Sony WH-1000XM4 passes through Korean FCC (MSIP)

So good news, the Sony WH-1000XM4 has passed through Korea's FCC, the MSIP. This certification is 76 days after the US FCC filing which is a bit worrying. This large gap between the US and Korean certifications rarely occurs, last time was with the original MDR-1000X.

This large gap could be an indication that the new model is delayed, perhaps anywhere from a few weeks to maybe a couple of months. Looking back at the certifications for the WH-1000XM2 and WH-1000XM3, the gap was not as big, up to 2 weeks, so 76 days is quite extreme.

Both Apple and Microsoft have stated that delays are likely and the coronavirus will affect their supply and production, so it is likely that Sony is also affected. The WH-1000XM4 is assembled in Malaysia but I would venture to guess some parts are coming from China, so if there is a shortage of these parts, I doubt production can go ahead as planned with a delay likely. How long this delay will be is unknown. I am not sure why there is such a large gap between the US FCC filing and the MSIP filing, the WH-1000XM4 went through SIRIM in January so not sure why Sony delayed the Korean filing.

When could a reveal occur?

Perhaps the MSIP filing was always planned for late February and there is no delay with everything on schedule. Perhaps we can estimate a possible reveal date now with the MSIP filing based upon other models and their MSIP filings and reveals.

Both the WH-XB700 and WH-XB900N had their MSIP filings 7 weeks before their online reveals, and the WF-1000XM3 was 15 weeks before its reveal. So we could be looking at 7-15 weeks before the WH-1000XM4 is revealed based on this estimate. That would mean anytime from April 18th to June 13th. I do not expect the reveal to occur after the end of the Short Term Confidentiality on June 1st since then the design would be revealed by the FCC filing and that is not something Sony would want. All FCC filings use pre-production models with non-production materials and quality, so the products do not look as good as with production units.

My guess is we will still see a March/April 2020 online reveal with retail availability a few weeks later. This is all assuming there is no delay due to the coronavirus. If there is a delay then, a press release should appear before Short Term Confidentiality ends on June 1st and retail availability much later due to the limited production.

The new WH-1000XM4 is a highly anticipated model so I imagine Sony is pulling all the strings in order to reduce or eliminate the any possible delays. Anyways these are just must thoughts and ideas, post your comments and opinions below.