Where is the Sony WF-1000XM5?
First of, welcome back everyone, this past week has been quite stressful. I would like to thank everyone for the positive support, much appreciated. Now turning to the WF-1000XM5 and more precisely, where is it? We are entering the second week of July and so far nothing has been announced. We have had a few leaks in June, and of course the first leak from March, but otherwise nothing else has materialized.
So what happened? That is a good question. Supposedly the issue is Sony having problems sourcing components for the new model. What component or components, is unknown. Perhaps it might be the Bluetooth SoC, because I do not see the MEMS mics or the coin cell battery being the issue.
Of course this could all be nonsense and there is no delay. Perhaps Sony never meant to launch the WF-1000XM5 in June. We had no major retailer leaks like in previous years, apart from the Argos support page for the model.
The FCC short term confidentiality date is in 43 days away and if there is announcement by then, the FCC filing will reveal the earbuds. This would be a bad look for such a premium model. Will such a thing happen? I do not think so. While there are ways to move the short term confidentiality end date, I do believe there is a limit how long it can be.
So when could we see an announcement? That is a good question, I would imagine it might be either either mid to late July, or early August.
One indicator a launch is coming soon are the big discounts on the WF-1000XM4 and low or non-existent stock in some online stores. But not all areas have discounts and some have normal stock, so who knows. One thing is sure, people are eagerly waiting for the new model, even with the expected higher price.
I will keep digging for leaks and news, so until then do share amongst your friends that the blog is back.
Update 3 – July 16th
I meant to add this last day, but forgot. With the WF-1000XM4 battery issues, it got me thinking whether Sony would stick with Zenipower or switch to a new supplier. Recall back to my March 2023 leak, where the certification had a photo of the battery, albeit inside the earbuds.
Looking at the battery, we can see a smooth surface with a circle in the middle. I do not believe this is a Varta battery since the underside of that brand is smooth. What about Zenipower?
Well from various online listings, this is the back side of the Z55H, and there is no circle in the middle here either. Plus, we have what looks to be an engraved circle, which is absent in the WF-1000XM5 battery. At least I do not see anything similar.
This might indicate Sony has moved away from Zenipower for the new model, which would not be surprising. Unless Zenipower changed the appearance of the Z55H, but I am going to assume they did not. So, what brand could it be? Well Googling for 3.85V coin cells I found one candidate. Shenzhen Grepow Battery Co. Ltd.
This photo is from their website, showing the standard 1254 sized battery. As we can see there is a small circle in the middle here, just like in the WF-1000XM5. The battery is the GRP1254G1, it is a 75mAh 3.85V cell. Here are the full details from the website.
Of course this could all be coincidence, and I could be wrong with my detective work here. But it would make sense for Sony to change suppliers after all the WF-1000XM4 battery issues. Hopefully 52Audio will perform a teardown, since they never made one for the WH-1000XM5. If not, we wait for the FCC teardown, perhaps the battery will be visible there.
Update 2 – July 15th
This is an update regarding the Bluetooth chip. In the original Bluetooth certification post, I suggested that Sony might be re-using the MT2822 in the WF-1000XM5, but this might not be the case. As I discovered in the YY2976/YY2979 Bluetooth certification, the combined designs, 182912 and 194027, seem to point to the newer Mediatek MT2833 chip instead. Below we can see the WF-1000XM5 (YY2963) Bluetooth certification and below that the certification for 182912.
If we are to believe that the 182912 is the Mediatek MT2833, then the YY2963 certification would suggest Sony has moved to this chip for the new WF-1000XM5. I do wonder why it says Hardware version AB1565, since the MT2822 is based on the AB1568, and from other information that the MT2833 is the AB1588. Maybe the AB1565 is the base platform with the other models based off it. Looking back at the WF-1000XM4 Bluetooth certification, we can see the SoC is 163117 which is the MT2822. So I am confident in saying that Sony has switched to the MT28322 in the new model if we go by the evidence.
Also throwing this in here, the headset again appeared on an import site, dated May 24th. The listing is rather old, but it only just appeared on the site.
Update 1 – July 10th
While not headphone related, it might gives us a clue when we could see the WF-1000XM5. Sony has put up a teaser for a new Alpha camera on their YouTube channel. I believe this is the A6700. I would imagine the focus would be on the camera all this week and perhaps next, with a possible WF-1000XM5 announcement at the earliest in the last week of July.
