Sony has made a sparkling splash at the ongoing Mobile World Congress in Barcelona with the release of four new enticing devices- Xperia XA Premium, Xperia XZs, Xperia XA1 and Xperia XA1 Ultra. And with the right mix of aesthetics and internal hardware assortment in these, the Japanese manufacturer has hit the right chord. Except that the a string might be missing in devices when launched in the US market. By string we mean one of the basic features- fingerprint scanner. Time and again, this equation has come to the fore, specially every time a new Sony device hits the market. It comes in two versions viz a viz the fingerprint sensor- one with the sensor on it for the global market and the other with the scanner on it but disabled meant for the US.

Strange as it seems, the explanation behind the omission and commission committed by Sony has always fringed on the standard official version border which in Sony’s terms means that ‘it didn’t see demand for fingerprint scanner in the US market and there was a business decision made to not include the feature’.

Well, obviously that cannot be the case as a basic feature like fingerprint scanner is the least any market, including US, can demand from a top OEM selling premium products.

However, a little more poking in on the issue by Android Central gets us a better and clearer and even a logical clarification on the why the Japanese OEM disables fingerprint sensors on its US phones.

Throwing light on the issue, Don Mesa, Head of Marketing, North America for Sony Mobile U.S. said:

“There are a lot of external and internal factors that contribute to us making a conscious decision not to include [fingerprint].”

Going on to explain the ‘external factors’ the Marketing Head included carriers in it. It seems that Sony ran on the wrong side of the US carriers during its transition from selling carrier-backed phones to going entirely unlocked. Mesa added:

“[…] that was very much about us 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 we can make out of this is that perhaps a deal must have gone wrong in the US forcing Sony to choose between either the US market sans fingerprint scanner on its phones or totally leave the market. As is obvious, Sony chose to give up on the sensor instead of the entire market. So, it boils down to this, that Sony might be legally bound, due to some past dispute or fall-out with some unknown US carrier, to omit the fingerprint scanner on its US phones.

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For the first time, Sony Mobile U.S also admitted that given its choice it would prefer to sell phones in the U.S. with fingerprint sensors enabled rather than disabling it, only if the ‘external factors’ weren’t at work.

We hope that Sony translates its wish to reality by working out a mid-way if not a full and final solution to ship fingerprint scanner enabled phones in the US. Hopefully, this happens sooner than later.

via Android Central