New images of Sony’s “Xperia Z Fourth Generation” leak

Last December, Sony Pictures suffered a massive email leak, with North Korea blamed for the attack. As part of that leak, details and a picture emerged of what Sony refers to as the “Xperia Z Fourth Generation.” Since then we have seen numerous images and details of this handset leak that ties into that image.

More recently there has been speculation that this handset may not be branded the Xperia Z4 and could be a revised Xperia Z3 called the “Xperia Z3 Neo”. Regardless of what the handset is called, new images from the same leak have emerged thank to Wikileaks who published an “analysis and search system for The Sony Archives”.



The handset codenamed “i1-4” follows on from the Xperia Z1 which was codenamed “i1” and is tagged as a design concept, although the images tie in with everything we have seen so far. The images also refer to a picture titled “The New Metal Expression” giving detail of a new sleek frame:

“Making the metal more solid and sleek,

in high polished surfaces created by metal plating,

all we do this with a new anodizing technology”

As part of the same leak, the launch date for this handset was pegged for Sony’s fiscal first quarter (i.e. April to June 2015). This means we are likely to see the handset release in June, tying it with the Xperia Z4 Tablet launch. That is of course, if Sony hasn’t changed its mind in the meantime. This information came from a leaked email dated early October 2014, plenty of time for Sony to change plans or use this handset as a filler whilst readying the ‘real’ next-generation Xperia flagship.

It will be interesting to see what happens with this handset given recent rumours and issues that many manufacturers appear to have faced with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 chipset. We will keep you posted.

Via WikiLeaks.

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