Sony Xperia Z4 Sales Tumble In Their Second Week in Japan

The launch of any device, especially a flagship unit like the Sony Xperia Z4, is the culmination of months of planning, if not years. Building up to its release and for some time to follow, you can expect a certain kind of fanfare like television spots, promotional billboards, celebrity endorsements, and of course a full social media push. None of this is cheap as it tends to cost a company in the millions but the hope is always that with an extravagant launch comes some extravagant sales.

The Sony Xperia Z4 is no different where it launched in Japan last week to the exact scenario as I just described and just as expected, if not hoped for, the unit landed on top of the charts as the number 1 and number 2 smartphones in Japan under carriers NTT DoCoMo and au (KDDI). What followed, however, is likely the exact opposite of what Sony had planned or hoped for.

In just a week’s time, Sony Xperia Z4 sales have tumbled all the way down to the number 7 and 8 spot. Japan, the home country of Sony, has traditional been an area of strength and success for the company, much like Apple enjoys in the US or Samsung does in Korea. That’s why it’s all the worse that, despite being released nearly 9 months ago, iPhone 6 has once again claimed the top 5 spots in Japan. Unless this is a fluke that’s caused by low inventory on Sony’s end, the numbers next week will probably not be better and it’s unlikely that Sony will magically retain that lost position. It’s also worth nothing that, if history has anything to say about it, we’re 3-4 months away from new iPhone models.

To put things into perspective, Sony in the past two years has seen their mobile sales number stall and retract. The Xperia Z4 (called the Xperia Z3+ or Z4v), though not designed to be a revolutionary device, was meant to help stabilize Sony in 2015 with 2016 acting as their true growth year. If the current sales trend in Sony’s most dominant territory is an indication, 2015 could be yet another lost year which makes their ambitious 2016 goals that much harder to achieve.

Here’s hoping that this is just a fluke week.