Sony quietly killed a key 5G workaround for Xperia phones

It’s not unheard of for smartphone makers to block 5G and other connectivity features in unsupported markets. Unfortunately, it looks like Sony has been cracking down on older Xperia phones with 5G.

We’ve seen numerous Reddit posts from people who claim that their Xperia phones no longer have 5G after a firmware update earlier this year. These reports date back at least five months, and it seems like the June 2026 firmware update is the culprit.

Affected devices include the Xperia 1 V and newer, while people in the US, Canada, Australia, and several European countries have reported the issue. The problem seems to affect imported models, but it’s unclear whether any officially sold models are suffering from this issue too.

For what it’s worth, people who imported their Xperia phones previously relied on a workaround to get 5G on their devices. This entailed toggling the dual-SIM dual-standby (DSDS) feature and then rebooting their phone. Unfortunately, this solution no longer works.

“VoLTE still works for me, but no 5G. DSDS toggle has no effect,” noted Redditor danielXKY of their Xperia 5 V in Canada.

User MurderousLemur confirmed that they no longer had 5G on their Xperia 1 VI:

So it looks like my XC-EC72 (service from Google Fi) got the 5g killing update a few weeks ago. I didn’t notice the lack of service until this week as I just got back from Europe. The DSDS on and off trick no longer works.

Fortunately, it sounds like people are having success with another method of activating 5G on these devices. The method, outlined on Reddit and the XDA Forums, involves placing the 5G SIM in the second SIM slot, deactivating the second slot, flashing modem files from a specific Japanese firmware, and activating the 5G SIM slot a few minutes after booting up. Nevertheless, I’d caution you against trying this method if you’re not a tinkerer or if you’re worried about bricking your phone.

This wouldn’t be the first time a smartphone brand blocked key connectivity features in unsupported markets. Google is perhaps the most prominent example in this regard, as it previously disabled 5G, VoLTE, and Wi-Fi calling in many unsupported locales. However, the firm recently worked with the GSMA to broadly enable VoLTE on the Pixel 11 range.

We’ve asked Sony for comment regarding this issue and will update our article as soon as the company responds. Nevertheless, it seems like you should clearly think twice before importing an Xperia device.