When the Sony Xperia 1 VII was announced earlier in the month, where it was made was probably not in the mind of most prospective customers. But a report out of Japanese blog Sumaho Digest, which consistently reports on the brand and its phones, claims that the company is no longer producing phones in its own factories.
The report claims that Sony has factories in Thailand that were previously responsible for assembling its flagship Xperia 1 and 5 series of phones. Last week, the blog reported that manufacturing of at least the Xperia 1 series has been moved to China. But more recently, looking at what the company produces at each of its factories outside of Japan, none of them lists smartphones. Incidentally, the Malaysian factory is listed as making TVs and its components, as well as Bluray and audio products.
Said factory listing was claimed to have been updated in mid May, though we could not independently verify it. But taken at face value, the report notes that this means that the Sony Xperia 1 VII is one that was assembled by a third party, and that all future Xperia phones will be too.
All that being said, it’s unclear what this will mean for the average customer of Sony Xperia phones. One can argue that quality may be an issue, as the assembly of the phones are no longer under the supervision of the Japanese company itself. Another will be price, but it remains to be seen if this actually means reductions in cost for the company, and if it will be passed down to the consumer if it is.
(Source: Sumaho Digest)
