Sony NW-ZX900 Walkman Coming Late 2026/Early 2027

The Walkman will be celebrating 47 years on July 1st, and I know many fans are eager to know if and when we will see a new model.

I can exclusively reveal that Sony’s upcoming NW-ZX900 will be released in late 2026 or early 2027. The Walkman has appeared on Sony’s servers, but there is no release information just yet. The previous NW-A300 and NW-Zx700 appeared on Sony’s servers in 2022, but the Walkmans were announced in January 2023, so while a late 2026 announcement is possible, the new model could just as well be announced in early 2027.

With the appearance of the NW-ZX900 on Sony’s servers, at least we have confirmation the ZX900 Walkman is real, and not just a benchmark.

We have some specification details thanks to the benchmark:

• Android 16
• Motherboard – volcano
• Governor – walt
• 8 Core SoC
  • 4 Cores @ 1.80 GHz
  • 4 Cores @ 2.02 GHz
• Adreno 810 GPU
• 8 GB RAM

The internal model code is ICX-1303, and this matches the new model on Sony’s servers.

Based off the Geekbench scores and Adreno 810 GPU, we have 3 possible SoCs:

Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 (4nm) – announced August 2024

• 1 Prime core, up to 2.5 GHz
• 3 Performance cores, up to 2.4 GHz
• 4 Efficiency cores, up to 1.8 GHz

Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 (4nm) – announced February 2025

• 1 Prime core, up to 2.3 GHz
• 3 Performance cores, up to 2.2 GHz
• 4 Efficiency cores, up to 1.8 GHz

Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 (4nm) – announced August 2025

• 1 Prime core, up to 2.7 GHz
• 3 Performance cores, up to 2.4 GHz
• 4 Efficiency cores, up to 1.8 GHz

Edit, I will add that the current ZX700 has an 8-core SoC, with all cores using Qualcomm’s Kryo 260 Custom design. The 3 Snapdragon SoCs use 4 ARM Cortex-A720 cores for performance, and 4 ARM Cortex-A520 cures for efficiency. While it is difficult to compare them directly, the newer design in the Snapdragon SoCs should be superior.

I suspect Sony has limited the prime and performance core clocks in order to increase the battery life, while at the same time preserving suitable levels of performance. Compared to the current NW-ZX700, the NW-ZX900 is at least twice as fast, and has double the memory. The memory specifications are also superior on all 3 Snapdragon SoCs, with all 3 supporting LPDDR5 3200 MHz, compared to the QCS4290 only supporting LPDDR4x 1866 MHz clock, or LPDDR3 933 MHz (based off Chip product brief PDF)

The Adreno 810 GPU in the new model has 4-5 times higher performance compared to the NW-Zx700’s Adreno 610. This should result in a smooth Android user experience.

Assuming we will see one of the 3 Snapdragon SoCs in the ZX900, then all 3 are manufactured on a more efficient and improved 4 nm node, compared to the ZX700s’s QCS4290’s 11 nm node. The improved node will help reduce the power, increasing the battery life.

Connectivity should also be improved in the new model, with all 3 SoCs supporting Bluetooth 5.4. From the product pages, only the Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 supports LE Audio and Auracast. It would be great to see LC3 and Auracast support in the new Walkman, especially now that more of Sony’s headsets support LC3.

I will point out that while the NW-ZX700 uses the Qualcomm QCS4290 SoC, the wireless connectivity is from a dedicated wireless chip, Qualcomm’s WCN3950.

All 3 Snapdragon SoC’s support Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 4+ technology, with the previous QCS4290 supporting Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0. This should improve charging speeds significantly.

So at least we have some good news, the Walkman brand continues with the new upcoming NW-ZX900. I have a hunch Sony will use the Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 in the new model, as this may be the lowest cost option for Sony.

And now we wait for the certifications.

If anyone has anymore details on the upcoming NW-ZX900, please contact me. Any information will be anonymous.