Sony stops sales of almost all projectors in Europe

Because a contract manufacturer is apparently subject to EU sanctions against Russia, Sony is stopping the sale of almost all home cinema projectors and some so-called installation projectors in Europe. The EU sanctions also affect companies that supply the Russian military and thus directly or indirectly support the war of aggression against Ukraine. This could include chips or other components for the construction of drones, missiles or other war equipment.

Although Sony itself is not directly affected by the sanctions, it apparently has almost all of its home cinema projectors produced by an affected third-party company. Only the very expensive professional model VPL-GTZ380 (starting from 78500 €) is not affected and remains on sale in Europe. All models aimed at end customers are disappearing, including the Bravia 9 (VPL-XW8100) (starting from 12990 €) and Bravia 8 (VPL-XW6100) (starting from 21900 €), which Sony only launched in September 2024. Retailers are now only allowed to sell off their stock, but not import new goods into the EU.

"In order to ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations, including the latest European export control regulations and trade restrictions, we have taken the unavoidable decision to discontinue sales of the following projector models in Europe," reads a statement from Sony.

BenQ is not affected

Blogger Michael B. Rehders first reported on Sony's withdrawal. The retailer takeoffmedia24 states that a Sony supplier on the EU sanctions list from mid-December 2024 is affected. One name on this list jumps out at you: Qisda, headquartered in Taiwan. Qisda Optronics (Suzhou), with headquarters in Taiwan. There is now newer, much longer list. Qisda Corp is the parent company of BenQ and manufactures projectors, among other things – also as a contract manufacturer for other companies.

(mma)