Japanese smartphone manufacturer officially announced its latest premium, mid-ranger, ultra-thin smartphone Xperia M4 Aqua on the opening day of the Mobile World Congress (MWC) at Barcelona, Spain, on Monday.

Quoting The Verge reports that contrary to the much-anticipated Xperia Z4, which was said to succeed Sony's reining flagship smartphone Xperia Z3, the Japanese tech manufacturer preferred to unveil a mid-range device - the Xperia M4 Aqua at the MWC. The new device, which bears close resemblance to the Z3, comes with a 5-inch screen display and runs with the latest Android 5.0 Lollipop.

Sony probably did not launch the Xperia Z4 because it wants its current flagship smartphone the Xperia Z3, which has been significantly successful, to do more business.

Meanwhile, describing the Xperia M4 Aqua, tech site GSMArena says that the device is dust-tight and is able to remain unharmed under 1.5 meters deep fresh water for up to 30 minutes, thereby ensuring that it is an IP68-certified device. Moreover, the M4 Aqua offers cap-less microUSB port, a feature that is appearing for the first time in any water-proof Sony device. This feature does away with the need to adjust caps, thereby making charging easier.

On the other hand, Sony has limited the internal specs of the device with a view to keep its price lower. The new smartphone features a 720p display rather than full HD, a relatively less powerful processor and a 13-megapixel camera in place of instead of a 20-megapixel snapper. In addition, the M4 Aqua features a 5MP selfie snapper in the front. It also has 4G LTE connection.

GSMArena further states that the M4 Aqua is built around a 5.2" IPS display rendering 720p resolution. The device is equipped with the futuristic Snapdragon 615 processor coupled with a 64-bit octa-core Cortez-A53 processor, 2GB RAM as well as Adreno 405 graphics. The processor offers four Cortex-A53 cores clocked at 1.7GHz and another four clocked at 1.0GHz. It runs on the latest Android 5.0 Lollipop OS and boasts a 2,400 mAh battery, which, according to Sony, will last two full days of normal use.

While Sony didn't reveal when or where the phone will be available, it simply said that the device will hit the shelves sometime in spring. Although the final pricing of the device is awaited, it is expected that the smartphone will have an affordable price of $340.