Sony has officially launched its Xperia Z4 smartphone, but it would appear as though the company’s confidence in the smartphone space is waning. Sony quietly launched the Xperia Z4, which is a significant upgrade to the Z3 that is currently on the market, but interestingly isn’t going to be anyplace but Japan. It wouldn’t appear as though the device will be making its way outside the country, either. At least not for the time being.
The Sony Xperia Z4 actually offers quite a bit, compared to its counterparts. While it will be a device that likely performs very well in Japan, it may not see the light of day outside of Asia given how crowded the flagship market is throughout the rest of the world. Especially in the United States where the market is so saturated that Sony rarely even registers a blip on the smartphone market these days.
Some experts though have pointed out that Japan is incredibly important for Sony with this launch. Ben Wood of CCS Insight said, “Japan is more strategically important than ever for Sony. Demonstrating success in its home market is critical, particularly given some of the challenges it’s facing in other markets.” This latest device though brings a lot of power to the table.
It starts with a 5.2-inch HD display and couples it with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor. It boasts 3GB of RAM, and traditional storage options as far as the internal aspects are concerned. Additionally, it’s bringing a 20.7MP camera that will shoot traditional photos and for front-facing pictures that work will be done with a 5.1MP camera. Interestingly, some of these stats would make it one of the highest performing devices on the American market, should it make it there – but still it wouldn’t be the absolute best. Even worse, there would be many that were close to it.
Right now, it’s about identifying the opportunity for the company and ensuring that Sony does well in Japan where it needs to. After that the company can worry about the future of its mobile business, or if it intends on keeping that portion of its business around at all moving forward.