Sony Reon Pocket Pro Plus
Sony
Update June 26: This post, first published on Tuesday, June 23, has been updated to add more details about the new product and reactions to it from early adopters.
Summer has arrived — with a vengeance, you might say, in some places. Europe is sweltering and the UK hit its hottest June temperature ever recorded on Wednesday 24 June. Sony’s portable air conditioning unit is now available for pre-order in the US, and the price is higher than expected.
Mind you, there’s a sting in the tail: those braving the summer temperatures may feel like it really can’t arrive soon enough, but while pre-orders are live, they won’t be in users’ hands until next month.
Meanwhile, the device is causing strong reactions from some of the people who have used it. More on that below.
How Sony portable air conditioner works without blowing air
The Reon Pocket Pro Plus is a curious device, which I previewed back in May. Unlike portable fans, it aims to cool you in a different way, with no air movement you can feel.
Sony Reon Pocket Pro Plus
Sony
Instead, it has a cooling plate that is placed on your skin, the back of your neck, and the top of your spine. It’s designed to sit under your clothes to be discreet enough, except for two things.
The first is an adjustable neck band made of flexible tubing that holds the back plate in place, although this could also sit under your shirt collar to be less obvious.
The second is a vent that comes out over your clothes to draw hot air away from you. if you have a shirt with a collar, it has an extension to go the extra inch or two. Ventilation means that warm air moves away from your body, rather than warming you up more.
In addition, it has a separate tag that you can attach to your clothes or bag, for example. This measures ambient temperature in a way that something on your clothes couldn’t, and the tag on this model is smaller than previous iterations of the device. In addition, it is designed to measure humidity as well as temperature.
Improved performance: 20% stronger cooling and application integration
In practice, the temperature change at your neck is said to have a disproportionately good effect on cooling you all over.
You can control the temperature from buttons on the device or through a smartphone app, which allows for more detailed control and additional functions.
Sony Reon Pocket Pro Plus main unit
Sony
The latest model is 20% cooler than the last generation Reon. If you don’t turn it up to the coldest temperature, it will last up to ten hours (and if the heat in London right now is anything to go by, you might need all of that).
Performance also includes a system that automatically shuts down the Reon Pocket Pro Plus if it gets close to overheating (which will heat you up instead of cool you down, obviously).
In winter, it can be used to warm you instead of cool you, but such a prospect is almost unthinkable at the moment.
In addition to the natural buttons, which are rubberized and textured to make them more convenient to use, the new model also has a Smart Mode designed to automatically adjust the temperature.
US pricing and release date schedule
Pricing in the United States is lower than expected: $259.99, better than the $270-plus sticker that was predicted. In the UK, where it was launched in May, it is priced at £199. Pre-orders are open on electronics.sony.com with shipping estimated to begin in late July.
Early reports indicate an appetite for the device
Compared to previous versions of the Sony air conditioner unit, the new model has been found to be more comfortable and more efficient. This is according to Trusted reviewsthough the same post adds that while the price hasn’t gone up, it’s quite expensive (it’s true that you could buy a basic hand fan for a lot less).
“For 2026, Sony revised the neck design and used new smart algorithms to reach possibly two points lower than its predecessor,” noted the author.
The new neck strap means the unit ‘actually stays properly on your back’, feeling more secure and improving the cooling effect as a result.
Although the new model is a touch heavier than the previous model, the distribution of weight did not allow it to get tired to wear for long periods, the article said.
However, the response was not generally positive. “The only area where I’m a little disappointed is that USB-C charging speeds are pretty slow. Sony says it can take around 200 minutes to get back to 100% from empty, and while it took almost three hours in my experience, that’s still a long time to wait,” the article noted.
Meanwhile, Max Freeman-Mills at T3 described the unit as “the UK’s biggest heatwave hack” and it’s worth remembering that Britain has just confirmed its highest ever June temperature for the third day in a row.
Freeman-Mill explained that “This is not a device that will instantly drop your body temperature sharply in one minute, but it is a device that can help you feel less hot when you wear it for a longer period of time.”
Freeman-Mills also took note of the high price, however, and seemed pleased, but did not profit from it.
“Sony may have been a little early with the Reon, though, and even this flagship new version feels like it’s a little too clever to really be a big hit,” he concluded.
