New Sony Walkman, ICX-1298 Spotted on Bluetooth SIG
I know people have been asking about this new Walkman that was leaked a while ago, but until now, there was little evidence apart from photos that it existed. But we might have something more concrete now, a Bluetooth SIG certification.
The new Walkman is code-named ICX-1298 and will support Bluetooth 5.2. The new model looks to be using a Qualcomm Bluetooth chip, which supports both Bluetooth 5.2 and Android R. The android support makes sense, since in the leak we have images of the device running Android.
For those curious, the code name is positioned after the A100 (ICX-1293) and ZX500 (ICX-1295) models but before the DMP-Z1 (ICX-1300). But if you ask me, the DMP-Z1 is not really a portable Walkman, so the ICX-1298 code makes sense. Will be interesting to see if we get any other Walkmans next year apart from this new one, would be great to see some lower end non Android Walkmans as well.
The listing does not specify which Bluetooth Chip it is, so it might be a standard Qualcomm sourced chip or like the A and ZX Walkmans, another brand using Qualcomm tech for their own chip, see here. The support for Bluetooth 5.2 could mean an update for LE Audio and the LC3 codec in the future.
The listing also does not reveal any about the SoC, the A and ZX both used an i.MX 8M Mini Quad from NXP/Freescale, so we might see the same chip used again.
So finally a certification listing, it is coming, possibly at CES 2022, so start saving up, it will not be cheap. So how many will be picking one up?
Update 1
Both models, ICX-1298 and ICX-1299 have appeared on the FCC. Unfortunately the label does not reveal any actual design details. The label document (below), shows the same photo in the 1298B version. Both model PDFs were created in July of this year and update in November.
The FCC filing reveals some information, like the support for WLAN, 2.4/5ghz. We already know from the Bluetooth certification that version 5.2 will be supported. The WLAN report reveals the wireless chip that is being used and surprise, it is the same one as the A and ZX models, the Murata LBEE5ZZ1PJ. I have a post about it here from a 2019 for those curious. The product page from Murata. I do hope Sony will use a new SoC in the new Walkmans and not reuse the same one from the A/ZX, but something tells me they just might.
Both models are labelled as pre-production, so this is good news and perhaps we will see them at CES 2022. But both models have their short term confidentiality ending in late June 2022, which could also indicate a much later reveal date. Maybe Sony is planning a reveal with some new Signature series products later next year?
That is it for now, if I find anything else in the FCC filings, I will update the post.
