Following up on the previous few Sony smartphones to come into the US, the Xperia XZ and Xperia X Compact both are available without a fingerprint scanner, despite having it in Europe and the rest of the world. The decision to omit it from the US versions is a bit strange, especially since the fingerprint scanner is actually still included in the phone, it is just disabled. Over at the Xperia Blog, a few people found out that you can flash the UK firmware onto the US model and the fingerprint scanner works, hence the fact that we know the scanner is still included. It’s actually a pretty easy thing to do, and makes the Xperia XZ a bit more desirable, unless of course you aren’t willing to take the risk of flashing the firmware.
Both the Xperia XZ and Xperia X Compact’s fingerprint sensors will work by doing this. Making it a bit easier to stomach the $699 price tag of the Xperia XZ and the $499 price tag of the Xperia X Compact. The fingerprint sensor is located in the power button, which makes Sony the only company to implement the technology that way. Most others use either a physical home button or a button on the back of the device, below the camera. Both devices are available now for purchase in the US, while the Xperia XZ just launched this past week and the Xperia X Compact has been out for some time now.
The fingerprint sensor omission for the US variants is still a bit of a head scratcher, especially since the hardware is still there. Sony continues to say that it was a “business decision” but won’t go into any further detail. It’s tough to say that this was so that they could meet a specific price point, especially since they didn’t omit the hardware, which would have saved them some cash (possibly, since leaving it in there, they can take a European model and flash the US firmware on it and sell it in the US, making it easier to manufacture). Either way, at least it is possible to get the fingerprint sensor working again.
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