The Sony Xperia Z4 might be missing from this week’s MWC gathering, but you shouldn’t have to wait too much longer for the Galaxy S6 challenger, the manufacturer has suggested.

While the unveiling of the Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet has all but confirmed the naming direction of Sony’s next flagship phone, further details around the handset’s whereabouts are currently unclear.

Sony, however, has suggested that you can expect the company’s next iPhone 6 rival well before September, stating it hasn’t moved to a 12 month launch cycle. Given the Xperia Z3 launched last September, it means the Z4 will be with us well before autumn.

“Z4 is the next-generation of product that we’ll be announcing,”

Tim Harrison, Sony’s Vice President of Global Communications and PR, said addressing TrustedReviews.

Fielding questions on when exactly we can expect the Xperia Z4 to drop, Harrison remained largely vague although hinted the handset could be with us sooner than expected.

“No, we haven’t [moved to a more traditional 12 month product cycle],” he told us.

“As a general rule you will see some adjustment to the way we phase our products, but we’re certainly not going to offer any specific details as to when we are going to bring our next products, beyond these, at this stage.”

Defending the company’s decision to avoid competing with the S6 and HTC One M9 and forgo an MWC showing of the Z4, he added: “We haven’t always announced a smartphone at MWC, sometimes we phase it and we’ll have a smartphone or a tablet.

“This year we really wanted the emphasis on our story at MWC to be around expanding the mid-range offer and broadening the mid-range and obviously bringing in a super premium tablet as well.

“ It’s more a case of phasing the products in than anything else. ”

Related: Galaxy Note 5 rumours

Offering further insight into why the Z4 handset has yet to be unveiled, Sony suggested that the ongoing success of the Z3 might have pushed back its launch plans.

“At IFA we announced three Z3 series products, the full sized smartphone, the Compact and the Compact Tablet,” Harrison said.

“These are doing really well in the market and there is still quite a considerable amount of interest in those particular products and since we’ve announced them, we’ve updated a number of features.

“We’ve introduced Remote Play, there are more camera themes and there are more camera apps.”