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The Sony Xperia 5 II is a pretty incredible smartphone, particularly for those that don’t want a large phone. But the big question here is the price of the Xperia 5 II, and will it be available in the US.
It’s no secret that Sony smartphones are not cheap. They are generally pretty expensive, even compared to its competitors. But the Xperia 5 II price is set at $949. That is $300 less than the Xperia 1 II when it launched earlier this year. But given the smaller size here, many thought it would be cheaper.
That puts it at a cheaper price than the Galaxy Note 20, but not by much.
Can I buy the Xperia 5 II in the US?
You will be able to buy the Xperia 5 II in the US. It’ll be available as an unlocked smartphone. It won’t be carried by any of the carriers. But the good news is that it will work on all three major US carriers – AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon.
There’s also some bad news though. Despite it being a 5G smartphone in other regions, it will not support 5G in the US. Sony doesn’t think the US is ready for 5G, and said that the Xperia Pro would be a better experience for Americans, from Sony. Likely the reason here is that the carriers all require certification for 5G – instead of just certification for Verizon’s network, like was the case with 4G LTE. And the other fact being that Verizon’s 5G is only mmWave right now. Which no other wireless carrier in the world is doing right now. Hence the reason why there are so many Verizon-exclusive variants of phones this year.
The Xperia 5 II is going to be available in the US, in one color and in one storage variant. We’re stuck with the 8GB/128GB model and it’ll only come in black. That cool blue color is going to be available elsewhere though.
When Can I pre-order it?
Pre-order start in two weeks, on September 29.
They will ship it around December 4, which is the global availability date.
That’s quite the time-frame between pre-orders starting and the devices actually shipping. However, that is what we expect from Sony. They typically announce a new phone, but you can’t buy it for a few months after it has been announced. And that appears to be the case with the Xperia 5 II as well.
It will be available from the typical Sony authorized retailers. That includes Sony.com, Amazon, Best Buy, B&H Photo and others.