Announced at CES 2013 the phone was officially released on 9 February 2013 in Japan and 1 March 2013 in Singapore and the UK.

It also contains a 13.1 MP Exmor RS camera sensor, and the screen of the phone consists of a TFT 1920x1080 display, with 441 ppi.

[14] The Xperia Z has subtly rounded edges and reflective surfaces on all sides, which are held together by a skeleton frame made from glass fiber polyamide.

The aluminum power button is placed on the right-hand side of the device, which is said to make one-handed operation of the phone easier.

[16][17][18] It includes a 13.1-megapixel rear camera with an Exmor RS IMX135[19] image sensor, flash, image stabilization, HDR, face detection (with red-eye reduction), Sweep Panorama, scene recognition and 16x digital zoom, and a 2.2-megapixel front camera with a Sony Exmor R sensor.

The smartphone has a built-in 3.5 mm audio jack for headphones, GPS and GLONASS support, Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi, HDMI (via MHL), MirrorLink 1.0, Miracast and NFC, in addition to being DLNA certified.

[26] In December 2013, the Android 4.3 Jelly Bean software update rolled out for Xperia Z devices.

Later in CES 2015 at Sony's event, they announced that the Android 5.0 Lollipop would be rolled out to the Xperia Z series starting in February 2015.

[citation needed] Damien McFerren of CNET gave the phone 4 and a half stars out of five and said "The Sony Xperia Z combines looks, power and connectivity to supply one of the most impressive Android experiences we've seen in quite some time.

The lack of Android 4.2 at launch is unfortunate and that 5-inch screen isn't going to suit everyone, but there's little room for complaint elsewhere.

He states, "It [the Xperia smartphone] sold over 150,000 units in its first week in Japan, taking a 24 percent market share straight away."