Although tech giant Sony Mobile has just recently released its next-gen Xperia Z-series devices, fans can not help but wonder when and how Sony will follow up its new Xperia Z5.

Meanwhile, as Sony still has to come out with concrete details about the upcoming Xperia Z6, speculations keep on surfacing online.

Observers surmise that Sony will be toning down its release cycles starting next year, and fans may not see the Xperia Z6 until after the mid-months of 2016.

According to Techno Buffalo, the lead designer for Sony's lineups, art director Rikke Gertsen Constein, said in a recent interview that the company is already hard at work conceptualizing and developing its next-gen flagships with intended release scheduled for the latter part of 2016, 2017, and 2018. This means that fans may not see a new lineup at the Mobile World Congress in March. In previous flagship releases, Sony announced its flagships at the annual MWC.

Although Sony indirectly said that the new Z6 won't come in the early months of 2016, there were rumors that the company will be announcing an Xperia iteration at the MWC. Instead of a new flagship, however, it will be an update to the current flagship device, the Xperia Z5 Ultra variant. The new version is said to be Sony's answer to flagship phablets from competitors and will reportedly feature a massive 6.44-inch display.

Meanwhile, early predictions from Xperia fans guess that Sony will have something up its sleeve for the Xperia Z6, aside from the expected powerful next-gen camera (which Xperia units are known for). According to MobiPicker, a source inside Sony Mobile said that the company will be taking a competitor, Cupertino-based Apple, head on. In this regard, the source stated that the Xperia Z6 may feature a touch-sensitive display, Sony's own take on Apple's 3D Touch display.