We all expected to see the Xperia Z4 sooner rather than later, so it's quite a shock Sony has decided to share with us the Xperia Z3+ right after announcing the Z4 in Japan.
It's looking to be the same phone though, but the specs haven't jumped up much from the handset it's replacing, suggesting the title of Xperia Z3+ is a little more appropriate.
We've put the Xperia Z3+ details side by side with the Xperia Z3 to see how it checks out to help you work out whether it's worth your money – let's take a look.
- Read our hands on: Sony Xperia Z3+ review
Sony Xperia Z3+ vs Sony Xperia Z3: Design
Sony has kept its iconic glass back design on the Xperia Z3+, if you've held a recent Xperia phone you won't be shocked by the design choices here, but this time around it's slightly different in size.
The Xperia Z3+ shares the same height and width dimensions of the Xperia Z3 at 146mm x 72mm but it's thinner this time around at 6.9mm opposed to 7.3mm.
The Xperia Z3 also weighed in at 152g whilst the new handset comes in quite a bit lighter at 144g. Hopefully that makes it that little bit easier to hold in the hand.
Again Sony has opted for IP68 waterproof and dust proofing design, it's a good touch and means you can be using your phone in the bath without any worry of it getting damaged.
Thankfully the annoying flap over the USB port has been ditched on the Xperia Z3+, with the port now waterproofed making charging much easier.
Sony offered the Xperia Z3 in Black, White, Copper, Silver Green and Purple whilst the Xperia Z3+ is dropping the Purple option and switching out Silver Green for Ice Green.
Sony Xperia Z3+ vs Sony Xperia Z3: Display
Sony has opted to keep the same screen on the Xperia Z3+ by using the same 5.2-inch Full HD 1080p IPS display. That equals a pixel resolution of 1920 x 1080 with 424ppi.
All of Sony's patented tech is at play here with TRILUMINOS technology on board.
We can't really see much improvement in the screen department but that's not necessarily a bad thing - it worked well on the Xperia Z3 so there are no real complaints in that department.
Sony Xperia Z3+ vs Sony Xperia Z3: Power
Under the hood in the Xperia Z3 has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 quad-core processor clocked at 2.5GHz whilst the Xperia Z3+ has taken an upgrade to the octa-core Snapdragon 810 processor.
This time around it's 64bit, but the Xperia Z3+ boasts the same amount of RAM as the Xperia Z3 with 3GB of RAM.
Storage wise the Xperia Z3 had two options of 16GB and 32GB whilst the new phone has opted to drop the smaller option and only offer 32GB with microSD support up to 128GB.
Sony Xperia Z3+ vs Sony Xperia Z3: Battery
Sony's taken a hit on the battery in order to make the Xperia Z3+ that little bit thinner. On the Xperia Z3 there was a 3,100mAh cell whilst the new phone comes with a 2,900mAh offering.
The Xperia Z3 didn't have standout battery life so it's a risky move for Sony to drop the battery size down, we can only hope the phones been better optimised to save on juice.
All the same connectivity options are here including LTE 4G. It'll also launch with Android 5.0 Lollipop on board, something the Xpeira Z3 can now be upgraded to but doesn't come right out of the box.
You'll still have Sony's UI plastered all over it though – I'd recommend having a look through the software section of our Xperia Z3 review to get a proper idea of what the Sony UI looks like, it's quite different to stock Android.
Sony Xperia Z3+ vs Sony Xperia Z3: Camera
Sony doesn't seem to have changed all that much in the camera department this time, just more incremental changes yet again.
The same 20.7MP sensor with Exmor RS image is on the rear with HDR for photos and videos making a comeback as well as SteadyShot with Intelligent Active Mode and Superior Auto also featuring.
On the front things have changed a bit. The Xperia Z3 only had a 2.2MP sensor capable of 1080p video recording whilst the Xperia Z3+ has a 5MP camera with a wider field of view.
Sony Xperia Z3+ vs Sony Xperia Z3: Price
The Sony Xperia Z3 is widely available and it's easy to find for as cheap as £350 ($538, AUS690) - significantly less than its launch price.
Although Sony hasn't announced any pricing just yet for the Xperia Z3+ we can expect it to be a flagship price closer to the £500 mark so it'll burn a bit of a bigger hole in your wallet.
As for availability you're going to have to wait until later this summer for the Xperia Z3+ as Sony hasn't shared exact details for each yet.
Early verdict
So far the Xperia Z3+ is looking like a standard Sony style update - it's increasing a few details around the edges for an incremental improvement but there aren't any really impressive steps forward.
When written down on paper there doesn't seem to be much to different to the Xperia Z3+ with only a few changes to the design, some extra camera modes and a slightly upgraded processor but it's likely to ask for a much bigger chunk of money and some won't see it as worth it.
With the Xperia Z3 so cheap now it's difficult to think of a market who would really be craving the Xperia Z3+ but if you're looking for the top of the range Sony product, this is definitely it. Fingers crossed for a real jump ahead with the official Xperia Z4 though.
- Why not read our review of the Xperia Z3 in full?
