Why Don’t U.S. Sony Phones Have Fingerprint Sensors?

In the U.S., Sony smartphones don’t have fingerprint sensors, but elsewhere in the world they do. Why don’t American Sony phones have fingerprint sensor tech?

Security

Apr 16, 2017

by PSafe Newsroom

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This year, Sony phones that are launching in the United States don’t have a fingerprint sensor, despite the same phone being rolled out with this kind of biometric authentication around the world. Nonetheless, Sony will be rolling out its Xperia XZ Premium and XZs models.

Why These Phones Won’t Include Fingerprint Sensors

In speaking about older phones, Sony argued that Americans simply didn’t want fingerprint sensors, suggesting that the decision not to include the sensors was all business-related. But now, Sony says that the company can’t sell the phones in the United States if they want to continue doing business in the country. Specifically, they are prohibited from shipping fingerprint sensor-enabled phones in America.

What This Means For Sony

Sony wasn’t clear about exactly why they couldn’t sell fingerprint sensor-enabled phones in the United States. Sony officials said there was some discord with U.S. phone carriers, such as Verizon. The fear was that these phones could become unlocked, meaning that customers from any carrier could purchase Sony products.

While all of the details are still unknown, it is likely that, at some point, Sony made a bad deal with U.S. phone companies, and that these companies didn’t want them to sell the fingerprint sensor-enabled phones. And what’s most bizarre is that Sony’s phones that were shipped to the United States do have fingerprint sensors. However, these sensors are disabled. Sadly at this point, you’ll have to wait for someone to find a way to re-enable the Sony fingerprint sensor before purchasing a device.