Sony might be cancelling the Xperia Z5 Tablet

We haven’t seen a tablet from Sony since 2015’s Xperia Z4 Tablet, and it has now emerged that we might not see any future ones from the company.

According to a ‘reliable source’ speaking to Android Marvel, Sony was working on a 10-inch Xperia Z5 Tablet and an 8-inch Xperia Z5C Tablet, both of which were set to launch this year, but both of which have now been cancelled as “the sales didn’t go as expected for 2018 high-end phones including Xperia XZ2 and XZ2 Compact.”

It’s worth taking this rumor with a healthy helping of salt, especially as the source site doesn’t have much history with leaks, and as the rumored names seem unlikely now that Sony has switched to XZ branding for its phones, but it could be true.

A tough time for tablets

Sony does appear to have been struggling slightly with smartphone sales in recent years and the tablet market looks to be even tougher for any company that isn’t named after a fruit, so it would make sense for Sony to focus on a small number of hopefully profitable devices.

The news is a shame if true though, as while the Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet may not have been a best seller, it was still a strong slate, scoring 4.5 stars in our review and standing out as one of the best Android-powered alternatives to the iPad Pro range.

We wouldn’t completely count Sony out of the tablet arena, but with little news of any new slates other than a leak from a Sony APK, and now this rumor that they’ve been cancelled, we also wouldn’t count on seeing a new Sony tablet any time soon.

Via Phone Arena

James Rogerson

James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.