Sony Stops Selling Xperia Tablet S Due to Design Defect

Less than a month after it launched, Sony has reportedly stopped selling Xperia Tablet S devices due to a design defect that could let water into what's supposed to be a water resistant device. It was discovered that some units being sold had a tiny gap just wide enough between the display and chassis to let water inside, which might not have been a problem except that Sony advertises the Xperia Tablet S has having a "splash-proof enclosure" suitable for using in the kitchen where it would be susceptible to wet hands and the inevitable "splash or two."

Sales of the Xperia Tablet S kicked off on September 7 in the U.S. It's a thinner and lighter version of the original Tablet S from Sony, with a solid hardware foundation that consists of an NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor, 1GB of RAM, 9.4-inch display, SD memory card slot, 1MP front-facing camera, 8MP rear-facing camera, and various other tidbits. It was selling for $399 (16GB), $499 (32GB), and $599 (64GB), all MSRPs.


Sony attached the Xperia moniker to its tablet this time around, which it also uses to denote its smartphones. Xperia Tablet S devices already sold will be fixed for free. As for when sales will resume, Sony hasn't yet figured that out.