Sony to Launch new High end Android Walkman to replace WM1-Series?

There is a rumour that Sony is planning to replace the WM1-Series with a high end Android Walkman. The rumours stem from a video by Post76.hk which says that "Sony has told Japanese retailers that the WM1-Series will be discontinued". A discontinuation of a model does not guarantee that a new one will appear, both the WH-Series and WS-Series walkmans were discontinued and never received a new model. Regardless, a new high end Walkman is overdue but will it arrive this year or next?

Before the Pandemic hit, I did hear Sony was planning on releasing new Walkmans, but never received any further information if these were high end models or replacements for the A and ZX. Since then I have not received any further details about any new devices, seems like those contacts disappeared.

I am embedding the video from Post76 below, it is not in English so if anyone wishes to add more from the video, please leave a comment below.

Any new high end walkman would undoubtedly feature at least the same specifications as the WM1-Series:

• 3.5mm jack
• 4.4mm balanced output
• a large touchscreen (OLED?)
  
• USB type C
• Android OS
• Bluetooth 
• high capacity storage
  

But the question is will Sony add WiFi as well for high resolution audio streaming? Sony does have their own high resolution streaming service in Japan, Qualitas, but so far it has not expanded to other markets. The service costs around 2000 Yen per month, so not that cheap, but perhaps a good deal for high resolution audio? 

But until Qualitas launches outside of Japan, owners of any future high end Walkman will need to rely on other services like Amazon Music, Primephonic, Qobuz, or Tidal for high resolution streaming. Of course they can also use their own music and use an app to stream from their home network.

Any new Walkman with Bluetooth and/or WiFi will appear on the FCC and if anything shows up soon, a release will occur this year, possibly September/October, but if nothing shows up until after Q3, then I would imagine we are looking at an early 2022 release. Perhaps Sony is waiting for LE Audio to be finalized to release this new walkman (or walkmans), but any new device which has the proper hardware for LE Audio could always be re-certified for LE Audio and then be updated using firmware.

Hopefully Sony will be able to solve the battery draining issues from the current devices, or counteract it with a larger battery, but that would also add extra weight which is a drawback.

As always if anyone has anymore information, leave a comment below or contact me. Leave any comments or thoughts below.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.