Sony’s always had ambitious plans for their Xperia line of phones. With a glut of Android phones available to the consumer, credit must be given to Sony for designing a line of phones which stand out from the crowd and yet follow in a similar pattern to help build a brand look and feel for Sony. With Kunimasa Suzuki appointed as the new President and CEO of Sony Mobile, which now oversees Sony’s smartphone, tablet and VAIO division, many (including Sony) thought that the company would be turning a new corner with the release of the Xperia ion, Xperia S, Xperia P, and Xperia U. This had even prompted the company’s new CEO, Kaz Hirai, to announce that the electronic giant would launch Xperia phones twice as fast to meet consumer demand and fight of competitors like Samsung and Apple. Now it seems, before the company can start releasing future handsets with twice the speed, it must first work on releasing its current announced lineup which will see the Xperia P and Xperia U delayed till late May.

According to to UK online retailer Clove, Sony is delaying the Xperia P and Xperia U with May 28th as the new release date. Though this announcement might be limited to just the UK, Sony Mobile tends to operate in a consistent manor for Europe and a delay in the UK will surely translate as a delay for Europe. It’s unclear at this moment as to the cause of the delay but one might speculate that Sony may want to release the handsets with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, though I must stress that I have no proof of this. We’ve contacted Sony about this and we’ll update this post accordingly if any new light is shed on it.

Discuss:

Are you surprised by this delay?

[Via Android Community]