The neutron-rich nuclei 94;96 Kr were studied via projectile Coulomb excitation at the REX-ISOLDE facility at CERN. Level energies of the first excited 2 þ states and their absolute E2 transition strengths to the ground state are determined and discussed in the context of the Eð2 þ 1 Þ and BðE2; 2 þ 1 ! 0 þ 1 Þ systematics of the krypton chain. Contrary to previously published results no sudden onset of deformation is observed. This experimental result is supported by a new proton-neutron interacting boson model calculation based on the constrained Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov approach using the microscopic Gogny-D1M energy density functional. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.062701 PACS numbers: 25.70.De, 27.60.+j, 29.30.Kv, 29.38.Gj Since the availability of high-intensity radioactive ion beams, the extension of the concept of quantum phase transitions to exotic nuclei is of great interest in nuclear physics [1]. Quantum phase transitions occur in atomic nuclei as a function of the number of protons or neutrons and describe changes of the ground-state shapes [2]. The so-called A % 100 mass region of the nuclear chart around 100 Zr is one of the most popular regions for the study of this phenomenon since the zirconium (Z ¼ 40) and strontium (Z ¼ 38) isotopes undergo a shape transition from almost spherical to strongly deformed shapes when going from neutron number N ¼ 58 to N ¼ 60 [3][4][5][6][7]. This