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Sony Xperia Z4 leak shows off purported front panel

The front panel for Sony’s upcoming flagship Xperia Z4 smartphone has seemingly been leaked, showcasing some subtle design changes.

And when we say subtle, we mean subtle. For starters, the most obvious change from the Xperia Z3 is that the front camera and light sensors have switched positions.

Another break away from the Xperia Z3 is that the speakers have moved, now sitting flush with the top and bottom edges of the device.

This is in contrast to the more obviously placed Xperia Z3 speaker grills, which sat smack bang in the middle of the top and bottom front bezels.

The side bezels also seem to be trimmed down very slightly, although there’s a chance this might not be evident with the final product once the panel is joined to the handset.

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So why such little changes? Sony has spent a lot of time working on its ‘omnibalance’ smartphone design, so it’s unlikely the firm wants to fix what it probably sees as not broken.

Sony has also, until this point, ran with a six-monthly release cycle for its Xperia Z-series smartphones, which means we’ve come to expect minimal changes between handsets.

We’re expecting to see the Xperia Z4 land sometime in Q2 or Q3 this year, after which Sony is likely to switch to a yearly release cycle.

Sony is also tipped to pack its next flagship blower with Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 810 chip, 3GB of RAM, and a 1080p or 1440p display.

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