Sony Xperia 10 VIII review
Android 16 with a clean Sony shell
Sony has traditionally had this very clean and minimal approach to Android, and the Xperia 10 VIII is no exception. Out of all the current crop of Android devices, Sony is arguably one of the closest to AOSP. In fact, we would even go as far as to say that in some aspects, this OS is even more "stock" than what you get with a modern Google Pixel. Figuratively speaking, of course.
The software support promise for the Xperia 10 VIII currently stands at 4 years of OS updates and 6 years of security patches.
Sony's overall UI is very clean and even a bit retro. The notification shade uses compact square buttons. It's definitely a look we haven't seen often. It has an old-school vibe like some other parts of the phone.
On the plus side, the clutter is so minimal that you don't even get a full set of Google and Sony apps out of the box. The initial setup wizard advises you to download these from the Google Play Store, but you can easily opt not to.
Besides that, you get a standard non-alphabetized app drawer with a search and a horizontal carousel for recent apps, complete with a quick shortcut to enable a multi-window view.
Side Sense is one of the few additional features Sony has tacked on to the otherwise vanilla OS. A handle on the side of the phone opens up a menu of shortcuts to apps and features, most of them user-configurable. But not even Side Sense is enabled by default.
There's a fairly standard set of gestures for call handling, as well as a one-handed mode and smart backlight control. In this menu, you'll find the navigation options with the two basic types available: gestures or a navbar.
Similar to previous generations, the Game Enhancer utility is missing on the Xperia 10 VIII. Sony's Music player is on board, and so is Sony's Video Creator app, while Google's Photos and Files are used for gallery and file management purposes.
Google Gemini and Circle to Search
Sony is one of the few manufacturers that hasn't heavily invested in developing AI of its own. Still, the Google Gemini app is pre-installed, so you can use it as a chat-based AI. There is Circle to Search as well. And you can use the AI-powered image editing features inside Google Photos, which is the default gallery app.
That's fine and all. We are just as tired as the next person from endless AI being shoved in every corner of the experience. That said, we feel like Sony could still put in some extra effort where it actually counts. The settings search interface is still literal, with practically no fuzzy search, let alone smart search. So unless you actually know what the option is called, good luck finding it.
There is seemingly one new software addition this year. Sony calls it the "Rewards and Pay" menu, but that name is a bit narrow for what it actually is. Double-press the power button, and you essentially get a fully customizable quick launch interface with large icons, multiple pages and the ability to add any app you want to the list.
Reward and Pay menu
Once you launch an app from this menu, you also get a quick on-screen shortcut to open the menu back up. Not sure how useful this menu actually is, but we take what we can get when it comes to Sony.
Benchmarks and performance
Sony deemed the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 good enough for one more generation. We are the ones to judge; of course, it is a 2024 chip made using a 4nm Samsung manufacturing process. Yes, just to clarify for anyone keeping track, it is the original SM6475-AB variant from 2024 and not the SM6475Q Qualcomm announced in 2026, which actually has two fewer CPU cores, despite using the same model name.
In the CPU department, the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 offers a two-cluster design. There are four Cortex-A78 cores, clocked at up to 2.4GHz and four Cortex-A55 cores, working at up to 1.8GHz. The onboard GPU is an Adreno 710.
Sony has paired the chip with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of expandable storage. As we know, this is the only available storage tier. No upgrade there from last year, but then again, with the current memory situation in 2026, we take the lack of a downgrade as a small but notable win. Well, if we don't count the new revised pricing for this year, which we will get to.
Now, Sony did introduce virtual RAM in this generation of Xperia 10. You can allocate up to 6GB of virtual RAM. By default, the setting is enabled and set to 4GB. This is where we'll leave it for testing as well.
Looking at some actual benchmark numbers here it comes as no surprise that the Xperia 10 VIII basically offers the exact same performance as the Xperia 10 VII.
GeekBench 6
- Single-core
- Multi-core
Poco X8 Pro Max
Motorola Edge 60
Redmi Note 15 Pro 5G
Sony Xperia 10 VII
Redmi Note 15 5G
Xperia 10 VIII
Sony Xperia 10 VI
AnTuTu
- v10
- v11
Poco F8 Pro
Motorola Edge 60
Redmi Note 15 Pro 5G
Redmi Note 15 5G
Xperia 10 VIII
Sony Xperia 10 VII
Sony Xperia 10 VI
3DMark
- Wild Life Extreme (Highest)
- Wild Life Extreme (Lowest)
Poco X8 Pro Max
Redmi Note 15 Pro 5G
Sony Xperia 10 VII
Xperia 10 VIII
Redmi Note 15 5G
Motorola Edge 60
Sony Xperia 10 VI
Thermal-throttling
The Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 chipset is not a particularly power-hungry or hot-running chip. Whatever heat it does generate is handled quite well by the Xperia 10 VII. It maintains very stable performance even after torture testing.
Thermal-throttling
The phone's surface never actually became uncomfortable to touch or hold during our testing, just lukewarm.
