed at those buying their first turntable of any sort.

We named the PS-LX310BT the best turntable for beginners in a recent group test, and its replacement keeps much of what we loved, but with an updated design. It gets a gorgeous grey look, with a sort of floating main body that will look ideal on almost any surface.

This time, the big addition is a fully automated playback system that lets you just press a button and handles the rest. That makes it way less fiddly than some more manual systems, while the return of Bluetooth audio is added to by support for aptX, aptX-Adaptive, and Hi-Res Wireless Audio.

It'll cost £299, which means there's been a price hike compared to the older model, not to mention the fact that you can get the latter for well below its RRP at times, now. If you have more to spend, though, £399 will get you the step-up model, the PS-LX5BT.

It looks very similar to the more affordable LX3BT, but the LX5BT has a totally black look (instead of dark grey) that is indeed even sexier. It has a slightly fancier cartridge at its heart, which means it should have a slightly wider soundstage to offer up, and it also adds a gold-plated audio jack for a bigger range of wired connections.

Whether that's worth an extra £100 to you might come down to how much research you're willing to do into the benefits that come with the extra spend, but the design is that little bit nicer, to my eyes.

Put together, these two are likely to be residents on "best turntables" lists for the foreseeable future, unless there's a major shock when experts like our team start to get their hands on them. We're assuming they'll be on sale very imminently.

Sony has just taken the wraps off its latest pair of earbuds, and despite growing excitement about the possibility of new flagship WF-1000XM6 noise-cancelling buds, it's going in a very different direction for now.

The newly-announced LinkBuds Clip Open are a direct competitor to the likes of the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds and Shokz OpenFit Pro, offering a far more open-eared listening experience that should ensure you can hear the world around you as well as your choice of audio.

They look very similar in design to Bose's earbuds, in that they have a clip shape with some rubber cushions that should let them basically hang in your ear in a way that could be super comfortable for longer listening sessions.

To make sure that you can choose your type of audio experience, Sony says it's baking in three listening modes that you can swap between with just a tap on the earbuds. The "standard" mode will behave normally, while a "voice boost" mode will amplify voice channels to make them easier to hear, aiming at louder environments like stations or other crowded areas.

Finally, a "sound leakage reduction" mode will quieten things down to make it harder for people around you to hear your audio, a common problem with open earbuds. How well that works will come down to testing, of course, along with the question of whether it compromises music.

The LinkBuds Clip Open will come with DSEE, Sony's in-house music upscaling solution (which increasingly ships in most of its mid to high-end audio devices), and offers a 10-band EQ feature for more customisation.

The earbuds themselves will last up to nine hours on a single charge, with 28 more in the case for 37 hours in total without being plugged into a power source. Fast-charging means that just three minutes in the case will give you an hour of listening.

Rounding out the features, meanwhile, IPX4 water and dust resistance makes them fully weather and exercise-proof, and the option of multipoint connections should make swapping between devices straightforward.

All this comes at a fairly punchy price, though – £180 in the UK or $230 in the US is an interesting choice from Sony that makes these cheaper than Bose's earbuds, but still a distinctly higher-mid-range option. It also suggests once again that the market for open earbuds is growing, and people really want them. I've always preferred in-ear earbuds with good transparency modes, but who am I to swim against the tide?!

Sony and TCL have announced that they've signed a memorandum of understanding, with plans to enter into a joint venture that will see TCL take a 51% stake in Sony's television business.

At the moment we're in the "discussions" phase, but should the deal move forward, the new company is expected to be operational from April 2027.

As outlined in a shared statement from the companies, this signals a big change to Sony's TV business. The announcement explains that TVs will still be produced with the Sony Bravia name, using Sony's "famed" picture and sound technology, while TCL's "advanced display technology", global scale, manufacturing and cost efficiencies will come into play.

The aim is to create new branded TV and home audio products that offer better value to customers – exactly what TCL is known for.

The agreement is a reflection of the pressures in the TV industry. While newcomers like TCL and Hisense are known for aggressive pricing, flooding their TVs with the latest technologies and working across multiple platforms, Sony's TV business has been rather less predictable over the past few years.

That saw fewer new releases, with older models staying in the market for longer.

Why has Sony partnered with TCL for future Bravia TVs?

Sony's TVs have long been known for their picture processing technology, while advanced audio solutions have also been synonymous with the brand. My recent review of the Sony Bravia 8 II highlighted that, out-of-the-box, it offered stunning, natural, content, true to the director's intent.

Sony has long leaned on the message that it's the only brand offering every part of the movie production cycle, from the studios and cameras through to the TV you watch it on at home. But there's no escaping the fact that Sony TVs come at a premium, while facing competition from all sides.

Samsung sits as global number one, but brands like TCL are gaining. This joint venture with Sony will likely see premium TVs produced under the Sony Bravia name, while giving TCL an established brand to sell more affordable televisions in regions that haven't adopted TCL as a brand.

It's clear that value for money lies at the hear to this announcement, with Sony's president and CEO Kimio Maki referring to creating "new customer value in the home entertainment field", alongside previous mentions of "end-to-end cost efficiency".

As DU Juan, chairperson of TCL comments "we expect to elevate our brand value, achieve greater scale, and optimise the supply chain in order to develop superior products and service to our customers."

Your next Sony Bravia TV might not be made by Sony, but at least there will be Sony Bravia TVs in the future, if these plans move forward.

There's more choice out there than you might think when it comes to the best virtual reality (VR) headsets, so if you're looking to buy one as a gift this Christmas then this guide is here to help you make the best decision.

Which VR headset is the best choice depends on several different factors. How much do you want to spend? What sort of games do you intend to play? Which of your current devices do you want it to connect to – or do you want it to work as a standalone gadget? All this and more needs to be carefully weighed up.

While having multiple VR headsets to pick from can make choosing the right one more difficult, it does mean that there should be one that's an ideal match. Having written about tech since the earliest days of VR, these are my picks for the best three models on the market at the moment, including the specific advantages of each.

T3's top picks

Pricing

Meta

Meta seems to have got the pricing just right with the Meta Quest 3S – which is why it's my top pick. It's relatively affordable, without compromising too much in terms of performance and features. Not only is the starting price around budget smartphone level, you'll often find it on sale, and everything you need to start playing is included in the box.

HTC

The HTC Vive Focus Vision gives you heavy-duty VR gaming for a heavy-duty price. It's the most expensive option on this list by far, which is why I've labelled it as the luxury choice. It still offers value for money, because you get some really impressive and immersive VR experiences, but factor in the potential cost of a gaming PC to go alongside it as well.

Sony

The PSVR2 sits somewhere in the middle of the Meta Quest 3S and the HTC Vive Focus Vision as far as price goes – and like the Meta model, it's regularly available at a discount. We're assuming if you buy this then you already have a PlayStation 5, but there's that cost to include too – whether digital, disc or Pro version of the console.

Which wins?

There are lots of reasons why I've selected the Meta Quest 3S as the best VR headset for most people. It's not the most powerful, but it is the best value for money – with a strong ecosystem behind it and an intuitive control system. In our Meta Quest 3S review, we called it a "brilliant option" for the VR headset shopper, giving it five stars.

As well as giving you an affordable entry point into VR, it's also a breeze to set up and use, so it's perfect for beginners. As you get more confident with the controls and features, though, there's plenty more to explore beyond the basics: wireless tethering to a PC if you need it, passthrough video, movie playback support, and plenty more besides.

Then we have the HTC Vive Focus Vision, which is much more capable when you connect it to a powerful gaming PC. As we wrote in our review, it offers superb image fidelity and build quality, as well as a high level of comfort and a range of customisation options – but it is only for those with a substantial budget available.

Finally, there's the Sony PS VR2, a solid and reliable upgrade on the original PlayStation VR headset. Whether or not this is the right choice for you very much depends on one question: do you already own a PS5? If yes, it's probably the best pick; if not, it perhaps isn't. In our Sony PS VR2 review, we said it offers "incredible immersion and detail".

Other options?

If you're not quite sold on the VR headsets that I've picked as the best of the bunch, you do have other options.

The Meta Quest 3, for example, offers higher quality displays compared to the 3S model, but which will of course cost you more – while giving you the same intuitive, accessible VR experience and the same selection of apps and games.

Let's not forget the Samsung Galaxy XR headset either. It's for mixed reality, meaning virtual reality plus a passthrough layer. However, it costs a hefty amount of money, and is only available in the US at the time of writing. If you can get hold of one, and you have the budget to be able to afford it, then it's worth a look – especially as it's backed by Google and the Android ecosystem.

There's lots to weigh up when it comes to choosing the best pair of earbuds, whether you're shopping for yourself or looking to surprise someone else with a gift. How much do you want to spend? How important is the audio quality? What kind of features are you looking for – and what are the types of devices you'll be wanting to connect to?

Having reviewed earbuds and headphones of various types for a couple of decades now, these are my top three picks for the best wireless earbuds to consider this Christmas time. Hopefully it should take some of the hassle and the stress out of your shopping – each of these picks is guaranteed to offer reliability, quality, and value for money at a variety of price points.

I've also focused on some of the most well-known earbud brands in the business, so you know the pair you're buying will be backed by a level of trustworthiness and customer support. That's not something you might think about immediately, but it can definitely make a significant difference further down the line.

T3's top picks

Pricing

Technics

When you see a product labelled as a luxury item, you know that you're going to have to spend a little more – but the Technics EAH-AZ100 aren't outrageously expensive at their full retail price. Factor in the number of hours you're going to spend piping top-tier sounds through these earbuds, and your investment starts to seem a lot more reasonable.

Apple

Most Apple products tend to be pricier than rival models from other manufacturers, but the AirPods buck this trend. The AirPods 4 are cheaper than a lot of the alternatives, but you still get the Apple quality in terms of the audio and the way these buds seamlessly connect to your Apple products. It's very much money well spent, even without any sales discounts.

Sony

The cheapest of my three picks here, but despite the drop in price there's really not much of a trade-off in terms of the features you get or the audio experience reaching your ears. The Sony WF-C710N earbuds can often be found with discounts applied as well – check the widgets embedded on this page for the best prices currently available across the web.

Which wins?

I've picked the Apple AirPods 4 as the best wireless earbuds you can buy at the moment, because of the combination of excellent sound quality, solid construction, and useful functionality – like the recently added ability to use them as camera remotes. If you're pairing your earbuds with an iPhone, iPad, or Mac, there's really no better choice out there.

AirPods work fine with non-Apple devices too, via standard Bluetooth connectivity, so they're still an appealing pick if you want to connect them wirelessly to Android or Windows devices. If you tend to hop between a lot of different platforms and a lot of different audio sources, then the AirPods 4 are going to serve you very well indeed.

The Technics EAH-AZ100 are winners for a slightly different reason: the excellence of their audio, even if there's a higher price tag attached. In our review, we described these earbuds as "an easy 5-star recommendation", which is a rare phrase. The design and battery life also add to an all-round superb package.

Finally, the Sony WF-C710N earbuds really are the ones to go for if you want to ensure the maximum amount of bang for your buck. Stick these in your ears and you'll be amazed that they come at such an affordable price. In our review we said they offered "fantastic battery life" and a level of sound quality that's "hard to argue with" – especially given their cost.

Other options?

You might be wondering why the Apple AirPods Pro 3 didn't get the nod ahead of the AirPods 4. They're definitely an option, as they're newer and packed with features, plus better battery life. However, they'll also cost you more money, and I think the AirPods 4 are the better buy right now when you take everything into consideration.

Another alternative to our top three picks: the Nothing Ear (3). If you're looking for an AirPods-style experience but for Android devices, then this gets you pretty close. The design of the wireless earbuds and the accompanying charging case are both really well done, and you get a superior level of audio quality for a reasonable amount of money.

The streaming revolution has given us some amazing things - movies on tap, higher quality versions than we'd been able to access before and so much variety. But at the same time, streaming doesn't get the best quality out of modern TVs.

As soon as you slip an Ultra HD Blu-ray into a player, you'll see the difference. Not only that, you'll hear the difference too, as the sound track is vastly better when it comes off an optical disc.

This discounted Sony UBP-X700 player could be the solution, especially as it's now cheaper than Black Friday. It normally retails at £269 - great value for a UHD player - but it's now discounted to £222 on Amazon.

This player is the value pick in our best Ultra HD Blu-ray players guide and while the top recommendation goes to Panasonic, that player is over £100 more.

The Sony X700 gives great performance for the price, a great way to get started with Ultra HD Blu-ray. It supports Dolby Vision and HDR10 as well as a wide range of audio formats, but there's no avoiding the fact that this Blu-ray player was first released in 2018.

Don't let that hold you back: it still offers great performance, especially at this discounted price, with few players remaining in this market. If you want to go better, then Panasonic is where to look, but if you don't want to blow the entire budget on the player and save something for the discs, it's a great choice.

Some parts of this player are now dated - the smart features that it offers aren't smart by modern standards, so don't use it for anything other than big movie nights when you're going to close the curtains, dim the lights and settle down in front of the TV to really enjoy the experience.

For me, as a TV reviewer, Ultra HD Blu-ray is as much about the sound experience as it is the visual experience, something that T3's tech writer Max remarked upon recently while watching His Girl Friday on such a disc.

It's just better, and while subscribing to a streaming service gets instant access, there's something a lot more satisfying about watching your favourite movies in better quality on a disc. Fortunately, regular deals mean that it doesn't have to be too expensive.

Sony has trademarked "True RGB" in several regions, suggesting that this is going to be the expression it uses when talking about its new TV technology. The trademark filings are in Canada and Japan, according to details from The Walkman Blog (via FlatpanelsHD).

We've previously seen Sony's new RGB tech in action. It was showcased behind closed doors in September, during IFA 2025 in Berlin. The new tech uses red, green and blue Mini-LED clusters for the backlight instead of the blue LEDs used in current Mini-LED models.

That allows much greater colour control, with enhanced brightness and from the demos seen so far, performance that could set new standards for TVs. With the registering of that trademark, it seems that True RGB is going to be on the agenda for 2026.

Sony has had a slightly controversial approach to TVs over the past few years. While many threw themselves into OLED as the top tech, Sony has – for a number of generations – chosen an LED model as the flagship. Currently that's the Mini-LED Bravia 9, while the Bravia 8 II is OLED and the Bravia 7 back to Mini-LED.

In 2026, it's likely that Sony will embrace True RGB in a new Bravia 9 – and I'm guessing it will land as the Bravia 9 II. That will take on Hisense, which is also pushing RGB Mini-LED models and is likely to expand the offering in 2026, while Samsung has also showcased MicroRGB – but the latter two only come in huge sizes right now.

Why is Sony using the term "True RGB"? Only Sony knows, but it's likely to emphasise the fact that this TV tech is has red, green and blue light sources – and suggests that some rivals might use RGB branding while sticking to traditional Mini-LED technology.

This reminds me of the way that Samsung leans into the "Real Quantum Dot Display" label, highlighting that many of the TVs on the market that claim to be quantum dot, either don't have a quantum dot layer, or that there's not enough QD material to make a difference to the picture. That's seen Hisense and TCL landing in legal trouble over their claims in the US.

At the moment, it's not clear exactly when Sony will reveal its new True RGB TVs: CES would seem like a great opportunity as it's the launch platform for a lot of TV tech, but Sony has been less engaged with the Las Vegas-based show in recent years.

The manufacturer could choose to launch the new TVs at its own event instead. Currently, it's not known what sizes Sony is planning to release, but it's likely that the Japanese company will be looking at adoption across the high-end TV market in a range of sizes, rather than just the 115-inch models that we've seen elsewhere.

Time will tell, but one thing is for sure – in 2026, TV tech is going to change again and OLED may no longer be the most desirable.

I test a lot of headphones – it's a core part of my role here at T3, to keep on top of the latest releases and device launches. That means I've had my hands on some of the most interesting new arrivals of 2025, and some of the best headphones to have come out in the last few years, which makes me pretty fortunate.

In the last year, though, no single set of headphones has impressed me more than the Sony WH-1000XM6, a brilliant continuation of the WH-1000 lineup from Sony that cements itself as probably the most crowd-pleasing and popular headphone option on the market. So, imagine my surprise when I found that a verifiable Black Friday deal on those headphones today had become even better.

When I reviewed the XM6s, I was taken aback by just how impressive they sound, but I think the real game-changer comes in the form of a subtly new design. It builds on the stripped-back simplicity of the XM5 silhouette, but reinstates one of the most important missing aspects: its ability to fold.

That makes for a set of headphones that can genuinely fit into your life with total ease, instead of the luxury but slightly inconvenient nature of the last-gen XM5s. Thankfully, a lot of the other elements are consistent with previous versions.

That includes sound quality that can help you hear all-new details in songs you've been listening to for years, as well as noise-cancelling that makes long-haul flights miles easier to endure. Plus, I've found them extremely comfortable over long hours of wearing them, which makes them the complete package.

This deal might not last all the way through to the end of November, so don't take too long to think about it!

The world of gaming monitors is one full of specs lists and "bigger number is better" thinking – particularly when it comes to refresh rates. But there's no denying that the higher your ceiling on that front, the more headroom you have. Sony's top-end Inzone monitor, the M10S, demonstrates just what that can mean for you.

This is a superb bit of OLED engineering, and I think it might just be perfect for some dedicated gamers – although the price tag attached does make it a luxury proposition. I've loved using it for the last few weeks of testing, though, and I'll miss it when it's gone. If you're looking for more resolution then check out our Best 4K Monitors guide.

Price and Availability

The Sony Inzone M10S has been around for a good while at this point, having launched in late 2024. However, this is the first opportunity I've had to use it since then. As such, it's available from a whole heap of retailers.

The monitor launched at an aggressive price, too: £1,199 in the UK, €1,199.99 in the EU, and $1,099 in the US. That was on the high-end of the market for 1440p OLED monitors back then, and it remains so now. Check out the shopping widget above in the hope of some decent discounts.

Design, features and specs

I always talk about the design of tech that I test early on in a review, but when you're checking out a monitor, there's often very little to say beyond commenting on how thin it is and what the stand's footprint is like. In the Inzone M10S' case, though, I can be a whole lot more glowing than that.

This is as gorgeous a gaming monitor as I've ever tested, in a way that makes me surprised a monitor stand could ever inspire such depth of feeling in me. The M10S rests on a small disc of metal on your desk, with an arm (and some light cable management tracks) connecting to the monitor itself, which has a large central section and then an extremely thin panel.

The stand has some tilting, and you can rotate the monitor through the full 360 degrees of movement, which makes it really easy to adjust its positioning on the fly. While the benefit of such a small stand footprint is obvious in terms of desk space and cleanliness, it's hard to put my finger on why I think the monitor looks so great beyond that, but it's a really total effect. Whatever angle you look from, this is a clean and elegant bit of design, and it really does put a lot of other gaming monitors to shame.

Inputs are a huge variable for monitors like this, of course. On the back of the M10S, you'll find two HDMI 2.1 sockets, as well as a single DisplayPort 2.1 port and some USB ports (plus a 3.5mm jack for headphones).

This is a pretty okay level of connectivity, but I come from a school of thought that there's no such thing as too many input options. I have my work laptop, PS5 Pro, Switch 2 and gaming PC all at the same desk, and could only have three of these connected, which was a pain. It's an HDMI issue that most TVs suffer too.

In terms of specs, the M10S is an OLED panel with a native resolution of 2560 x 1440, and it's 27-inches diagonally. I've long thought this is the best size for almost everyone looking for desktop gaming, and that holds true here. The variable refresh rate, meanwhile, caps out at a massive 480Hz, making this a doozy for competitive gaming.

The monitor also boasts an impressive 0.03 ms response time, to hopefully add to the feeling of responsiveness, and also has a range of compatibilities you like to see. These include Nvidia G-sync and Vesa-Certified Adaptive Sync, covering your bases. Its HDR capabilities match the requirements for DisplayHDR True Black 400, too, for better colour accuracy.

Beyond its raw specs, Sony has crammed in some additional features to explore. One, for instance, lets you shrink the onscreen display using black bars, down to 24.5-inches (the size typically used in tournaments) for practice.

Another set of options helps protect from the risk of OLED burn-in, including dimming systems for static elements. All of these can be turned off, too, since some are more noticeable than others.

The monitor's menus are all accessed from a little control nub on its back, and it's really easy to navigate through. Below this is the main power button, which is similarly easy to find with your hand.

Performance

Swapping from a monitor with 144Hz refresh rate capabilities to this one, with 480Hz, I was prepared to conclude that you really can't feel the difference over a certain level; while there's certainly some truth in that, it's also a little depressing to report that the smoothness offered by the M10S is nonetheless superb to control.

If you play a competitive game that's been designed to let you maximise its frame rate, like Counter-Strike 2 or Valorant, you'll be able to enjoy staggering performance on this monitor, and cross off another item on the list of potential excuses when you still lose. The fact that you get this paired with the lush blacks and rich colours of its OLED panel makes it even more attractive.

Variable refresh rate (VRR) is a huge asset here, too, since it works not just on PC but also on consoles like the PS5 Pro I've got hooked up. That means that you can enjoy smoother-feeling performance even when your frame rate is, in fact, jumping around a little.

Speaking of the PS5 Pro, that brings me to the M10S's one main limitation – it's a 1440p monitor, not a 4K one. That means you won't get full 4K output from your consoles, but it'll save your PC a huge amount of headroom at a viewing distance where native 4K is basically not really needed anyway.

I think the tradeoffs are worth it here, but it's worth considering whether you'd like 4K just to have it for the odd movie, console game or any other use case, since the M10S simply can't oblige in that case. On a similar note, there are no built-in speakers here at all.

I found the monitor pretty gorgeous, no matter what I played on it, though, from Battlefield 6's explosive online matches to the eerie creepiness of Silent Hill f – everything shone. The 1300nits of peak brightness also meant I never felt like the monitor was washed out even in bright conditions, although some of its auto-adjusting brightness features were distracting until I disabled them.

Verdict

There's no doubt that this is a luxury monitor from Sony, but it thankfully does well enough in justifying its price.

If you're on the market for a 1440p OLED panel, you'll probably be able to find cheaper ones – but few will match the gamut of features and benefits that the M10S boasts.

Its design is as good as I've ever encountered in the field, and while I wish it offered more HDMI ports, that gripes aside, this is a very accomplished bit of gaming kit for those with a chunky budget and an aspiration to become truly competitive in their gaming.

Also consider

The monitor market isn't one full of cut-price options if you want to get anywhere near the specs of the Inzone M10S, to be frank, but those happy to spend even more have plenty of choice. Case in point: the LG UltraGear GX9, which is exemplary in either 39-inch or 45-inch variants.

The 39-inch version is actually cheaper than the M10S, while the 45-incher exceeds it, and both completely change how you game, with ultrawide aspect ratios that make your games look frankly unreal, and come with a huge gamut of features to make gaming on less than the whole screen an easy possibility.

When Sony launched its Inzone gaming sub-brand, it was adamant, right from the start, that it was aiming at PC gamers and not those on its PlayStation 5 consoles. But the prominent white-and-black designs seemed to disagree, echoing the loud-and-proud PS5 visual.

Now, though, it's doubling down with the Inzone H9 II, and thanks to some big upgrades and redesigns, its PC gaming credentials are clearer. While the new headset might not look like a PS5 accessory, I've still been using it with my PS5 Pro and Nvidia PC to see if it can earn its worth as one of the best gaming headsets.

Price and Availability

Sony launched its new range of Inzone gear and accessories in late 2025, and they're now all available to purchase, including the H9 II. The headset is the most expensive in the Inzone lineup, and comes in at £299.99 in the UK, $349.99 in the US and €349.99 in the EU, making it a premium option for sure.

Design and Features

There's very little in common between the original Inzone H9 and this new version visually – stand them side by side and that would be pretty immediately obvious. Sony has redesigned the cans from the ground up, and I have to say that results are really pleasing both to look at and to wear.

The H9 II comes in either a totally black design or a white one that looks at least a little more familiar, but either way the huge change here is a brand new headband system. The H9 II has a rigid but fabric-covered arch over it, under which is suspended a cushioned headband to suspend the headset's weight over your head.

It's a system much like the one used by SteelSeries on its headsets, and can be really easily adjusted on either side of your head using clicky buttons. It also gives the headset an impressively barebones look and feel, which is only enhanced by the fact that it weighs just 260g without the microphone plugged in.

The earcups, meanwhile, are as plain as you could like, each one offering a matte expanse of plastic on the outside, with the inside cup holding a decent but not class-leading amount of cushioning.

There's a removable boom microphone which is clearly directional, as can easily be seen from its design. It's a shame this isn't stowable, rather than removable, since I find this is a hugely user-friendly choice for those who play multiplayer and singleplayer games interchangeably.

On those earcups, meanwhile, you also get a range of controls and inputs. On the left, there's a USB-C port for charging, a 3.5mm port as a backup for wired audio, a button to toggle between active noise-cancelling (ANC) and ambient modes, and then a volume wheel to control your master volume while playing. On the top of this earcup there's also a textured toggle to mute your mic.

The right earcup, meanwhile, has a recessed power button, a Bluetooth pairing button, and a rocker to change the balance between your chat and in-game volumes, which is super handy – but doesn't work on PS5, only on PC. Those are all the controls you're liable to need, regardless.

The headset also comes with a small USB-C dongle for its 2.4GHz wireless connectivity, and you have the option of being simultaneously connected to Bluetooth while using it, for those who like a dual-audio setup.

On the battery front, you'll get 30 hours on a charge, which is about par for the course at this point, although many headsets at this steep price point either far exceed this number or have systems to let you swap batteries out to avoid being caught short, so this isn't too impressive from Sony.

What's better is the inclusion of noise-cancelling that takes cues from the class-leading WH-1000XM6 headphones that I loved testing this year (as feature in our best ANC headphones guide). It's a good thing it's there, too, as the lightweight nature of the H9 II means its passive seal isn't too great, making this one of the less cocooning headsets out there until you turn on the ANC. This headset uses the exact same audio drivers, too.

While you'll draw your own conclusions about how the H9 II looks, I'm a big fan of its toned-down new design and stripped-back aesthetic. Crucially, it also results in a very light headset that's extremely comfortable to use even for hours at a time (as I proved to myself with some all-day Battlefield 6 sessions). The slight downside there is that it makes the headset feel a little less premium in build terms, but that's a common enough factor and not really a criticism.

You get a nice zip-up carrying bag in the box, too, along with charging cables, which is a final welcome bonus – it even has an external pocket, making it more useful than many others I've seen.

Performance and Sound

When Sony announced the Inzone H9 II, it confirmed that it was using the exact same physical drivers in the headset as it does in the superb WH-1000XM6, which is quite the pedigree. I loved those headphones when I reviewed them, so Sony's news was indeed quite a hype-builder.

In practice, those hoping that the H9 II might be for headsets what the XM6s are for headphones could be a little disappointed by their sound performance, though, which falls into the 'very solid' category rather than being truly exemplary. This is a precise and well-rounded headset, but not one to redefine the category, ultimately.

I used the headset to play a good chunk of Ghost of Yotei and a whole heap of Battlefield 6, the latter on both PS5 Pro and PC – two games that have pretty superb audio design. Both sounded excellent through the H9 II, with a good amount of detail captured but also enough heft that explosions and moments of drama had real impact.

Compared to a pricier headset like the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Elite, which I tested recently and use whenever I'm not reviewing a headset, there's a slight drop-off in pin-drop clarity, perhaps, but the gap isn't gigantic. Still, there are times when its tuning feels not-quite-perfect in a way that can be hard to pin down.

This sound is basically no good out of the box for music, in case you were wondering, although you can tweak some EQ settings in a companion app fairly easily to amend things. I'm not convinced many people buy at this price with both gaming and normal use in mind, but if those are your intentions, it might be worth reconsidering.

What's more impressive is the headset's ANC, which does a good job of tuning out background noise. Sony's headphones are excellent in this regard, and the H9 II comes into the top bracket of gaming headset implementations. That's welcome, since (as I've mentioned), the headset is really light and doesn't seal too tightly, making the ANC quite a necessity to get proper isolation.

Thankfully, while I'm a little disappointed at its design, the included microphone is a very good one, which captured my voice really cleanly without any tweaks needed out of the box. This is a must in a headset at this price, and Sony has nailed it.

I found battery life lived up to Sony's claimed 30 hours with ANC turned on, and if you turn it off then you can expect to eke out a good few hours more. That isn't a class-leading number, either, but it is solid enough not to be a major issue.

The included dongle also has a PC mode and "other" mode for console pairing, which is easily clicked between with a switch. I found connectivity solid even when I moved around between rooms while connected, and Bluetooth was similarly reliable.

Verdict

My first impressions of the Inzone H9 II were extremely strong – the headset's one of the most lightweight and comfy I've tried in ages, and I really like the new design.

Its sound performance isn't quite so stellar, though, and its battery life is right in the middle of the road, leaving Sony with some more areas to improve.

If you like the look of it, though, and want a headset that almost feels like it isn't there at times, along with some of the best ANC I've tried in a gaming device, then it's a very solid option indeed.

Also consider

It's the top of my list of the best gaming headsets for a reason, and I'd say the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless remains the headset to beat at this premium price. Its sound is better than Sony's, and has a heap more features, although it's more substantial on the head.

If you'd like to take one step down on the budget front but still get a really excellent set of cans for your gaming, then the Razer BlackShark V2 Pro is a great choice. They're again heavier and chunkier, but sound great, and come in quite a lot more affordably.

Sony's Inzone gaming range is coming of age – or, at least, that's how its latest lineup of accessories has me thinking, after a couple of weeks using them all. I'm reviewing the high-end H9 II headset separately, to see if it merits a place on our ranking of the best headsets, but the Mouse-A, KBD-H75 and more have also been impressing me (with just one quite sizeable asterisk).

Along with the H9 II, Sony sent me loaner units to basically convert my entire PC setup into an Inzone one temporarily. First up, there's the simply named Mouse-A, which is aiming at those who want a premium but ultralight mouse that keeps things simple. It does that and then some, weighing just 48.4g – which makes it incredibly easy to use for long periods without any wrist strain.

I'm always a fan of gaming gear that doesn't actually scream out its gamerness, and the lack of neon lights and silly details makes the Mouse-A feel right up my street. Of course, the real key is a polling rate and dongle that can support up to 8,000Hz – making this potentially a hypersensitive mouse if you like things twitchy.

It's been a great pairing with Battlefield 6, my tipple of choice right now, and the 3950IZ sensor that Sony's built for the mouse seems super impressive from my (somewhat unsophisticated) testing. It's also been a perfect addition in combination with the other important device Sony sent – the KBD-H75.

This might be the sleekest gaming keyboard I've ever used, with a gorgeous blackout design that comes alive with backlighting when it's powered on. It's wired, which is worth knowing, but if you're fine with that then it's a gorgeous bit of kit – as heavy and premium-feeling as the Mouse-A is light.

As a 75%-scale keyboard, there's no numpad here (which I never want), but you do get a lovely ratcheting knob for volume control, which feels simply lush to move. With Rapid Trigger switches for super fast actuation, and an 8,000Hz polling rate to match the mouse, it feels stunning. The hall-effect switches are buttery and super silent, too, with as soft a feedback as you could like (unless you love aggressive clacking, which some do).

All that's very positive, and I stand by how much I've enjoyed the accessories, but I should cover off the big downside for those excited by the prospect of picking them up. In a word, it's price. These are really expensive devices relative to their quality (despite that being high). The Mouse-A comes in at £149, $150 or €179 – a big, big price tag for a very simple mouse.

The KBD-H75 is £250, $299.99 or €299 – again, just an absolute wedge in a world where you can get seriously smooth mechanical keyboards for half that. This even extends to the Inzone Mat-F, which I also tried: £89 for a mousemat feels hard to swallow, even when it's made as perfectly as this one.

So, these might be accessories for those with enviable budgets, or they might be ones to keep an eye on over the next year or two, to wait for choice deals (which generally do come around on gaming gear).

Sony is reportedly planning to release a revised version of its DualSense controller, to go with a tweaked PS5 Pro model.

We often get skinned, special edition DualSense models, with the God of War variant revealed during the latest State of Play, but they are technically the same as the first DualSense that arrived with the PS5 five years ago.

The new version, which is allegedly known internally as DualSense V3, will have a major new feature that all PS5 owners can benefit from.

Polish game site PPE.pl (via VGC) claims that the new model will come with a removable and replaceable battery.

It cites Graczdari as its source, with the leaker having a decent recent track record with PlayStation details. They were first to reveal that Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 was coming to PS5, before the official announcement. And they said that there was to be a boxed version of Oblivion Remastered – again before confirmation.

While there are few other details on the new controller, it is thought that rather than make the battery hot swappable, the construction of the DualSense will be such that it is easier to get to the rechargeable battery inside.

This will help the device comply with the EU Battery Regulation that comes into effect in February 2027. All new battery-operated products sold in EU countries from that date must have batteries that can be replaced by the user – not just a repair specialist.

It seems Sony is looking to get ahead of the game, so to speak. It's thought that the new DualSense and PS5 Pro models will be available from November.

As for that PS5 Pro, it'll likely only be tweaked a touch to be less power hungry – another initiative to comply with forthcoming regulations.

When Sony announced that it would release a new version of the PS5 Digital Edition, it was met with incredulous gasps and a fair amount of online grumbling – not just because it was due to remain that same price, but that it'd cut the storage, too.

The new Digital Edition ships with just 825GB of internal storage, whereas the original had a 1TB SSD inside. And what's more, Sony even raised the prices of its PS5 consoles over the last few months, so it's even more expensive than the first model released five years ago.

But it now seems that's not the only change. The all-new PS5 Digital Edition (CFI-2100) comes with a matte finish. The first and second generation versions feature glossy plastic on the white outer case and black section in the middle, but this has a non-shiny finish.

To be honest, I don't think it looks too bad – something echoed by YouTuber Austin Evans, who received his all-new PS5 Slim Digital Edition from Germany.

In his video (via VGC), Evans says: "This is definitely different... that's matte all the way around. I actually like that – what the hell did they do to my boy?"

He also finds out some interesting other changes, after opening the console to have a poke around.

For starters, it's lighter – around 120g lighter, in fact. And the heatsink has been reduced in size, with a potentially better design.

This latter alteration can be seen as an enhancement, as I have an original PS5 Digital Edition and it can be prone to radical overheating – especially during the record-breaking summer we've just had in the UK.

But surely that's not enough to justify the elevated price – and is hardly a trade-off for 175GB less storage. Of course, you can invest in one of the best PS5 SSDs out there, and add it as extra capacity, but that just adds even more onto an already pricey purchase.

Thankfully, some UK retailers are selling off older PS5 Digital Edition stock – the slim version, but with the 1TB drive. And you can save yourself up to £100.

So, if you are looking to get a new PS5 Digital Edition and don't mind whether it's glossy or matte, you can actually save yourself a bob or two – and have enough extra storage for a couple of additional games.

This is turning out to be quite the challenging year for gaming – with the inflation that ran rampant through 2024 and 2025 now starting to bite in terms of pricing in many areas. While we haven't seen wholesale price rises from every console maker, there have been no price cuts to speak of, and Sony just underlined how that arithmetic might be working.

After confirming the news a few weeks ago, it has now started to roll out a new version of the slim PlayStation 5, which cuts down its internal storage by a meaningful amount. When the PS5 first launched, it came with an 825GB internal SSD for game storage, but when the slim model arrived, it upped this to 1TB.

That was a welcome change in an era of huge download sizes for games, but it seems like price hikes in components have made Sony reverse course. As of now, all new PS5 Slim models will go back down to 825GB for their internal SSD, although their pricing won't be changed to reflect the change.

For anyone buying a console, therefore, whether they're going for a used model or a new one on the store shelf, there's now an extra bit of research to do. You can quite easily work out whether the console you're buying will have 825GB or 1TB of storage, since the packaging will confirm things either way.

The used market is where this should be particularly impactful, since you'd probably want to pay less for a console that's identical in every way apart from having less storage for your downloaded games.

Needless to say, Sony hasn't been going out of its way to acknowledge this whole situation, or to shine a spotlight on the change for its customers. So, the more you know, the more you can contort things to avoid getting less SSD space for your money if you're about to buy a new console. If you've got a bigger budget, have no fear – the PS5 Pro is unaffected by all of this.

A couple of weeks ago I was wandering around the still under-construction halls of IFA in Berlin, surveying what's one of the biggest tech conferences in the world a little before it was actually ready to welcome in the public. It's a fascinating time to see this sort of event being built, not least because it really underlines just how huge an undertaking it can be to build a single stall, let alone the whole thing.

I was there with Sony, though, so while I was curious to see what else was going to be on show, there was a single tech demo that really preoccupied me. Unlike some other attendees, it was my first time seeing the tech in question, too.

Sony has been talking about its RGB Mini-LED tech for a while, along with basically all the other big TV makers on the market, but getting your eyes on the stuff has proved a slower process. Everyone and their nan was talking about this type of panel back at CES, but now it's starting to look like people could potentially buy one (at a crazy price) next year.

Sony's demo of its panel wasn't long, but it took in enough examples to be informative, and unlike some other brands, it was confident enough to put the new panel right alongside some established highlights from recent years. That was pretty easy to understand once the demos got into full swing – it doesn't take long to see how this could be the future of TVs.

The advancement is simultaneously extremely technical and easy to explain, because of the "RGB" in the name – where existing (very impressive) Mini-LED televisions use a large array of blue-light LEDs that can be filtered to the colour spectrum needed, RGB Mini-LED panels replace each blue LED with three tiny lights: one red, one blue and one green.

This gives the panel the ability to get a wider range of colours mixed, but also lets it do so much more brightly, and the proof is in the pudding when you see them side by side. Sony's panel was extremely bright, and with all of the TVs in their "Vivid" mode, it was honestly a little retina-burning at times, in a good way. TV demos have a tendency to be in a dark room, for obvious reasons of contrast and light conditions, which can make them slightly dazzling.

So, with colour and brightness that can't really be matched by anything on the market right now, and blacks that rival the best OLED TVs, why aren't we all gearing up to buy an RGB Mini-LED TV as soon as possible? Well, the short answer is twofold: pricing and availability.

Although the tech has been in discussion for a good year now, the race to be the first to market is still ongoing. Sony almost certainly won't win it, either, since it's aiming to be the best on the market instead – taking a bit more time and ensuring that its dimming technology, long a strong suit, can give it the edge on its rivals when it's ready. That's its line, but it doubtless would still prefer to be both best and first, if it could.

Regardless of when the panels are available for normal folks to buy (and it'll be in 2026, by all the signs), the other question is how much they'll cost. Whenever cutting-edge new displays are unveiled, the first couple of models tend to be prohibitively expensive. While we're not bracing ourselves for £30,000 TVs here, necessarily, sets that sit north of £5,000 are very possible.

That immediately makes them niche for now, so if you're sitting with a relatively recent OLED wondering what all the fuss is about, don't panic. You should have several years to go before your TV starts to look remotely long in the tooth (regardless of Dolby Vision 2).

TV technology never stays still for long, and after widespread teases at the CES show this year, it was only a matter of time before we started to be able to actually see RGB Mini-LED panels with our own two eyes.

Now, another show – this time IFA 2025 – has provided that moment. I went to Sony's behind-closed-doors demo of the new panel that it's working on, and finally saw the TV upgrade that we'll all be hearing about for the next few years.

The short version? This is staggering display technology, and the advantages it boasts over standard Mini-LED are manifest, before you even turn to its competition against the likes of OLED and QD-OLED TVs.

Sony didn't let me take pictures of the comparisons that I saw, but it made it seem unambiguous that RGB Mini-LED tech is all upside (aside, I'll assume, from the likely high price point).

What is RGB Mini-LED?

For those who weren't paying attention to press announcements at the turn of this year: RGB Mini-LED essentially upgrades the Mini-LED setup in an obvious but technically challenging way. Where Mini-LED displays have an array of single blue LEDs and can translate that light into the right colour gamut through a film layer, RGB Mini-LED instead has an array of tiny trios of, well, red, green and blue LEDs.

This means that each LED location can display its colours without any filter needed, by mixing the proportion of RGB gamut as required, and the benefits don't take long to see. In short, Sony's RGB Mini-LED panel was bright. Like, really bright – solving basically the one problem that had reared its head on the superb Sony Bravia 9 Mini-LED TV that it released in 2024.

I watched a series of quick scenes from a bunch of movies with bright, colourful peaks in them, including some Frozen 2, Life of Pi, and documentary footage of blacksmithing work, featuring extremely bright flames. Sony provided an array of three TVs to compare against the new panel, including one each of a Mini-LED, White OLED and QD-OLED display.

All of these were outclassed by the RGB Mini-LED panel in terms of luminosity – particularly when Sony switched on what it's calling ColourBoost. This system will basically make colours all the more vivid when in Vivid Mode, as the mode can channel the unused red, green or blue proportions and 'boost' the signal of the other colours as requires. This will seemingly be core to its RGB Mini-LED offering.

The biggest RGB Mini-LED benefits?

Vivid is the operative word, because the white heat of molten metal, the changing hues of icicles, and the bright peppering of stars all looked stellar on the new display. These cherry-picked vignettes made it obvious that the peaks of RGB Mini-LED go much brighter than what rivals can manage. Although there was a caveat that all of the displays were in the actual Vivid mode, which is not how I'd set up my TV as a matter of personal taste.

The prototype I viewed apparently had a peak brightness of 4,000 nits, but Sony wasn't willing to say whether that's representative of how consumer TVs could end up come 2026 or beyond. That goes for the tech more widely – pricing is a huge variable for this display tech, and it's pretty hard to get a sense of what price tags we might see attached to the first consumer launches down the line.

Sony was keen to underline that brightness isn't the only benefit – colour accuracy is also enhanced, with four times the gamut of QD-OLED. Those colours were spectacular, but I'm pretty certain it's the brightness that will catch more people's eyes, since very few of us would look at a top-end OLED panel and find it lacking in colour depth right now.

Another benefit came in terms of lightning bloom – even the best Mini-LED displays can have a slight problem with white light bleeding around super-bright elements on-screen, and RGB Mini-LED marks a step forward on this front. We saw a shot from Black Widow featuring a bright red light against a totally dark background; on the Mini-LED panel, there was white light bleeding out around it if you paid attention, but on the RGB Mini-LED panel this was red, which is far closer to how it would look in person if you stared at, for instance, a traffic light at night.

I was also told that one of the big upsides is that this panel tech is easier to scale up, meaning an end to the current ceiling of around 115-inches for displays. While most people can't consider buying something that size, let alone bigger, Sony told me that more widely available 130-inch TVs are now a likelihood rather than a possibility at minimum.

The elephant in the room was also addressed, after Dolby surprised everyone with the announcement of Dolby Vision 2 on Tuesday. Sony confirmed that it'll consider the new standard carefully, and that it was proud of having the first-generation Dolby Vision on many of its TVs, along with Dolby Atmos audio, so that looks very much like a "watch this space" situation.

When will Sony's RGB Mini-LED be on sale?

All of this begs the question: when will the first RGB Mini-LED TV from Sony actually be available for people to buy? I was told the answer might be surprising, but that this was part of a '2026 technology preview' – so make of that what you will.

Given that we're now basically entering into the countdown phase for CES 2026, however, I'd feel moderately confident that we'll learn something more at that show – perhaps with Sony's March announcement cycle presenting the brand's full and updated range in that month.

My first eyes-on impressions are that RGB Mini-LED is a major new option for enthusiast TV buyers, and those who value being on the cutting edge. That said, there are a lot of variables to still figure out in terms of release timings and pricing, so we'll see how things unfold in the months to come.

When it comes to gaming, Sony isn't just PlayStation, you know. In fact, it's been slightly muddy trying to work out where its InZone range of gaming accessories fit in alongside the alternatives it makes for PS5 and PS5 Pro gamers – a distinction that's getting easier with the launch of a whole heap of new devices this week.

Sony is unveiling a new flagship headset in the InZone range, but also its first keyboard, gaming mouse and mousemat. All of this serves to underline the fact that it's aiming squarely at PC gaming, rather than consoles (although PlayStation support is there for most of the new devices).

Headlining the announcement is the €300 or £300 InZone H9 II, a new version of the top-end H9 headset that InZone released a couple of years ago. It upgrades the sound side of things by using the exact same driver hardware as the five-star Sony WH-1000XM6 headphones, including the same noise-cancelling capabilities, which could be very special.

The big change visually is a totally redesigned headband that looks much more adjustable and comfortable. It was designed with help from esports fixtures Fnatic, which chipped in on all the other products in this wave, too. The InZone H3 is a refreshed wired headset that's much cheaper at £90 or €100.

Those include the InZone E9 for £130 or €150 – these are in-ear gaming earbuds aimed at being even more comfortable than a headset for long periods of play. They're probably ideal for streamers, but can also fit under performance-level headsets if needed.

On the control side, there's the InZone KBD-H75, a 75% tenkeyless mechanical keyboard that sounds like it should feel very premium under your fingertips, coming in at £250 or €300. InZone Mouse-A is a classy-looking lightweight wireless mouse for £150 or €180 – and both of these come with 8,000Hz polling rates for lightning-fast response times.

Finally, there's InZone Mat-F for £90 or €100, with a high-friction surface and some great design details, alongside the more affordable Mat-D for £50 or €60, which is a little lower-friction and less thick.

Sony says that all of these new devices should be available in September 2025, although exact dates weren't supplied for their launches. If you want to refresh your gaming setup, then, these could be perfect, particularly if you game on PC. I'm hoping to test at least the H9 II down the line, to see how the claimed quality holds up to scrutiny.

Four years after Sony first revealed its plans for an electric car, the Afeela 1 has entered the pre-production stage of development.

This means that, while customer cars aren’t rolling down the production line just yet, the tech firm is producing so-called pre-production examples, ready for the final stages of testing ahead of the first deliveries.

Instead of building its own car factories from scratch, Sony has partnered with Honda, who is making the first examples of Afeela 1 at its East Liberty plant in Ohio, US. By teaming up with an established carmaker, Sony is taking a different approach to some other EV startups, who have instead used contractors like Magna Steyr.

Revealed in its final form at the CES tech show in January this year, the Afeela 1 is priced from $89,900 for the Origin trim level and $102,900 for the Signature. Orders can be placed with a $200 refundable deposit, and Sony says the first deliveries will begin in mid-2026. Cars are due to arrive in California first, and there is expected to be a Japanese launch next year too.

A car for technology fans, the Afeela 1 boasts 40 sensors (including lidar, radar, ultrasonic and regular cameras), an ultra-powerful ECU and, given this is Sony, plenty of onboard entertainment too. This includes active noise cancelling, a sound system with support for spatial audio, and displays for both the front and rear passengers. The latter each get a 12.9-inch LED screen, while those up front are greeted by a huge screen that spans the entire width of the dashboard. There are also displays for the digital wing mirrors, of course.

Despite all of the tech, the car itself is relatively simple, as far as EVs go. It has a pair of electric motors each producing 240 horsepower, a 91 kWh battery pack, an estimated range of 300 miles and a relatively modest maximum charge rate of 150 kW.

But will all this be enough to see Sony take on established carmakers? Even with developing and manufacturing help from Honda, the tech company faces an uphill battle if it wants to sell a near-three-figure saloon with specs that, while impressive when first announced a couple of years ago, have since been overtaken by more established rivals.

So far, at least, Sony’s ambitions seem to be going to plan, and we’ll likely see the first pre-production Afeela cars on the streets later this year.

Have you been looking at the rave reviews given out by tech journalists left, right and centre (including myself) to the Sony WH-1000XM6 headphones in recent months, and thinking to yourself: "I'd love a pair, but would much rather double the price to get a handbag into the bargain"?

Well, if so, some unlikely but extremely pleasing news just reached us – Sony has teamed up with the painfully trendy UK fashion brand Chopova Lowena to offer exactly that. You can now buy (either in-store in London or on the official website) the simply named Chopova Lowena DSML Exclusive Alto Headphone Bag Multi for a cool £800.

That money'll get you a pair of Sony WH-1000XM6s in their black colourway, but more importantly for the extra £400 and change, you'll also get a handbag custom-designed to fit the headphones into a fun little clasp on its outside.

You'll still get the superb hard-shell carrying case that the XM6s come with, of course, but for when you want them even more conveniently to hand, and still need to look great, the handbag seems like an interesting solution. It'll ensure that you're just a couple of poppers away from slipping the headphones onto your head.

According to Sony's press release for the launch, "Sony looked to Chopova Lowena to merge their fashion credibility with the tech powerhouse’s industry-leading innovation, aiming to create something fun, distinctly original and fashion forward."

I can't argue with that – not least because I can't pretend to actually have heard of Chopova Lowena before today. Still, while the handbag might not be exactly the sort of thing I'd sport (in fact, I'd really rather not), I'm sure there are some big fans of the fashion brand out there who are immediately tempted to pick one up.

If that sounds like you, well, you know where to go now – the bag is available already, and probably doesn't have unlimited stock. If you're keen, you might want to pick one up sooner rather than later.

An industry expert claims to have found hardware details for the PlayStation 6 and suggests that Sony's next-gen console will be a beast of a machine. If true, it is said to be twice as powerful as the P55 Pro when it comes to rasterisation and 3D rendering.

That's in comparison with recent leaks about the next-gen Xbox, which will reportedly be less capable than that.

In addition, the leak has added both the PS6's price and additional hardware surprise – a long-awaited successor to the PS Vita.

This all comes from YouTube channel Moore's Law is Dead – a regularly trusted source when it comes to gaming hardware information. The channel claims to have discovered details from a leaked AMD presentation.

It says that the PS6 is codenamed Orion and it could be released late 2027/early 2028.

The video also suggests that due to cost saving measures, Sony will look to release the new machine for roughly the same as the launch price of the PS5 – and not the much-maligned price point of the PS5 Pro.

That puts it around the $499 / £449 mark.

What else is known about PS6 and the mystery Sony handheld?

It'll also be backward compatible with PS5 and PS4 games, it's claimed, and run at a minimised power output – something Sony has been moving towards even with this latest generation.

As Engadget also writes, it's worth noting that the presentation all this information comes from is a couple of years old – it was pitched by AMD to Sony in 2023. Things might have changed in the interim, although it's fairly obvious that the PS6 will have to be more capable than the PS5 Pro. It'd hardly be a generational upgrade, otherwise.

Also found in the documents were mentions of a handheld names Canis. This is said to be also compatible with PS5 and PS4 games, and planned for the same 2027/28 launch window.

It will be more powerful than the Xbox Ally X, but then that's hardly surprising given the two year gap between releases.

We'll keep our ear to the ground in case more about either device surfaces, and considering we're coming to the end of a traditional console cycle it's likely there'll be plenty more to learn in the coming months.

Sony's Ult lineup is maturing nicely. After launching the new sub-brand of speakers in 2024, Sony is adding more models all the time. One of the most attractive recent additions is the Ult Field 3, on review here. There are both bigger and smaller options in the Ult line, but I think this one might be the most sensible size for most people.

It's big enough to stand alone happily in big spaces, but small enough to remain portable – all with a classy and sleek design. How does it hold up to actual use, though, and is it one of the best Bluetooth speakers going? I carted it around for a couple of weeks to establish just that – so read on for my detailed thoughts.

Price & Availability

The Ult Field 3 is available now and can be picked up from a wide range of retailers. It comes in at £159 / $199.99 / €199, which makes it sit in roughly the mid-range where portable speakers are concerned. This isn't a super-compact speaker, so it isn't competing on getting the price down as low as possible.

Design & Features

Sony's Ult lineup has some chunkier, more 'shouty' speakers, but I think the Field 3 is one of, or perhaps the single nicest-looking speaker in the whole range. It's oblong in shape, with a mesh grille covering the majority of the body. There are small feet to keep it the right way up, too.

On each end of that oblong, you'll find large apertures for some of its drivers, while the top of the speaker holds the main controls. There's a power button, a couple of pairing buttons (one for Bluetooth, the other for connecting to other Ult speakers), play/pause, volume keys, and a large Ult button for boosted bass.

On either side of these controls, there's a small rubber flap you can lift to gain access to hooks that let you attach an included carrying strap. That process can be a little fiddly, but once they're on, they feel very secure.

The back of the speaker, meanwhile, hides another rubber flap with the USB-C charging port behind it, along with a battery button for maintenance use (I think – I couldn't find any evidence for what it does).

The whole thing is accented by a single, quite large Sony logo in reflective metal on he speaker's front, and makes for a really attractive picture overall. You can pick it up in black, green or off white, depending on your taste.

The fabric is durable enough to leave me relaxed about handling it roughly – it's very similar to the outside of something like the UE Wonderboom 4.

That durability isn't just an appearance, either. The speaker has a water and dust resistance rating of IP67, which means it's impervious to dust, and resistant to water up to a metre of immersion for 30 minutes. That's more than enough to ensure this is a genuinely hardy speaker you can rely on in all weather.

Battery life is stated at up to 24 hours, and there's fast-charging to get a couple of hours from just 10 minutes plugged in. Those are impressive numbers, and should make it something you can take on camping trips or for all-day outings without any anxiety.

The 'Ult button' I mentioned earlier is the signature of the Ult range, and basically acts as a big boost to the bass levels in your tracks, balancing them for a punchier feeling that tends to perform better in outdoor situations. It's a handy shortcut, but Sony's app also lets you edit a seven-band equaliser (EQ) to your taste.

If you pick up two Ult Field 3 speakers, you can pair them for stereo sound, meanwhile, but you can also connect one to a range of other Ult speakers to more simply boost your output from more than one speaker at a time.

Performance & Battery Life

So, how does the speaker actually sound? Well, the answer is that it's perfectly impressive – boomingly loud for its size when pushed to the limits of its volume, with enough detail to ensure that you're not just listening to bass noise.

The speaker's Ult mode feels like a must to experiment with once you get it, especially if you're listening out of doors, where soundstages can be harder to establish even for great speakers. It adds some real oomph to the low-end, but thankfully doesn't blow things out of balance (which some other Ult speakers can suffer).

If you do crank the volume right to the top, though, you'll start to notice that detail deteriorate a little – which isn't anything uncommon for a portable speaker, but is worth bearing in mind.

One further wrinkle to all this, though, is that the Ult mode is so persuasive that it almost always needs to be on for this particular speaker. That slightly begs the question of whether it should even be a "mode" at all – shouldn't it just be the default tuning for the speaker? The fact that you can't tune the Ult mode at all (any EQ tweaks disable the mode) is a real shame, too.

Still, this size and weight (1.20kg) do feel pretty perfect for a chunky portable speaker, and the sound quality is easily good enough to make it a great pick for outdoor events where you want some fun tunes but don't need to drown out everyone's ability to speak to each other.

I found the Bluetooth connectivity to be rock-solid, while battery life lined up with Sony's claims. Those claims are impressive, though, so entire-day battery shouldn't be overlooked as an impressive boast. That said, if you use the aforementioned Ult mode, this does shrink the battery life down by around 10 hours, which is worth knowing about.

Sony Ult Field 3 review: Verdict

The Ult Field 3 is probably the Ult speaker I'd buy right now – chunkier and more powerful than the Ult Field 1, but not as off-puttingly large as the more expensive models in the range.

Still, it has some drawbacks at a pretty steep price. The sound quality is heavily dependent on that Ult mode, and reliance on it makes for a lack of customisation options at the level I'd like.

The Sony Ult Field 3 has got a great design, though, and for those looking to keep things simple it still stands as a good option.

Also consider

At this price, there's a lot of competition for the Ult Field 3 to deal with. If rugged portability is your priority, the slightly older JBL Charge 6 matches Sony on every level, and has a deservedly impressive reputation.

For those who've already got some Sonos speakers in their home, though, extending that system with a Roam 2 might be the smoothest option. It, too, comes in cheaper than Sony's speaker, underlining the fierce sector of the market we're in.

To start, I'll clarify – this isn't some clickbait distraction tactic; this week I took the longest non-sleeper train ride of my life, going all the way from Edinburgh down to Bodmin Parkway in Cornwall, via Taunton. It took me about nine and a half hours in total, and was basically the only economical way for me to make it that far south without a very expensive return plane ticket.

It was a long old way, and when I was in the planning phase for the trip I knew there was a key decision to be made in terms of what tech I brought with me for the journey, separately to my other packing. Thankfully, I've still got hold of my pair of Sony WH-1000XM6 headphones, which I knew could be the perfect companion on such a long trip.

I kept them right at the top of my backpack, which is always the best place for noise-cancelling cans on a train, and pretty much the moment I pulled away they were on my head, never to come off. Anyone who's booked a seat in the quiet carriage of any train in the UK knows that you might still need that noise-cancellation the whole time, after all.

Where noise-cancelling's concerned, these are some of the very best headphones you can pick up right now. Sony wasn't able to say at launch exactly how much better they are than the last-generation XM5 on this front, since there's a bit of subjectivity mixed into sonic performance, but the step up is noticeable.

In fact, it's so reliable that I didn't always even listen to anything – just having the all-important cocoon effect can be enough to make a journey way more relaxing, if it drowns out the drone of an engine or a chatty neighbour.

That nine-hour travel time was divided into 7.5 hours on one train and two more on another, and I'm not going to dress it up as all that much fun, but there's something a little comforting about sitting down to just keep yourself occupied for that length of time, much like on a long-haul flight.

The XM6s came into their own particularly in the latter stages, when my lofty ambitions to read as much of a book as I could manage started to be challenged. I broke out my Nintendo Switch 2 and played a couple of hours of Donkey Kong Bananza, with the headphones as an able companion to make it easier to get immersed.

Nintendo's addition of proper 3D sound support comes into its own in a native Switch 2 title like Bananza, but more to the point on a set of headphones like the XM6s, which can do the sound justice. The game's soundtrack also comes into its own on good hardware.

Comfort's also a key variable, of course, and the XM6s are great to wear for long stretches, and among the lightest headphones I've consistently used. I won't like, seven hours without a break still had me gasping to be free of them by the end, but I haven't ever tested a set of headphones that wouldn't apply to.

I'm now just a couple of days from doing the same journey in reverse, so I'll get the chance to run another rigorous test. From that first marathon journey, though, I really can't see past the XM6s when it comes to travel headphones. They have everything in their locker, and tick every box – to the point where I'm once again almost looking forward to spending nine hours in a row with them.

Sony's best noise cancelling earbuds, the WF-1000XM5, have been around for a whilem considering they first hit the market in 2023. And now, it looks like we'll see their successors soon, because the Sony WF-1000XM6 in-ears have appeared in a new leak.

That's worth bearing in mind if you're scouring the Prime Day deals on headphones and earbuds right now – for example, Amazon UK is currently discounting the WF-1000XM5 down to £170.05, down from the usual £219.00. But as good as the XM5s are, and they are very good, we're now expecting to see a newer, upgraded model before the end of this year.

Sony WF-1000XM6: what we know so far

This latest leak comes from The Walkman Blog, which is very good at locating upcoming Sony products buried in official documentation.

Back in May, it discovered the internal code Sony was using for the WF-1000XM6 earbuds, and despite Sony's best efforts to keep them secret, it's now found them listed in an official import filing.

The filing describes the buds as "headphones without a frame" and is for importing the buds to Vietnam for testing. That happens quite late in the production process so it strongly suggests that we'll see a retail launch in 2025.

The next lot of leaks are likely to come via the official certification documents that many countries require before new electronic products can go on sale.

The blog's sources can't shed any light on the WF-1000XM6 specifications just yet, but it's very likely that they'll feature the new Mediatek MT2855 system-on-a-chip for their Bluetooth capabilities.

The documents also suggest that the buds are going to be very slightly smaller this time around, and that might mean marginally smaller batteries as in the WH-1000XM6 over-ears.

Sometimes, when you're reviewing a big new tech launch, you can just tell without needing to think about it too much that it's going to become part of your default setup. Whether that means something that you'll use every day, or simply something that will completely replace an older device that you've been using, it's always a good sign.

That's how I felt about the Sony WH-1000XM6 when I got them in my hands in May, and they've so far made good on that early promise. Where I had been using the excellent Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless as my standard over-ear headphones pick for about three years, I've got a new favourite, and Sony's on top.

The XM6s basically do everything right, and the really key thing is that they sound phenomenal, obviously. The noise-cancelling, though, is on another level from the Sennheiser experience I'd grown used to (and I'm sure there's a Momentum 5 on the way to challenge that).

Right from the start, the thing that stood out most about the XM6s, though, is that they visibly walk back a big mistake that Sony made with the XM5. Those last-gen headphones didn't have a proper folding mechanism, which was a regular obstacle for everyday use and storage. The XM6 brings it back, and that means you can fold them up into a much smaller case for packing.

That folding design doesn't mean they skimp on cushioning, though, which is key. You don't always end up using your most high-fidelity device the most, after all – it needs to be comfortable and easy to use. The fact that I know I can wear the XM6s for hours at a time without discomfort is a huge advert for them, frankly.

Still, there's no point acting like everything is literally perfect – I have one small issue with the XM6s, which has taken me a little by surprise. My review sample is in the nice blue colour option, but the fabric of the ear cushions, a soft synthetic leatherette, noticeably picks up grease marks from skin oil after extended use.

This is by no means a major deal, but if I were advising someone on an XM6 purchase, it's enough to make me recommend the black version, which I suspect would hide those marks way better. I don't use over-ear headphones for exercise, but it would also make me more hesitant there, given the sweat factor.

Overall, though, that tiny duff note hasn't taken the shine off these excellent headphones, and I expect to be using them for years to come. They're brilliantly-built and sound terrific, with ANC that other brands must envy.

Because of the massive noise surrounding the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2 last week, a few smaller pieces of news have perhaps slipped under the radar of even dedicated gamers. If you're the proud owner of a PS5 Pro, though, you'll probably want to know about a recent update that Sony put live.

The most recent system update for PS5 and PS5 Pro consoles is labelled version 25.04-11.40.00, and its release notes are pretty vague. However, in a separate comment to hardware experts Digital Foundry, PlayStation apparently confirmed that the patch will fix a long-standing issue with the consoles' VRR implementation.

VRR stands for variable refresh rate, and basically covers how the console interacts with displays that can change their refresh rate on the fly to match the frame rate being output by the console. In theory, this should make for smoother-looking visuals since everything will be perfectly in sync.

In practice, though, the PS5 Pro and base PS5 were both running into a small set of problems in certain games, and had been for months. In titles like The Last of Us Part 2 and Diablo 4 (neither a tiny indie game), after playing for around half an hour, desync would start to become an issue and stuttering would occur.

This would be hard to notice unless you were looking for it, but once you noticed it, there was no going back. Now, after months of very localised outcries in certain communities, Sony has finally issued a fix.

The problem should be gone, so VRR will work as intended and all PS5 and PS5 Pro games should be able to use the feature to the fullest. Of course, it also needs you to have a VRR-capable display to game on, so if you're thinking of upgrading, you might want to check out our list of the best gaming TVs out there.

This might mean that your PS5 Pro can bump back up into being the most exciting and reliable console in your cabinet, although there's no denying the allure of the Switch 2 right now (which seems to be breaking sales records already).

Sony has only recently announced its latest flagship smartphone in the form of the Xperia 1 VII, but a report has suggested it wasn't built by Sony itself. There are also claims that all future Xperia phones will see their production also move out of house.

The report originally appeared on Sumahodigest (via PhoneArena) and suggests that outsourcing assembly of its flagship Xperia devices is a long-term strategy for Sony.

The Japanese company has continued to release a yearly flagship smartphone to compete with the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S series and Apple's iPhone, despite beliefs that Sony holds under one per cent of the smartphone market share.

Until the most recent Xperia 1 VII, Sony was building its Xperia flagship handsets across three manufacturing facilities, with two said to be located in Thailand and one in China.

That's now changed however, with none of those three Sony manufacturing websites listing smartphones among devices that are built at the locations. This has lead to the report on Sumahodigest. It also believes the Xperia 1 VII was the first smartphone from Sony to be built by a third-party manufacturer, thought to be in China.

Does outsourcing production mean an end for Sony Xperia phones?

With the Xperia 1 VII having been outsourced and now available to buy in some countries – not the US for the second year running – there's hope that this news doesn't mean Sony is giving up on its Xperia flagship smartphones in the future.

For now, there's no official word from Sony on where the Xperia 1 VII was made or if it has moved production of its future smartphones out of its own facilities.

Reviews of the Xperia 1 VII are starting to filter in, so it will be interesting to see if any highlight a reduction in quality, but otherwise, despite possibly being built elsewhere, it's business as usual for future Xperia smartphones until Sony suggests otherwise.

Sony's new Dolby Atmos speaker may be the most unusual home cinema speaker option around – instead of putting it on a surface or a stand, you wear it.

The Sony Bravia Theatre U is a "wireless neckband speaker" that promises to immerse you in audio without annoying the neighbours – and if you're watching with a partner or family member you can have two Theatre U devices running simultaneously from the same signal.

While not new as such (this is Sony's third neckband speaker, after all) the inclusion of Atmos makes it an interesting alternative to a conventional surround system.

It features two lozenge-shaped speaker sections joined by a flexible rubberised headband, and the speaker sections are gently curved so they don't sit weirdly on your shoulders.

Sony Bravia Theatre U: key features and pricing

The Theatre U connects over Bluetooth 5.2 and charges via USB-C, with a battery life of roughly 12 hours.

There's an audio input for wired listening and for gaming, as the wired connection reduces the latency that's inevitable with standard Bluetooth setups. There's also a built-in mic.

The twin speakers feature full range 44 x 32mm drivers featuring Sony's X-Balanced technology and virtual speaker processing to deliver Dolby Atmos and Sony's own 360 Reality Audio. And, in addition to using the Theatre U as a solo sound setup, you can also use it alongside the speakers in a Bravia TV, effectively placing the centre dialogue speaker around your neck.

Although this is being marketed primarily as a home cinema product, I suspect it's better suited to gamers – the speakers aren't going to be bassy enough for serious home cinema fans, for whom one of the best soundbars would be a better investment.

However, the prospect of surround sound that won't give you hot ears during a long gaming session is attractive. You could say that it's a neck-generation speaker for next-generation gaming.

The Sony Bravia Theatre U is £239 / $199 / €229 / AU$499 and available now.

Whenever a big phone maker launches a new handset, and especially if that handset is billed as a flagship, there can be a bit of feeding frenzy to work out how it compares to the handsets in its price bracket. In the case of Google, Samsung, Apple and the like, this can often mean scouring specs sheets that really don't differ all that much from each other.

That's even more the case if you limit yourself to Android phones, where the latest Snapdragon chip can be a given, and you see a heck of a lot of high refresh rates on displays, fast charging features and more. Still, every so often, a phone does things differently in a genuinely noticeable way.

That's a great way to describe the Sony Xperia 1 VII, which continues quite a long trend from Sony of making a smartphone that both fits into the market and also swims in its own lane. Sony does its best to make the Xperia 1 lineup seem typical, but the fact is that they're pretty odd phones.

Thanks to the large TV and camera businesses that it has to call upon, Sony has increasingly been able to pull in expertise in the display and photography departments that make Xperia 1 phones interesting to use – but it also keeps standing by one little-heralded feature that I always love to see.

The headphone jack is something that most of us finished mourning quite some time ago, largely because that war seemed to have been lost. The moment Apple stopped including one on the iPhone, there was every chance that the whole industry would follow suit, and that's how it's unfolded at the flagship level.

Sony, though, keeps putting one in its top-class phones, and that hasn't changed with the Xperia 1 VII. Like the excellent Xperia 1 VI before it, you get a headphone jack to use as you see fit, giving users the sort of flexibility that can get them out of a tight spot if their earbuds or wireless headphones run out of juice.

This year, more than previous, though, there's an additional layer to the inclusion of a headphone jack that I think makes perfect sense. Sony explained in a briefing that it had folded in some Walkman technology for the new phone, enhancing its musical playback capabilities.

Given that Walkman audio players are now on the very premium end of the market, rather than the mass devices they used to be, this is great news for audiophiles who want more from their phone. That said, any audiophile worth their salt knows that wired audio is essential, eliminating a vast amount of loss compared to even the best wireless standards.

So, if Sony did indeed remove the headphone jack on the Xperia 1 VII, it would be inviting ridicule from the very people it's aiming to satisfy. Instead, it's kept the feature and maintained its position as one of the few phone makers prioritising (or at least not ignoring) wired audio. Here's hoping that makes some executives at its competitors pause for thought.

I can't say that I often need to use wired headphones or earbuds with my phone, but that's partly because I'm long since used to not being able to. Sometimes we're allowed to admit that things were better before, though, and bringing back the headphone jack would seem like a net gain to me in almost any scenario. Best case, you use it a bunch; worst case, you don't touch it, but it doesn't affect you. What could be simpler than that?

Sony hasn’t made its life any easier when it comes to the WH-1000XM6. First off, it made a huge design departure for the 1000XM5, updating its aesthetic massively; then it waited three full years to bring out this follow-up, letting the expectations build and the list of requests mount up.

Now, though, it’s knocked it out of the park with the all-new WH-1000XM6. These are the premium headphones that other brands worry about; uber-popular and with sound quality and active noise-cancelling that simply don't miss.

When you take a set of headphones we gave five stars back in 2022, fix every foible and improve the things we already loved, you’re on to a winner. I’ve been using Sony's 1000XM6 all day, every day, for a full week to run them through their paces – and it's clear they're 5-star sensations from the off.

Price & Availability

When you survey the list of upgrades and specs offered by the XM6, there’s only one duff note, in the form of a small price rise.

The new cans are available now, but cost £400, $449.99 or €450, which means a £20, $50 or €20 hike compared to the XM5’s launch price. That’s not too bad as a percentage, but it’s not nothing at all.

That said, it’s worth remembering that this family of headphones has always been one to watch in major sales events like Amazon Prime Day. The XM5 will now likely get steeper discounts, having already fallen regularly to the ∼£250 mark, even outside of events.

Design

Sony made huge changes to its silhouette and design with the XM5, and while things are way less obvious this time around, there are nonetheless some extremely savvy tweaks for the WH-1000XM6.

Taking them from afar, and looking at them when they’re on the head, these are immediately familiar in most departments. Crucially, the ear cups look very similar, with the same slope outwards to a flat panel on each ear, housing the touch controls.

Around those ear cups, though, there are a heap of changes. The biggest is the arrival of stainless steel hinges, which operate noiselessly and let you fold the headphones away in a manner totally skipped by the XM5. That'll put them among the best headphones for travel for many, then.

The WH-1000XM6 can fold right up into a semi-circular shape if you like, although the case that comes with the headphones only puts them in a half-fold.

Sony told me this was to preserve the case’s thinness, which makes it easier to pack, but acknowledged that it’s a “to each their own” situation for those who prefer an even smaller but thicker arrangement. That said, part of me thinks that ignoring the case to chuck them in a bag isn't really typical or advisable for a pair of headphones costing this much.

As a side note, that case – which is colour-matched to your black, blue or silver headphones – is now sealed with a nice little magnetic clasp, instead of the XM5-style zip, which Sony admitted to me was “difficult to open” at the XM6 preview event. It works a treat and offers good protection thanks to a hard shell design.

Back to the headphones, though, and the inputs have also had some smart little changes too. The power button and ANC toggle were identical on the XM5, but the former is now round and recessed to make it easier to press by feel alone. There are also now a couple of extra grille-covered external mics to power sonic upgrades that I’ll come to later.

The headband, finally, is wider and more cushioned than before. It's also asymmetrical to make it easier to tell which way round to put the headphones on in a split second.

These little details do matter, and the changes Sony has made sacrifice almost nothing aesthetically, while improving usability in substantial ways. That’s a slam dunk, as far as I’m concerned.

Features

Sony is adamant that the XM6 offers the “best active noise-cancelling (ANC) in the world”, and apparently intends to market the headphones as such.

That claim seems a little hard to back up scientifically, given the slightly subjective nature of ANC and its impact on music. In the same breath, as I've clearly stated in the 'pros' column up top of this very review, the ANC does indeed "defy belief', it's that good.

How's that achieved? Sony has upped the number of microphones feeding its ANC system from eight to 12, and upgraded its internal chip by two generations, multiplying its power sevenfold. This all feeds an adaptive system that reacts to your noise surroundings and adjusts accordingly, both in ANC mode and in the returning ambient mode.

At the XM6 preview event, Sony’s designers explained that the extra chip power didn’t come at the expense of extra battery drainage, but the headphones still top out at 30 hours in total, which is one of the very few stats where they don’t excel in compared to the competition.

With the likes of Sennheiser living on the 60-hour line now (in the Momentum 4 Wireless), those looking for a battery marvel might be disappointed by the lack of progress.

Still, fast-charging does mean that you get three hours of charge from three minutes of charging. For the first time, the headphones also continue to work while you charge them, another nice quality-of-life change.

There are some nifty new upscaling features also powered by that new chip, too. A 360-degree upmix for cinema, activated using the companion app, can give you the semblance of Spatial Audio even from stereo sources, which is fun for movies.

There’s also a new Gaming EQ preset for those casually gaming using the XM6, prioritising frequencies like those of footsteps to give you an advantage.

LDAC hi-res audio is now compatible, which is a welcome addition, with Sony’s DSEE Extreme option to upscale compressed audio if you want. Auracast is added for when that Bluetooth tech starts to become more widely used, too (if it ever does), while multipoint connectivity returns for connection to two devices.

Call quality is bumped up too, thanks to two more beam-forming mics than on the XM5 and a little more AI-powered wizardry to scoop out unwanted background noise while you’re talking. This is largely handled by a totally separate chip on the headphones, the V2, emphasising the amount of tech under the hood here.

Another small but welcome change is the addition of the ability to mute yourself directly on the headphones. On the XM5, this could only be accomplished on whatever device you were connected to, but you can now hold down the ANC button to do it without any other hardware. Those using these as work headphones will be immediately thankful.

Sound Quality

Slipping the XM6 on for the first time is a lovely experience – these might not quite be the most comfortable headphones I've worn (that honour goes to the Sonos Ace), but they're right up there.

The cushioning around each ear cup doesn't look all that deep, but it does its job admirably, and the leatherette finish is nice to touch. The only asterisk here is that its cushioning can be a little warm on the ears, thanks to the memory foam construction.

The plastic casing of the headphones also has a fingerprint-resistant coating, and for once, I could see it working. This sort of matte plastic can often attract smudges like no one's business, but my blue pair of headphones haven't been all too affected, which is great. The cushions' leatherette seems a little more prone to picking up a little grease, though.

Equally impressive is the immediate impact of the boosted ANC on offer in the XM6, which puts you in a world of your own straight away. There are a whole heap of competitors doing sterling work at this point, but Sony has put itself right into the top bracket once again.

The sound isolation can be pretty profound in the right circumstances, with white noise and train sounds buffeted completely out of existence once you put some music on. Just as reassuring is the fact that your music's sound signature won't be warped by this, staying true to its original sound.

I found that features like "speak-to-chat", which switches over to ambient mode when it detects you speaking aloud, worked decently – although I'll still always prefer to just take my headphones off in real life. My headphones also always defaulted to having ANC completely off when I powered them up, which was odd, but likely a pre-release quirk of early hardware.

Moving on to how these headphones actually sound, though. Beyond all the features and bells and whistles, the outlook is unsurprisingly excellent. Sony has again hewed to its previous path of careful balance, meaning these aren't headphones that will distort your choice of music to sound different to how you remember it.

What it will sound like, though, is really nice and detailed, with a naturalism to the sound that returns from the XM5. Frankly, if the sound was the exact same as the XM5, it would be no tragedy, but there is indeed a nice little boost to bass response that doesn't overpower the higher end (thankfully no Sony ULT influences here).

Sony talked about how it had tightened that bass slightly, too, narrowing its soundstage impact to make it more appreciable and precise. Again, if you're looking out for that tweak, you can feel it, but most listeners will just enjoy the pumping outcome. A great example can be heard in Lorde's single What Was That, which has the sort of low-end precision that backs up Sony's words.

Overall, the XM6 maintain the impression that, like the XM5, they can be a simply brilliant generalist pair of headphones, excelling in almost every department and handling any genre I threw their way.

Sony WH-1000XM6 review: Verdict

Sony could already credibly argue that the WH-1000XM5 were the best all-around headphones on the market, despite healthy competition. They've been hugely popular, and I'd say the WH-1000XM6 do everything required to keep that success continuing to the next level.

The XM6 sound phenomenal, with adaptive noise-cancelling (ANC) that defies belief – a proper competitor compared to Bose's best-in-class work. The design has seen refinements that elevate the proposition, too, thanks to a folding design and improved case. But it's the bread-and-butter sonic performance that's absolutely exemplary.

All of which makes Sony's WH-1000XM6 a stellar bit of work, with the only asterisk that you can really attach being that minor price rise. Then again, I don't think anyone who buys them will be disappointed at all. It's just there's a lot of alternatives to distract.

I've lived in the Sony WH-1000XM6 for a week already and intend to keep doing so for many dozens more – and it's in that longevity where that asking price translates into good value. Especially when audio and ANC this good are on the cards.

Also consider

By sticking that price tag on the XM6, Sony has elevated itself from "near the top-end" to "right on the top-end" of the consumer headphones market. Its competitors are now explicitly the likes of the Bowers Wilkins Px7 S3 at the same price. Sony wins the ANC aspect here, but design and comfort may go to the Bowers – depending on your preference and fit.

If all you care about is raw noise-cancelling, then you're probably going to want to try the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones for comparison, which arguably still (just about) retain the crown. We'll see how consensus develops on that front over time, though, since noise-cancelling can be slightly subjective to individual experience. Personally, I vastly prefer Sony's design, though.

Finally, there's the spectre of the past, as always. I mentioned that the WH-1000XM5 will now be a super-attractive undercut for the XM6. If you're not fussed about its bigger case and lack of folding, it still sounds superb and can be grabbed for a lot less, which makes for a highly justifiable alternative.

Sony has finally revealed its WH-1000XM6 headphones, some three years after the XM5 debuted, and has called the new hardware an act of revision, rather than revolution. That's definitely a fair label, but it shouldn't obscure the fact that quite a lot has changed between generations here.

If you're an XM5 owner thinking about upgrading, or a potential buyer who's held off in hopes of a new model, you're in luck – I've had the headphones in hand for a week, now. That's meant a whole heap of daily use to test them out, and a deep familiarity with what's new. To that end, I've broken out this list of the key changes that you need to know about between the XM5 and the XM6 – read on to find out more!

The fold is back

When the WH-1000XM5 came out a few years ago, they were widely lauded for their active noise-cancelling (ANC) and sound quality, and for the slick new design that they brought to the table. However, almost everyone who tested them brought up one big point of feedback – the headphones no longer folded.

After years of being able to stow the WH-1000 line of headphones nice and small, the XM5 could only flatten out a little before going in a chunky case. That was a pain, and Sony clearly noticed the reaction. Now, there's a brand new stainless steel hinge in the design that lets the headphones fold up tightly once more.

The included case doesn't take advantage of the full fold, instead going for a half-and-half situation, but it's still a massive boost if you want to put them in a bag or a particularly baggy pocket.

Even better ANC

When they arrived, the XM5s had pretty stellar ANC, but the march of time never slows and other have innovated impressively since then. To catch up (and in its own opinion, overtake) these, Sony has upped the number of microphones helping its ANC system work from eight to 12.

It's also upgraded the headphone's internal chip by a big margin, with seven times more power to call on as it algorithmically tunes out sounds that you won't want to hear. In actual use it's pretty superb, too, suppressing droning background noises by a huge margin and ensuring that cocooned effect without warping the sound of your music.

That is to say, the upgrade is noticeable, and that's impressive given the XM5's performance is still extremely creditable to this day.

A comfort boost

It's one of the smaller changes that Sony made to its design, and certainly isn't as obvious as the new hinges, but it also paid attention to the headband here. The XM5's headband looked great, incredibly sleek and symmetrical, but didn't have all that much cushioning or an easy way to tell which way forward it should be.

The XM6 fixes this by widening it out for more cushioning and also removing one of the seams on its outer layer. This means you'll soon learn that the only seam left should point backwards, making it easier to put the headphones on correctly without the need to squint at them.

Along very similar lines, the power button has been changed to a round and recessed one, instead of the old version, which was identical to the ANC button. Again, this will make finding the right button far easier without taking the headphones off. This sort of seemingly minor design change can make all the difference when you're a couple of years into owning and using some headphones.

Some subtle technical changes

Again, these two changes under the hood of the XM6 might not sound massive, and they're not headline-grabbing, but I think they're seriously impactful in regular use. Firstly, the headphones can, unlike any of their predecessors, be used while you charge them.

This means that you can fast-charge (three hours' use from three minutes of charging time) without having to interrupt your audio if you have a USB-C cable lying around. That goes some way toward making up for the lack of a battery life boost, in my opinion, given the headline figure has stayed at 30 hours on a charge.

Next, Sony has also added the ability to toggle a mute function on the headphones themselves, holding down the ANC button for a few seconds. Previous generations could only be muted on whatever device you were connected to, which also makes these more useful than ever as work headphones for video calls and more.

That new case

I mentioned it earlier, but it's worth shouting out the really quite lovely case that Sony has crafted for the XM6. Where the XM5 had a taller, flat case with a zip around the edge, more innovation is at play here.

At a preview event in Madrid last week, Sony's design team said that the old case was "hard to open" because of that zipper, so this time out, its case seals with a really neat magnetic clasp. This does indeed make it easier to open one-handed, and the headphones are similarly straightforward to remove from it.

It's still not as small a case as the headphones could fit into, thanks to their new folding options, but it's nonetheless noticeably more compact than the XM5 version, and that's the sort of change that you'll feel any time you pack a bag with the headphones included.

It’s been a while. After releasing the WH-1000XM5 in 2022, Sony left the longest gap it’s ever allowed between models in its flagship wireless headphone line, a gap that now closes with the arrival of the highly anticipated XM6 upgrade. It’s an upgrade that has some fairly immediate benefits, too, at a price that remains on the very premium end of the market.

The biggest change, though, and the one that I suspect will please the most observers and XM5 users, is the return of folding hinges to let the headphones stow away far more compactly.

You wouldn’t necessarily spot that immediately, since the XM6’s new magnetically-sealing case doesn’t get them quite as small as they can go, but the fold is basically back to XM4 levels for those who want to chuck them in a bag.

That’s a massive tweak from a usability point of view, one that Sony all but acknowledged was in response to user feedback when I attended a launch event for the headphones in Madrid last week. It’s not the only thing that’s changed, though.

Sony’s also upgraded the already-excellent adaptive noise cancelling from its last generation of headphones, bringing the number of microphones up to 12 from 8 and updating its internal chip massively. That chip jumps from the QN1 to the QN3, is seven times more powerful than last time, and makes for noise cancelling that might make these some of the best noise-cancelling headphones going.

Another point that some gripers will be thrilled about is the ability to mute the headphones without using your connected device – it’s on-headset now, which is amazing for calls. On that note, there are now six beam-forming mics instead of four, which is another upgrade.

Visually, those hinges are the most obvious change, but the new headband is also wider and therefore more comfortable than before, while the ear cups are a shade more conical, too. The power button is now recessed and round to make it easier to tell apart from the ANC button, too.

Still, the visual leap that happened with the XM5 has clearly been preserved here, and Sony told me that it saw the XM6 as a refinement rather than a design revolution.

All the above is to ignore the sound, which is also improved thanks to a redesigned 30mm driver that has more narrowly-aimed bass response for a more accurate soundstage, along with more precise edge-vibration for the high-end stuff. A 10-band EQ option lets you tune it how you want, though.

The WH-1000XM6 are going to come in the same black, silver and blue colours that the last version sported, and will be available later in May for £400, $450 or €450. In the UK, that represents a small price bump from £380 last time out, while in the US it's a $50 rise, and in the EU it’s a €30 bump too. Those aren't great figures, although inflation has been rampant in the time since the XM5.

I'll have a detailed review of the headphones coming this weekend, if you want to see how they perform, and it’s fair to say they’ve impressed me massively. Still, the fact that those all-important hinges steal the show a little really goes to show just how useful a change they really represent.

Sony has taken the wraps off its latest flagship Xperia phone, in the form of the Xperia 1 VII, which looks a heck of a lot like an Xperia 1 VI but brings some welcome technical improvements. Above all, it looks like it will cement the excellent battery life enjoyed by its predecessor.

The new phone should now last for two days of regular use, according to Sony, with the 1 VI having already stretched nearly that far if you were careful. That isn't the result of some huge design change to bring in a bigger battery, though – it's still 5,000mAh, but the phone is just a bit more efficient this time around, with a Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset at its heart.

Another nice tweak, albeit one that's going to be hard to evidence, is that Sony says it's brought in components from its Walkman lineup of premium audio players for the first time. This means the Xperia 1 VII should be one of the best possible phones on the market when it comes to playing your downloaded or transferred music files to a good set of headphones.

The design of the phone really hasn't changed much at all, with the same look and feel (meaning an impressively premium one, since build quality has always been one of the line's strengths). The camera unit on the back looks similar, but the shooters have also been upgraded.

The biggest of these is the arrival of a new 48MP ultrawide lens, which should bring huge improvements when shooting in that format. The camera software experience also gets a classic 2025 AI twist, in the form of AI Framing to keep your subject in the centre of your frame easily, and a posture estimation feature to keep humans in focus even as they move around.

Low-light performance should be boosted significantly, too, which makes for a comprehensive upgrade, potentially. The shutter button is also a bit bigger this year, to make it more useful.

When it comes to longevity, Sony's also trying to catch up to the market by upgrading its offering. The Xperia 1 VII will get at least four OS upgrades from its base of Android 15, bringing years of new Android features as a guarantee, and six years of security updates as well.

All of this comes with a price tag, of course. The phone, which comes in green, black or purple, starts from £1,399 in the UK and €1499 in the EU – with no US release yet announced.

There's realistically never been a better time to be in the market for some budget-friendly but nonetheless excellent earbuds. The best in-ears have long been dominated by a few names, of whom Sony is definitely one. But pressure from new brands like Nothing has ensured that it i among the many big names diversifying with lower-cost options.

A couple of years ago, it released the WF-C700N, a very impressive pair of 'buds for just a shade under £100. Now it's back with a revised version: the WF-C710N. I've been using them for a couple of weeks to see how they compare to the competition, and to work out whether you should be spending less on your earbuds in the first place.

How cheap are Sony's C710N?

The Sony WF-C710N are available now through a wide range of retailers, having arrived at the end of March 2025. They come in a few colours, one of which is notable – a transparent blue finish called "Glass Blue" which looks extremely fetching in photos. Sadly, I was sent the more run-of-the-mill black version. There are also white and pink options for those who prefer something brighter.

The earbuds are priced at £100 / $119.99 / AU$200, which means there has been no price bump at all compared to the previous version of these earbuds. That's quite decent given 2 years of fairly steady inflation in the meantime, ensuring these remain good value.

How comfortable are Sony's WF-C710N?

While the case of the WF-C710N doesn't look all that different to last time out, opening it up and taking out the earbuds reveals that Sony has actually made some small but fairly telling design changes. The biggest is that where the WF-C700N had rounded outsides, with circular cutouts showing you where to initiate controls, but in the C710N the outer edge of each earbud is flat.

This is in line with Sony's newer hardware elsewhere, and I think it results in a slightly more mature look and feel. Certainly, the biggest benefit here is that it's much easier for your fingers to tell when they're in the right place for touch controls, since there's a clear edge to the area in question.

Beyond that, there isn't much to write home about, design-wise, since these are fairly run-of-the-mill earbuds. They're entirely made out of plastic, which is no surprise and has major upsides in terms of weight (each earbud weighs 5.2g). As always, you get a few different sizes of silicone ear tips to choose from for the best fit, too.

The case might not look much different, but it's worth a mention. It's pill-shaped with a flat bottom (although that doesn't mean there's wireless charging, sadly). Flipping it open reveals the earbuds, and there's a status light on the front to give you some intel about their battery situation. The back holds a USB-C charging port and a button to initiate pairing.

The top lid of the case remains a little flimsy to open and close, which is definitely a direct consequence of the budget the WF-C710N are aimed at. Still, the magnetic seal that locks your earbuds into place is impressively strong – I've tested substantially pricier earbuds that have felt riskier on this front.

That feeling echoes out when you consider the features that the WF-C710N offer up. The biggest inclusion is active noise cancelling (ANC), which was once unthinkable at this price but is now increasingly common. The earbuds are also now properly weatherproof, with IPX4 protection ensuring they can be splashed from any direction without issues.

Another small but telling addition is wear detection, which ensures that taking an earbud out of your ear pauses your media. Whenever this is missing I feel its absence, so I'd consider a great little bonus here.

On the connectivity side, Sony's DSEE is present and correct – or 'Digital Sound Enhancement Engine' for the full name – along with SBC and AAC codec support, although LDAC (a high-quality audio codec developed by Sony, not an acronym) is missing. The inclusion of Bluetooth 5.3 means that you can use multi-point connectivity to quickly swap between audio sources, which is useful.

What's the C710N's battery life like?

A feature list is well and good, but actual performance while in regular use is the real key to deciding whether to buy at this slightly lower budget. The WF-C710N make quite a case for themselves, too, although they can't ultimately compete with premium sonic performance.

Listening to the WF-C710N connected to my iPhone, across a range of sources but with music piped from Apple Music, the earbuds are spirited and have a decent degree of precision, something that I really value in headphones.

I found that the earbuds were most in their comfort zone when I was listening to modern, poppier material – your Olivia Rodrigo and Chappell Roan alikes. Still, with gentler fare, there was still plenty to be said for their presentation – even if the sound stage on offer isn't massively expansive.

The bass here is also surprisingly punchy, which means these earbuds come in as a seriously impressive sonic package. For this money, you won't find many options out there that can outdo the WF-C710N.

That said, very little has changed here since the WF-C700N, so if you're still happily using a pair of those older 'buds, I wouldn't say you'll have much reason to change.

Turning to how the ANC performs for a moment. It's certainly welcome that it's included, let alone improved. This is the sort of more brute-force cancelling that you typically get at lower prices – it certainly suppresses the noise around you in a palpable way, but it's not the subtlest effect.

Pause your music, and you can practically hear it at work as a form of static, something that better exemplars, like the Technics EAH-AZ100 or Apple AirPods Pro 2, avoid. Still, this undoubtedly makes a difference if you're on a plane or a train and simply don't want to hear the hissing of outside air or the chugging of an aircon unit.

The earbuds have great battery life, too, to make them an easy sell in lifestyle terms. Turn on ANC and you can expect to get 8.5 hours of music on a single charge, while turning the setting off ups this to 12 hours. If you're on voice calls, this figure will be substantially lower, interestingly.

Still, those are great figures that mean you can realistically expect to get through a working day without ever needing to give the earbuds a break. There are at least two more charges to be had from the case, too, totalling around 40 hours without needing to actually connect anything to power. Again, there are plenty of more expensive rivals that cannot match these numbers, and that becomes telling when you actually use them.

Sony WF-C710N review: Verdict

It's hard to argue with value like this – while I've listened to better-sounding earbuds than the WF-C710N, few of those have come close to matching its price tag. That makes these earbuds a great new pick for a budget-friendly pair of in-ears, with a whole lot to like about them.

They sound great, have excellent battery life, and good connectivity, with solid features and decent ANC. That's a great package at any price, but for this low sum it's doubly impressive.

Also consider

If you like the transparency of Sony's blue version of the WF-C710N, then you might want to check out the Nothing Ear (2), which similarly has some exposed tech and transparent plastic. In fact, it really kicked off the trend in the first place, along with offering low-cost competition.

For those who remain big Sony fans, meanwhile, but who have a little more to spend on their next pair of earbuds, the WF-1000XM5 are the flagship offering. That means a big leap in terms of sound quality and design, along with build quality too.

This year saw over 420,000 entries into the Sony world Photography Awards, from 206 countries. The competition that has been running since 2007 has seen its biggest uptake and this years winners are a testament to its success.

Winners are divided into professional, open, student and youth sections, with multiple category winners in each section. Each of the winners is completely unique, ranging from collages to light-leaked film shots to answer the brief.

The overall winner though was British photographer Zed Nelson who also took the 1st place for the Wildlife and Nature category with his Anthropocene Illusion series of images.

Anthropocene is a term used to categorise the period of Earth's history that we're currently living in. One that is dominated by humanity and will be documented as one where fossil fuels were depleted and wildlife was endangered.

The series focuses on the artificial nature of the remaining natural areas, including national parks, safari parks and zoos, where the impression of natural habitat is given all for the enjoyment of us humans. One picture shows a champagne brunch in a wildlife reserve, while another shows tame lions licking water from a puddle.

Other great entries included Rhiannon Adam's Rhi-Entry project. Chosen as the only female for a commercial space mission to orbit the moon as an artist in residence, Rhiannon spent three years in training before the project was pulled. The images are a mixture of retro space reinacted and manipulated with pictures of the artist.

Canadian photographer, Ulana Switucha won the architecture category with a monochrome set of prints documenting Tokyo toilets that almost glowed in the dark.

Italian photographer Chantal Pinzi's beautiful portraits of Indian female skateboarders took the sport category, while Toby Binder's insight into the divided youth of inner Belfast won the documentary projects prize.

All the shortlisted images and winners are now on display at Somerset House in London until 5th May 2025. You can also see more at https://www.worldphoto.org/