Earlier this week, we heard that the Sony Xperia Z would be the latest device to get a “Google Edition” tag and begin shipping with a stock Android experience free from third-party tweaks, and now that rumor has been “confirmed” by a separate set of sources.

Android Central reports that Sony is indeed preparing a Google Edition of its latest flagship device, and that it will be sold through Google Play — alongside the other Google Edition devices — later this year. The device will join the special edition Galaxy S4 and HTC One devices that bring a “Nexus user experience” to non-Nexus hardware.

While there are plenty of users out there who will be happy with Samsung’s TouchWiz, or HTC’s Sense 5, there’s also a large number of Android users who prefer the stock experience. They want Android as Google intended it, without the modified look and the unnecessary “bloatware.”

Until now, Nexus devices were the only ones to meet that demand, unless you were happy to flash custom ROMs to other smartphones yourself, but Google is finally teaming up with manufacturers to provide stock Android out of the box — something we never really thought we’d see.

And the Xperia Z could be one of the most attractive Google Edition devices for some users, given its waterproof design that’ll allow you to take it swimming. In addition to that, the device boasts a 5-inch 1080p display, a quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage — expandable via microSD — and a 13-megapixel Exmor RS camera.

Of course, this is just another rumor, so until the Xperia Z Google Edition is confirmed by either Sony or Google, don’t get your hopes up too much. We don’t see why Sony wouldn’t want to offer a Google Edition device and compete with Samsung and HTC, but we still need official confirmation.

Hopefully we’ll have that soon, and as soon as we do, we’ll let you know.

• SourceAndroid Central