What is the difference between 「しております」and 「しています」?


I came across the 2 phrases from Nintendo 3DS' instruction manual. They are
written adjacently.

> 本製品は、フォントワークス株式会社のフォントを使用 **しています** 。

> 本製品の一部にシャープ株式会社のLCフォントを使用 **しております** 。

If they are different in terms of humbleness, I think the first line should be
written in the form of 「ております」as well. I don't think they are different in
continuation too.




Technically speaking, ～しております is the humble form of ～しています, as you pointed
out. It would have been better to use the consistent expression.

However, among the various Japanese humble expressions, ～おる is one of the
mildest, and in some dialects おる is [just another plain verb used instead of
いる](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/26091/5010). Some people even say
[おられますか](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/40953/5010), which is
technically a strange mixture of humble and honorific expressions, but is
[considered acceptable by
some](https://www.nhk.or.jp/bunken/summary/kotoba/term/012.html).

Practically, these 使用しています and 使用しております don't look much different, and very
few would care. This difference in expression doesn't mean Nintendo is
treating the two companies differently.




Technically speaking, ～しております is the humble form of ～しています, as you pointed
out. It would have been better to use the consistent expression.

However, among the various Japanese humble expressions, ～おる is one of the
mildest, and in some dialects おる is [just another plain verb used instead of
いる](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/26091/5010). Some people even say
[おられますか](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/40953/5010), which is
technically a strange mixture of humble and honorific expressions, but is
[considered acceptable by
some](https://www.nhk.or.jp/bunken/summary/kotoba/term/012.html).

Practically, these 使用しています and 使用しております don't look much different, and very
few would care. This difference in expression doesn't mean Nintendo is
treating the two companies differently.

