Back in June, Sony and Verizon came together to announce that Big Red would launch the Xperia Z4v, a version of the Sony Xperia Z4 meant for the US market. They said that the phone would launch in the summer, but summer came and went without a peep from either company. Now Verizon is speaking up, and it’s not good news for the Z4v.
Verizon said today that it no longer plans to launch the Sony Xperia Z4v. The big red carrier didn’t offer an explanation for the decision, saying only that it’s “committed to supporting Sony Mobile’s product portfolio and will support existing products.” Here’s Verizon’s full statement:
“Verizon will no longer be launching Xperia Z4v, however we are committed to supporting Sony Mobile’s product portfolio and will support existing products. Sony is a strategic partner as we continue having ongoing discussions together as part of our future portfolio.”
The Sony Xperia Z4v looked like a respectable device, offering a higher-res display than the international Xperia Z4, and Verizon was slated to be the only US carrier to offer the Z4 or a variant of it. As the months went on without a launch, though, it made less and less sense for Verizon to go through with the launch. Now Sony has the Xperia Z5, which offers an upgraded camera and fingerprint reader. While there’s no word about the Z5 coming stateside, it wouldn’t make much sense for Verizon to launch a previous generation Xperia smartphone.
Today’s move is a disappointment for Sony fans in the US, and it’s also not great for Sony itself, as the company could use the attention that it’d get by having one of its phones in the stores of the US’s largest carrier.
