"The price tag is certainly no joke, at a rumored 8,999 yuan (US$1,369/£994/€1,166) – and that's just the price for China without all those pesky international taxes, transit costs, etc. that will be added to the bill for Xperia fans in other countries."
Daniel, this is not how pricing works. The "rumored" $1369 price would be a sticker retail price in China, not an export/wholesale price. A phone (like the iPhone 12 Pro Max or any other product, including the upcoming Xperia 1 III) may be made in China (or anywhere else), but this doesn't mean that it will retail for more somewhere else in the world because you still need to add " pesky international taxes, transit costs, etc.". In fact, it wouldn't surprise me that the retail price in China would be higher than the retail price in many other countries (this is why Chinese tourists go on a shopping spree buying brand goods that were made in China when they are overseas). These devices contain components made in other countries - for example, Qualcomm chipsets may be manufactured in Korea, the LCD screens may come from Japan, etc. These components enter China in a special regime without paying import taxes and the final assembled goods must "leave" the country unless they will be officially imported into China: there is no double tax. The pricing in other countries (and in China too) has to do mostly with marketing strategies. Also, consider that some countries like China and Brazil include the sales tax in their retail price. The takeaway is that the final price in each market is a guess now. - Dora