Sony Xperia Z availability roundup – all you need to know… so far

Ever since Sony has introduced the Xperia Z in Las Vegas during CES, we’ve been all eyes and ears to make sure we’re bringing you all the availability updates issued around the world. However, as Sony has graciously passed the responsibility to carriers, it’s become a bit hard to keep up with everything, from rumors to official info that’s leaking excruciatingly slow.

But you know we’re not ones to give up a fight very easily, so what we’ve decided to do is compile a roundup of intel gathered from way too many sources to keep count. Despite our best efforts, we’re still going to come up short in quite a few important markets, but be sure to check back to us for more info.

Sony Xperia Z in Europe

Right off the bat, Sony mentioned the Z would land in Europe before North America (as is customary already with high-end phones), so this is the chunkiest part of our roundup. Phones4U UK was the first “Sony partner” to come forward with a piece of information, namely that the Z was to see daylight on March 1.
O2 UK very quickly went and undercut that ETA, announcing the Z’s launch for February, while Clove was the first to spill the beans on the £528 off contract price point. Meanwhile, Expansys opened pre-orders for the phone at £399.99, but quickly changed the price to £529.99.

A lot of confusion, though it’s clear nevertheless that the Z will go for over £500 unlocked and be sold in subsidized versions by at least three carriers – O2, Vodafone and Three.
Outside GB, things have been a bit quieter. Still, we’ve found out that the Xperia Z is headed to Poland and Germany in mid-February, Finland around March 1 and Italy “sometime in March”. Pricing mostly varies from €600 to €750 unlocked.

Sony Xperia Z in North America

While Sony’s European partners have been far more generous to the press than the ones in North America, we do have a couple of things to mention here as well. First off, let’s say Canadians might or might not be getting the phone (we’re currently going with “not”), while the US release of the Z is almost guaranteed.

Out of the major carriers stateside, there’s a strong possibility AT&T will be picking up the 5-incher, but there’s no way to know if Ma Bell will get any kind of exclusivity. As for pricing and release dates, we’re a bit afraid to even speculate, but gun to our head we’d probably go for $200 on contract, $600-650 unlocked and late March.

Availability and pricing in the Asia Pacific Region

Kudos for Sony’s Australian branch, who’s already revealed the Z is due to land on all major carriers (Telstra, Vodafone and Optus) in March, but pricing is still kept under wraps. At least on contract, because off it we hear the Z is going to be rather expensive.

Meanwhile, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam are to get the giant “during Q1”, which most likely means March as well. There is however an outside chance countries like China or Japan could get it starting in February. No words on pricing anywhere in Asia, but maybe we’ll find out something from NTT DoCoMo next week.
That’s it, for now,  but again consider this an in development story, as we should get back to it and update it several times over the next weeks. Keep in touch.
Source: Androidauthority

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