It was launched at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show with Sony Xperia S.[3] The device has a capacitive touchscreen display that measures 4.6 inches with a resolution of 1280 x 720 at 323 ppi with Sony's Mobile BRAVIA Engine reality display.

The device is equipped with a 1.5 GHz Dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor with 1 GB RAM, 16 GB of internal memory, which also supports 32 GB external memory with NFC (Near Field Communication) enabled which can be used with Xperia SmartTags,[4] or for low value financial transactions, as NFC becomes more widespread in use, with the appropriate applications from Google Play.

The Xperia ion is fully Facebook integrated with the Timescape UI with Twitter.

The phone is also integrated PlayStation Certified which allows users to play PlayStation Suite games, and is connected to the Sony Entertainment Network, allowing users to access Music & Video Unlimited.

[7] Sony Xperia ion received the upgrade Android 4.1 Jelly Bean on 26 June 2013.