Sony Rolls Out Android 12 Update To The Xperia 10 II

Sony has started rolling out the stable Android 12 update to the Xperia 10 II. The 2020 mid-ranger is also getting the March 2022 security patch with the big Android update. As of this writing, the rollout is available in South East Asia, XDA has confirmed. But the update should soon reach users in other regions as well. The build version for the new software package for the Sony Xperia 10 II is 59.2.A.0.422. It’s a 900MB download over the air (OTA).

Android 12 brings tons of goodies to Sony smartphones. Scrolling screenshots, revamped one-handed mode, dim screen, and easy Wi-Fi sharing via Nearby Share are some of the new features. Google has also introduced a display indicator that glows when an app is accessing your device’s microphone or camera. Android 12 further brings an Approximate Location feature that lets you block apps from accessing your precise location. Instead, you can share your approximate location. Google also now lets you cut off microphone and camera access for all apps at once.

Sony’s smartphone business has been on a downward spiral for the past several years. The sales volume has consistently decreased. But the Japanese company hasn’t given up and continues to sell smartphones. Unfortunately, since smartphones aren’t a priority for Sony, its software support is pretty poor. More than six months after the release of the Android 12 stable version, it has yet to complete seeding the new version to the handful of its devices. Samsung, on the other hand, has already updated dozens of Galaxy smartphones and tablets with Android 12.

Nonetheless, as they say, better late than never. The Sony Xperia 10 II, which debuted with Android 10 in early 2020 and received Android 11 last year, is joining the Android 12 party today. The March security patch isn’t the latest when Samsung has already started rolling out the May SMR (Security Maintenance Release). But it’s still newer than the February SMR that Sony shipped with the Android 12 update for the Xperia 10 III and the Xperia Pro-I a few weeks back.

If you’re using the Sony Xperia 10 II, you can look forward to receiving the Android 12 update in the coming days. You should get a notification about the OTA rollout once it reaches your phone. You can also manually check for updates from the software updates section in the Settings app. Note that you can’t revert to the previous Android version, i.e. Android 11 after you have installed the Android 12 update.