Sony Appears Done With US Smartphone Market

Sony made their latest flagship phone official this week and you probably didn’t realize it. Not only was the timing bad (it was Google I/O’s week), but they have apparently decided that the US is no longer a space they want to participate in when it comes to expensive smartphones.

The Sony Xperia 1 VI really did become an official thing at some point this week. Honestly, I missed it because I was at Google I/O and covering that, as well as traveling, but it looks like Sony had an announcement and even gave the phone to some overseas outlets to review. Again, it wouldn’t surprise me if you didn’t see any of it.

As a part of their Xperia 1 VI reveal, Sony told The Verge that they don’t plan to bring this phone to the US and, well, whatever. This phone, like the previous Xperia 1 phones, is absurdly expensive and only built for a tiny audience who cares about things like headphone jacks and SD card slots. It has forever been a device line built towards supposed-creators who think they care about manual controls or using their phones as viewfinders for their more expensive Sony cameras. And that’s pretty much it. I’m sure creator YouTuber bro will take offense to that, but seriously, few buy these phones when Samsung, Google, and Apple are doing things as well as they do at lower prices.

Sony was also one of the worst in the Android industry at updating its $1,400 phones in the US. Like, almost as bad (worse?) as Motorola, which is saying a lot. Buying one of their phones was a really bad idea, unless again, you like to talk to people about manual camera settings as a way to boost your ego.

I’m being harsh there, I know, but Sony’s phones never really made much sense. So on one hand, it’s too bad that we’re losing another smartphone choice. But on the other, these phones weren’t really a choice for many.