Sony Xperia XZ 2 LEAKS online ahead of Mobile World Congress reveal

The hotly-anticipated Sony Xperia XZ 2 Compact has surfaced online ahead of the announcement at .

The consumer technology tradeshow will be held in Barcelona between February 26th and March 1st 2018.

Sony is tipped to announce the Xperia XZ 2 Compact alongside a number of other handsets during its keynote, rumours suggest.

However, technology site Xperia Blog has published images of the all-new handset ahead of the launch.

The image shows a smartphone with a curved back – a stark contrast to the squared edges and flat back of previous generations.

It’s unclear whether the photo shows a prototype device, or whether the curved back will be featured on the final design.

Xperia XZ 2 Compact is widely-tipped to have a 3.5mm headphone port, and a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner, thanks to an all-screen design at the front.

However, little else is known about the new smartphone.

Sony is rumoured to have a number of handsets lined-up for , including a full-sized Xperia XZ 2, as well as the Xperia XZ 2 Compact.

The Japanese company is also believed to be working on a Xperia XZ 2 Pro.

This top-spec smartphone will purportedly feature a 4K HDR edge-to-edge display, which could provide some of the best visuals we’ve ever seen on a handheld device.

The camera is also tipped to see some improvements, with recent leaks suggesting a dual-lens rear system is finally coming to the Xperia brand.

Along with these new updates on the outside, the Pro is also expected to get some big upgrades internally with the inclusion of Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 845 processor.

This chip will not only boost performance to new levels but also make the Pro far more efficient with battery life expected to be vastly improved.

The 845 also allows much faster charging with devices running the chip getting a boost to 50 per cent in around 15 minutes.

Sony teased its keynote presentation with a teaser image showing a hand holding a number of curved lines.

On first look, these lines resemble sound waves, however, some have speculated the image could hint at a curved display, like the one used on the Galaxy S8.