At the Mobile World Congress at Barcelona, Sony showed off their latest device: the Xperia Z4 Tablet. Normally Sony announce a Z phone first and then a corresponding Z tablet, but this time the roles were reversed. I asked the Sony marketing guy at their stand about this, and he told me that the Z4 phone wasn’t being released yet because the Z3 was selling so well. Regardless of the truth of the matter, it now seems that the Z4 phone isn’t far off, as leaked renders were published by @onleaks this week.
The renders show a phone that is very similar to the Xperia Z3, with the same metal-and-glass construction and vaguely boxy shape. The major differences appear to be largely those of port placement; the micro USB port has moved to the bottom of the phone and shed the annoying flap that ensured its waterproof rating previously. The micro SD card slot seems to have disappeared as well, which likely indicates Sony will join Samsung and others in moving to 32GB as the new smallest capacity model.
There are a number of other minor tweaks here and there, too. The speaker grilles have become longer and thinner on the front of the phone, the front-facing camera has shifted to a more central location, and the phone appears marginally thinner as well.
Other expected specifications for the phone include a Snapdragon 810 octa-core display, 3GB of RAM and a QHD (2560 x 1440) display.
Interestingly, both this Xperia Z4 render and the preceding Z3 press images show a date widget which references the 12th of September. Both widgets refer to this day as a Thursday, although in 2014 it was a Friday and in 2015 it will be a Saturday. Regardless of the error, a September launch is expected for the smartphone, one year after its predecessor.
What do you think of the new Xperia Z4’s look? Let us know in the comments below, or write to us on Twitter @mobilefun!
We’re already preparing to support the handset with a range of Sony Xperia Z4 accessories, so stay tuned for more news!