Sony announces its Xperia Z4 flagship w/ Snapdragon 810 SoC, very familiar design

The Xperia Z4 smartphone isn’t exactly a secret, but now Sony has come out to officially announce the device in Japan. It’s basically the smartphone version of the Xperia Z4 tablet that was announced in March, and like that device, it doesn’t seem to be much of a visual overhaul compared to its predecessor. It does pack some pretty hefty upgrades on the inside, though, including an upgraded SoC and front-facing camera…

The Xperia Z4 is 6.9mm thick, weighs just 144 grams, and packs a very familiar outer design (almost indistinguishable from the Z3, actually) with an aluminum bezel. (Although the phone does have a newly-uncapped micro-USB port, unlike the Z3.) The device’s screen sits right at 5.2-inches, like the previous version of the phone, with a resolution of 1080 x 1920. And for now, this is the screen size you’re stuck with; Sony has yet to announce a “compact” version of the Z4.

Here you’ll find a 20.7-megapixel camera around back, a 5.1-megapixel shooter on the front, a 2930mAh battery, 32 GB of expandable storage (up to an extra 128 GB), and the typical connectivity interfaces such as AC WiFi and Bluetooth 4.1. All of this is powered by the controversial 64-bit Snapdragon 810 processor clocked at 2GHz. As for software, the phone of course runs the latest big release of Android, version 5.0 Lollipop.

At least in Japan, the color variants of the Xperia Z4 will include white, black, “copper” and “aqua green”. Unlike some of the other Android flagships that have launched this year, the Z4 does in fact pack IP6X-level dust-resistance, and “IPX5 / IPX8 equivalent waterproof performance.” Information about an international launch for the device hasn’t yet been released, but Sony says that it’s planning on launching the phone during the summer of this year in Japan.

Update: Check out the below videos for some hands-on footage…