The Sony Honami, the Japanese company’s next flagship smartphone, has been pictured again ahead of its official unveiling. Many expect this device to be a much-improved Xperia Z, and when you take a look at the shots, it’s easy to see why — it looks almost identical.

There are some subtle differences, such as the relocated rear-facing camera and LED flash, and the dedicated camera button on the right side of the device. You may also notice that Sony has moved the handset’s speaker grille to the bottom of the device; the Xperia Z’s speaker is on its side, and is far too easy to cover with the palm of your hand.

As for the Honami’s internal specifications, those are still unconfirmed. But recent rumors suggest it’ll offer a 5-inch 1080p “Triluminous” display, a 2.25GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor, 2GB of RAM, and 16GB of internal storage. The device is expected to measure just 9mm thick, which is pretty impressive when you consider it will reportedly pack a 20.6-megapixel rear-facing camera and a 3,030mAh battery.

The the Xperia Z the Honami is to be dust- and water-resistant. Honami is just a codename, of course, and you can see from the back of the device that it’ll eventually have an Xperia name like the rest of Sony’s smartphone lineup.

The Honami will certainly be an impressive device if the specifications listed above turn out to be accurate. But whether it can compete with the Samsung Galaxy S4, the fastest-selling Android smartphone to date, is another story. It’s certainly likely to be popular in Japan, however, where the Xperia Z has been very successful.

• SourceXperia Blog