ONE of the world’s biggest tech companies has apologised after its phones mysteriously disappeared from shelves prompting closure fears.
The big mobile brand has been selling handsets for some 33 years but its popularity has waned massively.
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Bosses at Sony assured the world that they hadn’t given up on smartphones despite all its Xperia phones being marked as out of stock online.
The move was prompted by a fault that caused some handsets to shut down and not turn on properly.
Sony says the manufacturing process was changed immediately to ensure this does not happen again.
But for those with affected handsets, they will have to claim a free replacement.
Writing on the company’s Japanese website, the firm said: “We sincerely apologize to many customers for the inconvenience caused by the rare issue of the Xperia 1 VII smartphone shutting down, rebooting, or not turning on.
“We also deeply apologize for the inconvenience caused to customers during the replacement process, and for the time it took to prepare a replacement unit for some customers.
“After investigating the cause of this incident and implementing measures to prevent recurrence, sales will resume gradually from August 27, 2025.”
Sales of the Xperia 1 VII have now returned to the UK website and other regions across the world.
Sony’s mobile business is a far cry from the early 2000s, when under the Sony Ericsson name it was reported to have had a 9 per cent market share globally.
Now in some countries it stands at less than one per cent.
The popularity of the iPhone and Samsung, as well as a slew of new players like OPPO and Xiaomi, have prompted some longer-standing brands to bow out of mobiles.
LG withdrew from the smartphone industry in 2021 and only recently put out its final software update to existing handset owners.
In a comment to The Sun a few weeks ago, a Sony spokesperson said: “Withdrawal from the mobile business is not being considered at this time.”
Speaking out at the start of August, Sony’s chief financial officer Lin Tao said its Xperia brand remains “an extremely important business for us”.
But she also suggested that the division could go in another direction, saying that “communication technology is used in areas other than smartphones”.
MOST POPULAR MOBILE BRANDS REVEALED
- Samsung – 20.1 per cent
- Apple – 19.5 per cent
- Xiaomi – 13.9 per cent
- OPPO – 7.8 per cent
- Vivo – 7.5 per cent
- Others – 31.2 per cent
Based on global shipments in the first quarter of 2025
Source: IDC
