Sony’s as-yet-unannounced Xperia XZ4 has appeared online again in new images leaked via China’s social media service Weibo, showcasing a tempered glass screen protector and protective TPU case for the handset. The renders seem to confirm early speculation that Sony is placing its new Android flagships on a “diet” as the Xperia XZ4 will apparently be rather tall and slim, with a display aspect ratio set as high as 21:9, so the overall package should be significantly more slender than Sony’s 2018 smartphones. No new details have been provided alongside the images but other apparently validated design features may be confirmed as well. The handset is shown in the renders in a deep blue — almost black — color configuration with a single selfie camera and three sensors on the back. The forward-facing camera is coupled next to what appears to be either a proximity sensor or a piece of hardware serving a similar purpose. Two separate LEDs are used in place of a dual-tone combined flash and sit just above the primary cameras. Slim upper and lower bezels are used instead of a display notch, with a cutout in the screen protector for the earpiece at the top.
A third hole at the far left of the display is much smaller than the others and could be used for a mic or another type of sensor. Cutouts are also present for the bottom-firing speaker, placed next to a USB Type-C charging port and mic hole. A second mic is positioned along the top edge but no 3.5mm headphone jack is present. There appear to be a total of three buttons along the right-hand edge with a side-mounted fingerprint scanner set between an elongated volume rocker and what would probably be the power button. The final button is set near the bottom of the same edge. It’s not possible to identify what that might be used for from the images but it could feasibly act as a dedicated camera button or for accessing other features.
A first for Sony
Other expectations for the Sony Xperia XZ4 from prior leaks indicate that this will be the most powerful handset the company has ever released. Aside from what’s shown in the most recent alleged renders, the 6.55-inch display panel has been rumored to be manufactured by LG Display but it isn’t clear what technology will be used for the screen. Under the hood, the Sony Xperia XZ4 is expected to be driven by a 3,900mAh battery driving the latest version of Android OS via Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855 SoC. That’s an octa-core chipset clocked at 2.84GHz and an Adreno 640 GPU as well as newly reworked dedicated Computer Vision image signal processors for photography and a new AI engine. Backing up that powerhouse, the Xperia XZ4 is expected to ship with 6GB RAM and variants with either 64GB or 256GB of storage. No information has leaked out regarding what other differences might be present between the variants but two separate screen protectors are shown in the latest leak. That could indicate that there will be some slight shape or size variations too.
Coming this spring
Sony is presently expected to either confirm or refute the rumors that have been leaking about its flagship device at MWC 2019 in Barcelona. That takes place in late February and an unveiling wouldn’t be too surprising since it does represent the world’s largest mobile technology-specific convention. If it does, the new handset will likely be competing directly with Samsung’s Galaxy S10 series — also expected to be announced at this year’s event. If Sony plans to go that route and the renders are accurate, the Xperia XZ4 could be well positioned to take on its rival thanks to its unique features. The two handsets also share a similar focus on providing a taller-than-usual large display, although it remains to be seen how well the extra long form factor is received by consumers.
