The new flagship smartphone of Sony, the Xperia Z4, appeared much sooner than expected.

Previously anticipated to be unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last March, it was widely believed that Sony will be releasing the Xperia Z4 in September instead. However, much to the surprise of Sony observers and the tech community, the company announced April 20 that the Xperia Z4 will now be available in Japan. 

The Android smartphone looks a lot like its predecessor, the Xperia Z3. However, the new Z4 is slimmer and lighter than the previous one, weighing in at only 144 grams and boasting a 6.9-mm thinness. Display-wise, the new Z4 still has the same 5.2-inch screen that renders a 1920 x 1080 resolution. As far as cameras go, which Sony smartphones are also known for, the Z4 is equipped with an impressive 20.7 MP main shooter at the rear and a decent 5 MP front camera. 

Under the hood, the new Xperia Z4 packs a 64-bit Snapdragon 810 processor, 3 GB of RAM, and comes native with the Android 5.0 Lollipop operating system. According to Sony's announcement, the Z4 has 32 GB of storage, expandable up to 128 GB with a microSD card. 

The new Sony Xperia Z4 also comes with IP6X, IPX5, and IPX8 ratings. This means that the new device is dust-proof and splash-resistant. Not only that, the new Xperia Z4 can be totally submerged in water. Users need not worry about water getting through the cap-less USB port, since the component has totally been improved and is now waterproof. 

The new Z4 comes in aqua green, black, copper, and white versions. Initially available only in Japan, there is no word yet on when the Z4 will be released in the global market.