To be filed in the "how to solve a problem that doesn't exist" category, Sony is about to launch a "selfie" camera that looks like a perfume bottle, presumably directly aimed at fashion concious women or teenage girls who don't own smartphones. That's a very tiny market, surely.

It will be officially announced in China at the end of the week, 22 August, but pictures of the device have already hit Chinese forum site Weibo.

Google Translate calls it the Sony "Self-artifact" camera, but we doubt that'll be its real name (just a mistranslation somewhere, probably). And because of the Chinese female gadget market being very much based around high-end fashion labels, we also doubt that the camera will ever make it to the western world.

That's not to say it's not interesting. G 4 Games has even posted rumoured specifications, although it mistakenly thinks its a smartphone too. The camera specs listed include a 1/2.3-inch Exmor RS sensor that offers 19.2-megapixels. It is said to have a Sony G lens that is naturally housed in a rotating cap.

The screen is 3-inches, claims the site, and it has optical image stabilisation and an ND filter built in.

Wi-Fi and NFC connectivity will be present, while storage will be handled by microSD cards.

If we hear more about a UK or US release for the bizarre Sony perfume bottle cam, we'll let you know. Just don't hold your breath.