Sony Mobile US points to ‘external factors’ on fingerprint sensor exclusion

by XB on 28th February 2017

in News


Sony’s fingerprint sensor power button was first introduced back in the Xperia Z5 range. Despite this, for some inexplicable reason, Sony has had to disable the fingerprint in models sold in the USA. Sony has never given any clarity on why this might be the case, apart from being a “business decision”.

Well, now a few more snippets were revealed to Android Central, which give a bit more colour on the decision. Don Mesa, Head of Sony Mobile Marketing North America said that “there are a lot of external and internal factors that contribute to us making a conscious decision not to include [the fingerprint sensor].”

When pressed further, Don Mesa said that the fingerprint sensor exclusion was Sony “consciously deciding that we want to continue our business here [in the U.S.], and [that’s] one of the conditions for us to be able to do business.”

What this ‘external’ factor was remains a mystery, but Android Central speculates that this could be a time limited exclusion in relation to its previous failed efforts to offer phones through US carriers and eventually deciding to head down the unlocked route.

Both the Xperia XZ Premium and XZs will also have the fingerprint sensor disabled, but this is only a software limitation. As previously reported, all other Xperia phones with the fingerprint sensor have been able to re-enable the fingerprint simply by flashing a different regions firmware. We expect it will be no different for the Xperia XZ Premium and Xperia XZs.

Via Android Central.

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