Sony has recently introduced the Xperia Z4 as its new flagship in Japan, which sounds logical enough, given its last generation flagship was named the Xperia Z3. Meanwhile, in international markets, the company is in the process of rolling out a newer, refreshed flagship, called the Xperia Z3+. Nothing out of the ordinary thus far, given the numerous variants of each device that are launched by vendors these days. But that’s until you compare the spec sheets of the two devices and realize they are virtually identical apart from the Z4 featuring Digital TV and FeliCa (contactless RFID smart card system). So basically, the exact same phone is being launched under different monikers in different markets. Even though the device itself (Xperia Z3+ / Z4) remains a pretty decent one, the company has landed itself in a bit of a bother with its weird naming convention.
Meanwhile in Japan, the Xperia Z4 is about to be launched on three of the country’s largest carriers over the next three days. Latest reports indicate the Xperia Z4 (model number SOV31) will be launched on the ‘au by KDDI’ network on Thursday, June 11th. The smartphone will be priced at 84,240 Yen ($678), and will be offered in four different colors – Black, White, Copper and Aqua Green. On Wednesday itself, the device is scheduled to land on NTT Docomo, and SoftBank will launch the Z4 on its network on Friday, the 12th of June. The Xperia Z4 features a 5.2 inch display with a 1080p resolution. It’s powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 SoC and comes with 3 GB RAM and 32 GB storage. It features a 20.7 megapixel rear camera and a 2920 mAh battery. The device also comes with IP68 certification for water and dust resistance.
With losses for Sony’s smartphone division piling up by the day, the Japanese giant has recently cut almost 1,000 jobs in Sweden. Their seemingly confusing naming scheme might not be helping things, but considering they continue to prove popular in Japan, a market which Samsung simply cannot break into. Hopefully, Sony’s continued good performance in Japan will translate to renewed success elsewhere around the globe, but after three smartphones offering seemingly very little in upgrades, it’s clear that Sony needs something big to close out 2015.
