Sony Xperia 10 VIII is official with microSD slot, few upgrades

Sony just announced its latest midranger – the Xperia 10 VIII (Mark 8), and it’s easily one of the most underwhelming updates in recent memory. Very little has changed compared to the outgoing Xperia 10 VII, yet Sony is now charging €599/£549 for what is essentially last year’s phone with a new coat of paint.

Xperia 10 VIII gets the same 6.1-inch LTPS OLED screen as its predecessor. It’s a FHD+ panel with a 120Hz refresh rate. Sony claims that it boosted brightness by 50%, but there’s no mention of the exact max brightness figure. The top and bottom bezels house familiar front-firing stereo speakers, which are now 30% stronger on paper.

Sony is still using the aging Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 chip, which is once again paired with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Thankfully, the SIM slot still takes microSD cards, which makes the Xperia 10 VIII part of a dying breed of smartphones with expandable storage. Oh, and the headphone jack is also here, so no need for dongles.

Around the back, we have the same dual camera setup as last year, with a 50MP main shooter (1/1.56") alongside a 13MP ultrawide lens. The battery did not get an upgrade and is still rated at 5,000 mAh with support for 30W charging. On the software side, Xperia 10 VIII boots Android 16 with Sony’s near-stock skin on top and up to 4 major OS updates.

Sony Xperia 10 VIII color options

Xperia 10 VIII will be offered in Frozen White, Frosted Grey and Misty Lilac colors. In usual Sony fashion, the phone won’t be available just yet and is said to launch in “mid to late September”.