Sony has reportedly had to stop production of the recently released Xperia Tablet S following the discovery of a manufacturing error. The Japanese firm is recalling 100,000 or so tablets that have already been sold because some units are susceptible to liquid damage. Normally this wouldn't be cause for concern but when a tablet is marketed as being splash proof, it should live up to those claims.
A fault in the manufacturing process has created a small gap between the screen and the tablet's chassis, allowing water to seep in and damage internal hardware. The tablet went on sale in the US on September 7 before launching in Europe, Japan and other regions shortly after.
This is Sony's first tablet to launch since they parted ways with Ericsson and is the first to use the Xperia brand that had been reserved for Sony Ericsson Android devices. The company released their first generation tablets, the Tablet S and Tablet P, a year ago. 2012's revision adds more power under the hood with an Nvidia Tegra 3 processor while being 42 percent thinner than the original. Pricing for this year's slate starts at $449.99 for a 16GB model and tops out at $649.99 for a 64GB variant.
Sony plans to fix the defective Xperia Tablet S units already in the hands of customers and doesn't expect the process to be so costly that it will impact quarterly earnings. Sony spokesperson Noriko Shoji told Reuters the company hadn't yet decided when they will resume sales.