The Sony Xperia Z4 might be eagerly awaited by many consumers, but the world’s leading secret agent is less than impressed with its abilities.
In a high-profile blow for the Japanese manufacturer, Daniel Craig and Sam Mendes, who will respectively star in and direct the upcoming James Bond movie, ‘Spectre’, have shunned the upcoming handset.
Despite substantial financial backing, a leaked email, sent by Columbia Pictures’ Andrew Gumpert, has revealed that Craig and Mendes don’t think particularly highly of the new Sony Xperia Z4.
“BEYOND the $$ factor, there is, as you may know, a CREATIVE factor whereby Sam and Daniel don’t like the Sony phone for the film (the thinking, subjectively/objectively is that James Bond only uses the ‘best,’ and in their minds, the Sony phone is not the ‘best’),” reads the message.
A separate email, sent by George Leon, says that Sony was willing to pay Daniel Craig $5 million (£3.3m) to use the handset in the movie, with a further $18 million (£12m) budgeted for advertising and $5 million earmarked for production.
The thread reveals that Samsung had also tabled an offer, involving a fixed placement fee of $5 million and a cross-promotional advertising spend totalling $50 million (£33m).
It’s unclear which firm came out on top. Spectre is due for international release on November 6.
Sony’s mobile division has experienced a devastating past year or so, with the company making enormous losses.
Related: Sony Xperia Z4 release rumours
It recently announced the launch of the Xperia Z4 in Japan, though there’s been no mention of a global rollout as of yet. However, the email refers to May and November as planned release dates for Sony handsets.
You can keep on top of all Xperia-related news and rumours via the link above.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
