While Sony abstained from releasing its upcoming flagship smartphone, the Xperia Z4, at the recently concluded Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2015 in Barcelona, Spain, the Japanese tech giant has indicated that it will launch the much-anticipated phone before September this year.

According to Latin Post, many tech enthusiasts were of the belief that Sony would unveil its Xperia Z4 handset at the Barcelona trade show last week. Although the company did display the Xperia Z4 tablet, it did not showcase the smartphone, giving rise to speculations that the Japanese tech manufacturer is possibly changing the pattern of its product release.

Usually, Sony releases its smartphones twice every year, and, hence, the absence of the Xperia Z4's at the MWC 2015 made many wonder if Sony was going to move towards a more archetypal 12-month production cycle, something that Apple Inc. follows. Tim Harrison, Sony Vice-President (Global Communications and PR), has confirmed that while Sony was doing things differently this time, as of now it does not have any concrete production cycle in place.

Talking to TrustedReviews, Harrison said, "Z4 is the next-generation of product that we'll be announcing."

He further said, "No, we haven't [moved to a more traditional 12 month product cycle]," adding, "As a general rule you will see some adjustment to the way we phase our products, but we're certainly not going to offer any specific details as to when we are going to bring our next products, beyond these, at this stage."

The ambiguity of the statements offered by Sony notwithstanding, it has also hinted that the Xperia Z4 will be available in retail stores before September, the time when Apple usually launches its next-gen iPhone.

While not much detail regarding the upcoming Sony flagship smartphone is available at present, leaked possible bodywork does offer some insight (as well as disappointment) regarding what the smartphone has to offer.

In the leaked chassis turns out to be true, the Xperia Z4 would be measuring roughly 1 mm thinner compared to the Xperia Z3. In addition, it would also make the Xperia Z4 slimmer compared to both the iPhone 6 and Samsung Galaxy S6.

However, everything may not be good news, as it appears that Sony may possibly compensate for the lack of space by shifting the microSD slot to the base of the device, where it isn't protected by a rubber waterproof and dust proof flap. So, the Xperia Z4 is probably not going to be waterproof, a feature that made previous Xperia Z smartphones stand out. However, the company is yet to confirm anything in this regard yet, so keep your fingers crossed.