It has only been a day since Sony unveiled its flagship smartphone on Monday, but rumors are already swirling that the Japanese smartphone maker will not sell the new Xperia Z4 in the U.S., Europe, and other parts of Asia except for its home country in Japan.
The rumors are not surprising, given that Sony revealed its all-new flagship without the accompanying pomp and panoply that normally goes with smartphone makers introducing their latest flagships.
On Monday, Sony announced the Xperia Z4 via a press release written in Japanese and a local press event held in Japan. The company's other regional arms did not follow with press releases of their own.
While Sony did not actually say anything about which markets it will sell the new smartphone, it also did not say anything about which markets the smartphone will not be available. A Sony spokesperson, speaking to Android Central, says the company has not ruled out the possibility of selling the Xperia Z4 "considering the feasibility in other markets," especially in Europe and Asia, where Sony is a strong contender in the Android device industry.
However, a report from Russia-based website Hi-Tech claims (via PhoneArena) Sony has no plans of releasing the Xperia Z4 to markets outside of Japan. Instead, the company means to unveil a different flagship for the rest of the world, which has only until the end of May to wait for the official announcement.
Just what exactly the different flagship will be is unknown. It could be possible that it will be a device similar to the Xperia Z4, only with a different set of innards. Korean smartphone makers Samsung and LG are known to swap out the inner components of their smartphones for local and international models, and Sony could be following suit.
Or Sony could actually be working on a completely different flagship, one that veers away from the time-worn formula it has been using for all three predecessors of the Xperia Z4, from the first Xperia Z to the most recent Xperia Z3. In fact, the Xperia Z4 is simply more of an iterative upgrade to its predecessor more than anything else. The only difference appears to be a lighter, slimmer profile, a processor upgrade to Qualcomm Snapdragon 810, and a slight battery downgrade.
With not much change in the Xperia Z4 and given Sony's inability to make a huge dent with its Z line of Xperia smartphones, Sony could be thinking it's time to introduce a change.
