Sony has officially announced the Xperia Z3+, which is the rest of the world's version of the Xperia Z4 that was quietly launched in Japan in April.

The Japanese company's latest flagship will offer the same specs as the Xperia Z4 but it will be known as the Xperia Z3+ everywhere except for Japan. Sony has said it is focusing on each market individually in order to drive sales and the main reason for the difference in name is down to Sony's dominance in the Japanese market.

According to the company, consumers in the Japanese market crave flagship devices with the latest features as soon as they can be delivered.

The Xperia Z3+ has been introduced to provide a premium addition to the existing flagship series, and address customers that would like the latest features and refinements. Rather than a complete design overhaul, the Xperia Z3+ follows very closely behind the Xperia Z3.

The main differences from the current flagship include a capless Micro-USB charging port, slimmer and lighter build, improved front-facing camera and an upgraded processor.

The Sony Xperia Z3+ will measure 146 x 72 x 6.9mm, making it the slimmest Z so far. It has dropped a few pounds to deliver a weight of 144g and it will run on the latest 64-bit octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor and Adreno 430 graphics, supported by 3GB RAM. A 2900mAh battery is under the hood, 200mAh smaller than the Xperia Z3 although Sony has said this won't make a difference, and there will be 32GB of internal memory, expandable via microSD up to 128GB.

The same 20.7-megapixel rear camera will be on board, but the front camera has increased to 5-megapixels, as well as taken on the Superior Auto, SteadyShot and Intelligent Active modes. Despite rumours suggesting a bump in display resolution, the Xperia Z3+ sticks with the Xperia Z3's 5.2-inch Full HD screen for a pixel density of 428ppi.

Like the Xperia Z3, the Xperia Z3+ will come with DNC, Hi-Res and DSEE HX audio technologies, but Sony has also introduced a couple of new technologies to the device. LDAC, which is the ability to enjoy top quality tracks wirelessly and AHC, which stands for Automatic Headset Compensation for personlised sound will both be on board.

The Xperia Z3+ will be available in black, white, a refreshed Aqua Green and a new interpretation of Copper. No pricing or availability details have been announced yet.