The first live pictures of Sony’s upcoming second-half flagship — the Xperia Z3 — have leaked online. The handset looks remarkably similar to the Z2 (and Z1) with only a few minor design tweaks here and there. 

The leaked picture also seemingly confirm the final specs of the handset. Whenever released, the Xperia Z3 would be running on Android 4.4.4 KitKat and will be powered by a Snapdragon 801 processor clocked at 2.5GHz. It also gives us a glimpse at the rear of the device where the 20.7MP Exmor R sensor from Sony resides.

Unlike HTC, Samsung and other OEMs, Sony operates on a six-month update cycle and releases a new flagship handset twice in a year. The changes between them are relatively minor and are usually aimed at fixing whatever flaws the previous flagship had. Thanks to this approach from Sony, the Xperia Z2 is easily one of the most sought after phones of the year.

It is not yet known how Sony plans on differentiating the Xperia Z3 from the Z2, especially since they both look similar and will be sporting similar specs as well.

• ViaXperia Blog