Skip to main content

Big-screen Sony Xperia Z and ZL phones leaked ahead of CES unveiling

Leaked Sony Xperia Z Xperia ZLCheck out our full reviews of the Sony Xperia ZL and Sony Xperia Z phones.

Sony hasn’t been able to keep its two new flagship Android phones secret ahead of CES 2013, as a picture of the pair has sneaked out just days before the beginning of the Las Vegas show. The phones are identified as the Xperia Z (seen above on the left) and Xperia ZL, and have previously been leaked as the Yuga and Odin respectively. As both images were discovered on a SonyMobile.com website they’re almost certainly genuine, plus the device names make up part of the URL, so there’s a good chance these will turn out to be correct too.

While both the Xperia Z and Xperia ZL have appeared before, we’re still not sure of the exact specification of either, however it’s possible the Xperia ZL/Odin is a more compact variant of the full-size Xperia Z/Yuga. In the past, the addition of an L in a Sony smartphone model name hasn’t signified anything other than a gentle warm-over of the specs, such as in the case of the Xperia S and Xperia SL, but how this approach would work with two devices launched at the same time remains to be seen.

We’re expecting the Xperia Z to be Sony’s 5-inch, 1080p smartphone effort which will be driven by a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor – also a first for Sony, after it swore off quad-core chips for 2012. A 13-megapixel camera – as seen on the Xperia T, Xperia TL and its variants – is likely to sit on the rear of the big-screen device, plus we can see a forward facing video call lens on both phones in the new pictures. Oddly, the Xperia ZL’s video call lens is in the bottom right-hand corner of the chassis; a most unusual position. Google Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is the most obvious candidate for the operating system.

So when will we get to see these two new Sony smartphones? The company has scheduled a press conference at CES 2013 for 5pm local time on January 7, and in previous years it has announced several top-of-the-range devices. We’ll be there to bring you all the latest news.

Editors' Recommendations

Andy Boxall
Senior Mobile Writer
Andy is a Senior Writer at Digital Trends, where he concentrates on mobile technology, a subject he has written about for…
The 6 biggest announcements we expect from Google I/O 2024
Google I/O 2019

Google will hold its annual developer conference, Google I/O 2024, on May 14 in Mountain View, California. The event is about a month away, and we're expecting a few big announcements.

As with any Google I/O event, this year's conference will start with a big opening keynote presentation from CEO Sundar Pichai. But what actual announcements are we looking forward to? Here are a few of the biggest things that we are likely to see at Google I/O 2024.
Android 15

Read more
This crazy headband uses music and brainwaves to make you a better athlete
A person wearing the Alphabeats headband.

This company wants you to put on a headband and listen to music while the device's sensors in it read your brainwaves to help you focus and to increase your sporting performance. It’s called Alphabeats, and the electroencephalogram (EEG) headband combines with your choice of music and an app on your phone to help train your brain to either stay in its top-focused state or concentrate on its requirements in the moment, whether that’s relaxation, recovery, or sleep.

Aimed at professional ahtletes or highly motivated amateurs, Alphabeats won a CES 2023 Innovation award and is now available for pre-order. It costs $499 at the moment, but the price will increase to $689 after the promotional period ends. You probably won’t be surprised to learn (given the recent growing and  unfortunate trend) that this price includes a year’s subscription to the service, but at the time of writing, there’s no information about how much the subscription will cost after the first year.

Read more
Here’s how Apple could change your iPhone forever
An iPhone 15 Pro Max laying on its back, showing its home screen.

Over the past few months, Apple has released a steady stream of research papers detailing its work with generative AI. So far, Apple has been tight-lipped about what exactly is cooking in its research labs, while rumors circulate that Apple is in talks with Google to license its Gemini AI for iPhones.

But there have been a couple of teasers of what we can expect. In February, an Apple research paper detailed an open-source model called MLLM-Guided Image Editing (MGIE) that is capable of media editing using natural language instructions from users. Now, another research paper on Ferret UI has sent the AI community into a frenzy.

Read more