We were hoping that Sony's excellent Xperia Z3 and Xperia Z3 Compact might put an end to its biannual release cycle, but the rumour mill is already in full session for what we can expect from Sony's next flagship smartphone, the Xperia Z4 (assuming Sony will be sticking with its current naming convention, of course). It's possible we could see an official announcement as early as Mobile World Congress in March, but until then, we've rounded up all the latest rumours into one place to give you the best idea about what Sony's latest handset might entail.
Sony Xperia Z4 release date
Sony's announcement times have varied over the years, but considering the Xperia Z2 was launched at MWC last year, it's highly likely we'll see an official launch of the Xperia Z4 at the same event this year. Even if Sony decides to hold a separate event for the phone, though, we don't think it will be long before Sony lifts the lid on its next handset as it's already been approved by the Japanese Internal Affairs and Communication Ministry, which oversees telecommunications in Japan alongside other parts of the Japanese government.
According to PhoneArena, the phone has been approved and will be available on Japanese networks NTT, DoCoMo, KDDI and SoftBank. All carrier versions will support Voice-over-LTE, too. With this in mind, it shouldn't be too long before the phone starts appearing before other regulation authorities. Judging by how long it took for the Xperia Z2 to make it to the UK, we're expecting a release date around April.
Sony Xperia Z4 design
While there are plenty of curved concept designs for the Xperia Z4 floating around the internet, the latest information seems to suggest Sony will be sticking with its traditional flat screen design for the time being. The first leaked image of the phone came courtesy of Sony itself, after Sony Pictures CEO Michael Lynton's email was hacked at the end of last year.
The reason why it ended up in the Sony Pictures CEO's inbox was allegedly because he was in discussions with Sony Mobile to have it included as a bit of product placement in the upcoming James Bond film Spectre. Sony has had a long history of using its products in James Bond films (most notably the Sony Xperia T in Skyfall), so a potential placement of the Xperia Z4 isn't that surprising. It's still unclear whether the image features the final design or merely a prototype, but it does suggest the Xperia Z4 will look very similar to the Z3.
Sony Xperia Z4 specs
The design may be similar, but at least the Z4 will have a significant spec upgrade. According to GSM Arena, the phone will be keeping its predecessor's 5.2in display, but may be getting a 2,560x1,440 resolution to match other phones such as the Samsung Galaxy Note 4, LG G3 and Nexus 6. As expected, the phone will also be IP68 certified, which means the phone will be dust proof and water resistant up to 1m for up to 30 minutes.
Admittedly, we were hoping Sony might have changed the size of the phone this time round, but at least the phone will reportedly be running Android 5.0 Lollipop instead of Android 4.4 KitKat. GSM Arena also suggest the phone will be powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 chip, which is made up of a quad-core 1.5GHz Coretex A-53 and a quad-core 2.0GHz Cortex-A57, and 4GB of RAM. It will also come with either 32GB or 64GB of internal storage, but you'll be able to expand that up to 128GB with a microSD card.
That's a pretty powerful specification, but it looks as though the Xperia Z4 will still have the same 20.7-megapixel camera on the back of the phone as the Z2 and the Z3, so don't expect any improvements to its overall picture quality.