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You may or may not be a fan of the design on Sony’s flagship devices, but there is no arguing that they make some stellar handsets and tablets running Android. The only issue with Sony’s products over the last few years has been the problem getting a hold of the phone’s here in the U.S. market. It hasn’t been impossible, but Sony Xperia Z devices have always been a little late to the party here in the U.S. when it comes to availability, coming in months after the official launches. Even then they have had limited carrier availability instead of taking a wide net approach like Samsung has done over the years with it’s Galaxy S and Galaxy Note lineup.
Sony is changing that up with the Xperia Z3 however, for the first time ever they’ll be releasing a new flagship device at the exact same time in the U.S. as they are with other markets, or at least in a much more timely manner. Not only that, the device will be landing on T-Mobile’s network soon, giving Sony fans on the carrier cause to be extremely excited. The Xperia Z1 and Z1s have launched on T-Mobile in the past, but only after having been out officially for months elsewhere. Today at their IFA livestream event Sony announced that they would be bringing the Xperia Z3 to the U.S. on T-Mobile’s network officially sometime in the last months of 2014, so it’s likely we’ll see it drop somewhere either next month or in November, although we hope that it’s sooner than that.
So far there is no word on exactly what the cost will be for the device, but Xperia devices are high-end, usually coming with a high price tag to match so expect to pay around at least $600 out of pocket with no contract pricing. T-mobile seems to have a strong partnership with Sony and wants to continue to commitment to push their brand, stating that “As the successor to Xperia Z1S, Xperia Z3 is a strong follow-up, continuing the momentum of our strategic partnership with the Un-carrier.” Sony is taking a bigger interest here in the west with it’s handsets, and with the timely release perhaps they can finally grab a larger portion of the U.S. marketshare. Their phones are certainly capable of doing so, so long as they can get them into consumers hands fast enough. This could mark a major milestone for Sony in handset sales.