Sony has launched the most anti-2026 high-end mobile. It’s an idea as good as it is risky.

Sony continues launching mobile phones. And it has reached a point where the news is not that it has launched a mobile phone, but rather why it has done so and what it wants to tell the market when it does so. Although it may seem like a counter-current idea, launching mobile phones knowing that you are only going to sell them makes some senseand Sony is not alone there.

The anti2026. For some reason, manufacturers have been convincing us for years that more than useful technologies should disappear. All in pursuit of a more minimalist design, larger batteries and an evolution close to that of the portless mobile. To this, Sony responds with a blunt “hold my cap.”

The Sony Xperia 1 VIII. He Sony Xperia 1 VIII It is a return to the past, maintaining technologies that the vast majority of its rivals discarded years ago.

• It has a 3.5mm headphone jack
• It has a slot for microSD cards up to 2 TB
• Thick, very thick bezels
• The SIM slot is not removed with the tool, just press it
• The stereo speakers are front-facing, there is no one below
• There is no trace of what might look like an iPhone

Very good. Sony’s proposal is clear: in the middle of 2026 you can enjoy technologies that one day we banished and that are useful despite the passing of the years. Furthermore, each and every one of these steps does not distance the Xperia 1 VIII from what is required of a modern flagship.

• The best Qualcomm processor
• A powerful camera system with ZEISS optics
• Up to a generous 16 GB of RAM

The only unforgivable point is that of a Full HD+ panel. On a 1,499 euro mobile phone this resolution is not acceptable.

Because. The short answer is that Sony is not launching the Xperia 1 VIII to compete with Samsung or Apple. He gave up that battle a long time ago. In the last Corporate Strategy MeetingSony president Kenichiro Yoshida made it clear that the smartphone division does not exist to sell volume, it exists to prove something. Sony Xperia is, above all, a technological showcase.

In addition, the Xperia division is a fundamental pillar for the company’s R&D. The advances made in these smartphones are later applied to what really matters: the brand’s cameras.

In Xataka | At half price the Sony WH-1000XM5, headphones with one of the best noise cancellations we have tested