According to earlier rumors, a new addition to the Xperia Z series will be unveiled by Sony Mobile at the Mobile World Congress, happening later this month. However, some observers think that this is not plausible. Instead, Sony Mobile may be thinking of a late 2016 launch for the new Xperia Z6 lineup, and the new device will most likely appear at the Internationale Funkausstellung in Berlin.

Yibada mentioned that in terms of timeline, previous Xperia Z series flagships were unveiled by Sony Mobile at the IFA, most recently the Xperia Z5 lineups during last year's IFA in Berlin. Since the Xperia Z5 flagship lineup was released late 2015, a new Xperia Z series addition in this period would make the Xperia Z5's marketing cycle too short since the current-gen lineups haven't saturated the global market yet. In fact, the unlocked Xperia Z5 and Z5 Compact have just recently breached North America, with both having been released for the U.S. market early this month.

Meanwhile, although it may be plausible that Sony Mobile is targeting a late 2016 release for the Xperia Z6, rumors of the upcoming flagship's specs and features have already floated online.

Industry followers like Neuro Gadget have already started comparing the Xperia Z6's supposed specs and features with other competitors. According to speculations, Sony Mobile is building a new standard from the ground up. Rumored design changes for the upcoming Xperia Z series iteration include deviating from the block form factor to a sleeker, more streamlined glass-and-metal frame. Accordingly, the water-resistance feature, a strong point for previous iterations, will also be present in the Xperia Z6.

Trusted Reviews said that since the Xperia Z6 is a premium flagship, fans may expect the smartphone to carry the new Snapdragon 820 processor, paired with at least 3 GB of RAM. In addition, since it will release in the middle or late 2016, it will come with Android 6.0 Marshmallow right out of the box.