Rumor mill says that Sony is taking a sledgehammer to its Xperia line in 2025

The Xperia name has been around for a long time. If you're a phone enthusiast, you surely remember the Sony Ericsson Xperia 800. There was the Xperia PLAY, released in 2011, designed for gamers with a sliding gamepad. Sony finally bought Ericsson in 2012.

Even after offering the first smartphone with a 4K resolution screen in 2015 with the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium, the Xperia line simply failed to catch on in the US and around the world. In 2018 and again in 2023, Sony CEO Kaz Hirai stated that the company would continue to make smartphones despite Sony's inability to turn a profit given the high prices it charges for its devices. Earlier this year, an analysis of the smartphone market ranked Sony 14th out of the top 20 brands with a market share of 0.35%. Sony was ranked just ahead of Asus and just below HMD Global, which owns the license to use the Nokia name.

Speaking of names, the Xperia name could be done with. There has been some speculation on Weibo (via Notebookcheck.net) regarding Sony taking a scorched earth approach to its smartphone business by dropping the Xperia name and switching to a new design language. The front camera is expected to move below the screen in 2025, which would exceed Apple's use of such a feature by two years. Moving Sony's front camera from the bezel to below the display would certainly change the look of the company's smartphones and could lead to some recovery in the company's business.

Unveiling its first phone with an under-screen front camera seems like the perfect time for Sony to tackle the Xperia's name, design and history, smash it into a million pieces and to start all over. There is no reason why Sony can't create a smartphone with a stunning mobile display, spectacular cameras (after all, its IMX image sensors are considered among the best and its cameras digital SLRs are highly rated), incredible sound and much more. .