Xperia Z4 Specs, Features Review: Sony Launches Only for Japan Market; Device Like Z3 But Better Processor

Sony launched its latest smartphone, the Xperia Z4, on Monday, April 20, in Japan with little publicity.

It soon became apparent that the phone was destined for the Japanese market only. This was a major policy shift for Sony which previously had been launching its devices for the international market, including last year's Xperia Z3.

Soon after the Xperia Z4 was launched, Sony hinted that it would be releasing its flagship device later in the year, probably around May. This took many reviewers and analysts by surprise. Others noted that the Xperia Z4 was almost the same device as the Xperia Z3 with the addition of a better processor; hence, it could not be classified as a major upgrade.

As for the device itself, it bears all the standard Xperia styling and does not have a full metal body as rumored earlier this month. Instead, it has the standard metal frame with a glass body and back panel. It comes with a waterproof rating of IP 68.

The Xperia Z4 features slight changes from the previous Z3. Sony made its latest device lighter and slimmer. It weighs in at 144g and is 6.9mm thick. As for the main rear camera it still remains a 20.7 megapixel version. The quality of the front camera has been boosted, however, to 5.1 megapixels. The screen remains the same as the version seen on the Z3, measuring 5.2 inches with a resolution 1080 x 1920 pixels and a density of 424 pixels per inch. It also has a microSD slot that can be used to add 128 GB of external storage and 3 GB RAM.

The major change is in the processor. The Z4 comes with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 chipset, along with octa core CPU with four Cortex-A53 cores and four Cortex-A57 cores and an Adreno 430 GPU.

The release of an upgraded smartphone to appeal to customers in Japan, who are looking for newer phones, is being described as a tactic to deal with Samsung's launch of the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge. Since Sony's previous flagship was released over seven months back, its looks like the company wants to retain its position as the market leader in Japan and not surrender to Samsung or Apple.