A press image for an unreleased upcoming Sony smartphone has appeared online. Serial leaker @evleaks posted the image on its Twitter page, describing it as the “Sony Xperia Z1S” and scheduled for a 2013 release. Could this be the international variant of the Xperia Z1 f, the recently-announced mother of all “mini” Android smartphones?
Its latest flagship, the Xperia Z1, was only released last month at IFA 2013, so it’s unlikely that the company would be releasing another flagship device so soon after. There is, of course, the Xperia Z1 f, which was the mini variant of the Xperia Z1 but only available for the Japanese market. The “Z1” moniker is also present in this leaked image, giving more credence that this may be the Z1 Mini that everyone is waiting for.
On the other hand, Xperiablog.net notes that the press image has some fundamental differences in design compared to the Z1, such as the placement of the front-facing camera and the headphone jack. In comparison to the Z1 f for NTT Docomo, they’re different too.
So what could this Xperia Z1S be?
One theory is that it could just be an Xperia Z1 variant for a US telco. Specifically, with T-Mobile – a previous leaked image also corresponds to the slightly-altered hardware placement. Regardless, we’ll find out soon enough if Sony makes our dreams come true with mini Xperia Z1 for the masses.
(Source: @evleaks, Xperiablog.net)
