It’s not very uncommon for carriers to get exclusive versions of popular handsets from manufacturers, but they typically don’t change very much, they usually have some printed logos here and there. In the case of Sony’s Xperia Z4v, a device made exclusively for Verizon, the company actually changed some important aspects of the phone. While the design is similar to the one used on the Xperia Z3+ (known as Xperia Z4 on Japan), the front is no longer symmetrical and this is the first time Sony integrated a display with QHD resolution on one of its phones. It’s been almost four months since we first heard of this phone, but it’s still not available, and even the newer Xperia Z5 is being released in some regions.
This phone was supposed to launch sometime around the summer, then it got delayed a couple of times, but that season is over for some days now, and we haven’t heard of a new possible date or even if the phone is getting released at all. The phone has been caught on video a couple of times, even reviewed, which suggested that the launch was getting closer, but neither the official site of the phone or Verizon’s website are offering any new information, so the future is still uncertain.
This week, the phone was spotted on Sony Mobile’s site in the US, it was listed as “Coming Soon” and it even had a product page which provided more details about the phone’s internals and features. But as of now, that site is nowhere to be found on the site, as the phone has been removed from the listing. Perhaps Sony or Verizon have decided that launching this phone now that its successor is available is sort of pointless, as the successor is already here improving greatly on some aspects like the camera (although the display on the Xperia Z5 still has Full HD resolution), but there’s still no official word from either company about the current situation. We’ll keep reporting on any news from about this handset, but it’s future now seems more uncertain than ever.