Some folks expected Sony to show off an Xperia Z4 at Mobile World Congress earlier this month, but there was no such device to be found, with Sony opting to give the spotlight to the Xperia Z4 Tablet instead. That doesn’t mean that there’s no Z4 smartphone in the works, though.
An image of what’s said to be the Sony Xperia Z4 surfaced on Twitter today. The image was shared by @OnLeaks, a Twitter account run by Steve Hemmerstoffer of Nowhereelse.fr, and it shows a white Sony-branded smartphone with a design similar to the Xperia Z3. That includes rounded edges and a centered, round power button.
There are a couple of notable differences between the Xperia Z3 and this alleged Xperia Z4. Most notably is the earpiece at the top of the phone, which has moved from the middle of the top bezel on the Z3 to the top of the phone’s face on the Z4. The front-facing camera and light sensor on the Z4 appear to have swapped sides from their placement on the Z3.
So this leak suggests that Sony is going to follow HTC’s strategy of taking its well-received design and applying a few small tweaks to make it even better. That may be a bummer to some, but considering how nice the Xperia Z3’s design was, I won’t be too upset if Sony decides to reuse it on the Xperia Z4 and make some tweaks that include a better-looking earpiece.