We knew the marriage couldn't last much longer. Sony first announced that it planned to buy out the Ericsson half of the partnership back in October and now the £871 million deal is complete.

"Sony Corporation today announced that the transaction to acquire Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson’s 50 per cent stake in Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB has been completed as of February 15, 2012 (Central European time)," read a company statement.

"This marks the completion of the transaction jointly announced by Sony and Ericsson on October 27, 2011, and makes Sony Ericsson a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony."

The move also sees the birth of Sony Mobile Communications; a new banner for Sony products to sit under. Like Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, which runs the gaming arm of the Japanese company's empire, we don't expect to see this new moniker appearing on products. Like the Sony Xperia Ion that was unleashed at CES, a simple Sony logo will seemingly suffice.

Sony has also said that the new division will see further integration in "the mobile phone business as a vital element of its electronics business, with the aim of accelerating convergence between Sony’s lineup of network enabled consumer electronics products, including smart phones, tablets, TVs and PCs".

Hopefully this means plenty more connected Sony tech coming in the near future. And who knows, perhaps even a genuine PlayStation phone and not just an Android device with PS buttons stuck on?

Check out our Sony Ericsson Xperia Active review

And our Sony PlayStation Vita review