After first being announced in January and seemingly being ignored by US GSM carriers, Sony Mobile has begun online sales of the US-compatible Xperia Z2 flagship Android smartphone.
The Z2 features a slightly larger 5.2-inch full HD display, 20.7-megapixel camera with added 4K video capture, quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor with 3GB of RAM, and multiple sensors/radios while maintaining the water and dust resistance of previous flagships. The Z2 is also compatible with the LTE networks of both AT&T and T-Mobile. Pricing is currently set at $699.99 as a launch special.
The fact that the Z2 has taken so long to launch compared to international carrier availability suggests that Sony Mobile still has trouble convincing US carriers that its current 6-month flagship release cycle will lead to constant demand for its products compared to previous strategies, which included working more closely with US carriers before demand for its products under the Sony Ericsson banner stagnated until the buyout by Sony in 2012.
This is also despite the fact that in May, the official Sony Mobile Google + page inadvertently revealed a Verizon-branded variant of the Xperia Z2 before being pulled and officially dismissed the ad as an error, though evidence has since increased that the smartphone is still being planned for release on the carrier in the future.
