This is quite the baffling decision. Less than a day after revealing the advent of the Xperia Z5 and Xperia Z5 Compact to the US, it’s being reported that neither model will feature fingerprint sensors. Taking a line from Apple’s playbook, the entire Z5 family provides a fingerprint sensor that’s uniquely built on the phone’s power button. That is – if you live outside of the US.

More details after the jump.

Up until earlier this morning, even Sony’s own website referenced the fingerprint sensors for both models, something that’s been yanked since. Unless I’m aware of some regulatory hoops that Sony doesn’t want to jump through, I find the move highly baffling. Is the sensor still built into the phones and Sony is simply turning them off? Or is Sony creating a special line just for the US without the sensors?

Neither move makes sense, especially the latter, seeing how little volume Sony is likely to ship here. But all those reasons aside, I would love to know why these models are shipping without the feature. I’ve reached out to Sony for clarification and details though I’m doubtful we’ll hear much new information on the matter. It’s seriously as if Sony is looking to undermine their own mobile operation at every opportunity.

Discuss:

Does a lack of fingerprint sensors hamper your enthusiasm for the Xperia Z5 and Xperia Z5 Compact?