Sony Xperia XZ goes on sale in the US for $700, sans fingerprint scanner

Although Sony Mobile may not be a stellar name in the United States, the company continues to tempt the market with new products every so often. Sony Xperia XZ, the latest flagship from the Japanese company, just went on sale in the U.S. for $699.99.

Sony announced a little more than a week ago that Xperia XZ was up for pre-orders, without relying on U.S. carriers to distribute the phone. Instead, the company partnered with online retail giant Amazon to market the handsets.

It is notable, however, that Amazon removed the Forest Blue variant from its offerings, despite including the model in its list during the pre-order phase. It is not quite clear why Sony or Amazon would narrow down the color options for consumers in the U.S., leaving only the Graphite Black and Platinum variants in stock.

As a reminder, Sony Xperia XZ sports a Gorilla Glass 4 5.2-inch full HD display and packs a Snapdragon 820 processor, 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage under the hood. It boasts a 23MP rear camera and a and IP65/68 water resistance feature.

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The handset also features a USB Type-C port, though the fingerprint sensor that’s present in international models is missing in the U.S. version. As Brian Reigh notes in another post, it is quite odd that Sony would decide to leave out the fingerprint scanner at a time when almost all other phone makers are slapping it onto their products.

The absence of a fingerprint scanner, plus the hefty price tag of Sony Xperia XZ, might not help uplift Sony Mobile’s lackluster business in the U.S. After all, U.S. consumers already have cheaper options of devices with the same or even superior features.

Would you be buying Sony Xperia XZ now that it is up for sale through Amazon? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.