It seems that Sony is exiting the UHD Blu-ray market, as it reportedly has quietly discontinued its one remaining 4K UHD player. It’s part of a larger change at Sony that has seen the electronics and entertainment giant investing less and less in hardware and physical media over the last year or so. And it has fans of physical media nervous.

As first spotted by FlatpanelsHD, the Japanese blog and electronics reseller Kunkoku claimed that sales for the UBP-X700/K are officially ending on October 22 in Japan.

This was the last remaining UHD player manufactured and sold by Sony in Japan. This means that, at least locally, the only new UHD player from the company that will be available is the PlayStation 5. The last major electronics company still making UHD players is now Panasonic. Sony is also, for now at least, still making one DVD player model and one Blu-ray player model.

'Sony Japan has discontinued its last remaining UHD Blu-ray player, UBP-X700/K, seemingly marking the company's exit.

The news comes via Japanese blog Kunkoku, which happens to also be a Sony retailer.… pic.twitter.com/ZEb1zWA1IK

On Sony Japan’s website, the company lists the UBP-X700/K UHD 4K player as being “Out of stock,” with the added message that “This item will not be restocked,” seemingly confirming Kunkoku’s report. We don’t yet know if Sony intends to globally stop production on the X700/K player, but historically, what happens in Japan tends to be a preview of the company’s larger plans for the rest of the world.

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