Sony Xperia Z3 Release Date, Specs and Latest Rumors: What We Know So Far

Jun 11, 2014 02:29 PM EDT

The Sony Xperia Z3 is said to be under development, a mere couple of months following the launch date of the Sony Xperia Z2. Here is a brief rundown of the latest rumors so far.

Earlier, reports say that Sony may be out with the Xperia Z3 in August of September this year. The speed of this deployment suggests that Sony is gearing up for a fierce showdown with arch-nemesis Apple, which is expected to be coming out with the iPhone 6 smartphone this coming fall.  Sony also shares a bitter rivalry with South Korean-tech giant Samsung, which already launched the highly-acclaimed Galaxy s5 smartphone this year.

To trump its rivals, Sony will need to release a flagship device that will benchmark the performance standards and aesthetics of the competition. So far Sony has failed in this, and its current-generation Xperia Z2 does not offer much in terms of design enhancements in comparison to its Xperia predecessor. Still, this has not stopped the rumor mill from speculating on details concerning Sony's upcoming mobile device.

Last month, Chinese website IT168 leaked images of a slim metal frame purportedly from the Xperia Z3. Besides posting allegedly real images, IT168 said that the Xperia Z3 will be powered by a 2.7 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 processors, 3GB RAM, and an Adreno 320 graphics chip clocked at 500 MHz.  

Since then, the validity of the information has been called into question by observers within the tech-gossip community. Tech Radar said the component "could very easily be fake." Over on Twitter, DooMLoRD wrote that the Xperia Z3 was not going to be released with Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 processor.

It is generally agreed that the Xperia Z3 will be using the latest Android 4.4.3 KitKat update, which began rolling out last week. At this time, there is not much information let alone leaks that can confirm other Xperia Z3 specs. Even so, details may begin emerging again coming close to the fall season -- as the rumored Xperia Z3 release date nears.