It was right towards the tail end of last year Sony Pictures made headlines after a North Korean hackivist group leaked out the company’s confidential documents. Aside from leaking a stack of very interesting emails about the studio’s future movie productions (apparently Leonardo DeCaprio is really hard to work with), the forth coming Sony Xperia Z4 also made an appearance.
It wasn’t much, just a handful of leaked concepts, but it clued us in on what Sony’s mobile division could be planning for the handset. Of course, later leaks of an alleged Sony Xperia Z4 began making the rounds, showing something much more akin to the design philosophy of Sony’s previous Xperia line. It was a bit of a let down, but it seemed to make a little more sense for Sony’s struggling smartphone division.
More recently new “leaker” @ViziLeaks claimed this device wasn’t the Sony Xperia Z4 at all, but something called the Sony Xperia Z3 Neo. What’s more the leaker now says the new Sony Xperia Z4 is on track for a September release and will feature an all-metal construction along with an improved power button with fingerprint scanning technology built inside.
With the previously leaked documents now archived and easily searchable on Wikileaks, people are once again turning to the Sony Pictures hack to dig up any info on the previously leaked Xperia Z4, which according to emails, should be making an appearance in this year’s new James Bond flick.
What was found were a few images we didn’t get a look at during last year’s leak, but show something closer to what @ViziLeaks could have been talking about. Namely, a completely redesigned look — and home button — along with a unibody type metal housing, and references to a 2.5D glass display panel.
But the leaked PDF raises more questions than it actual answers. It’s possible we could be looking at nothing but unfinished internal concept renders of multiple devices — not just the Xperia Z4. There’s a smaller device that has more rounded corners and a cushiony backside. Really, everything is up in the air at this point.
According to one leaked email, the target release date was originally set for April/May/June 2015, putting a launch right around the time Sony’s new tablet would hit the market. That being said, the doc was dated October 2014, so a lot can change in that amount of time. Whether we’ll see a completely redesigned Sony Xperia Z4 (or just another rehashed model) in time for the launch of the Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet or later this summer remains to be seen.
