Japanese electronics giant Sony has kicked off the global rollout of the Xperia Z3 , despite numerous complaints of overheating by users in Japan where it was initially released a couple of weeks ago as the Xperia Z4. Sony's flagship smartphone, the Xperia Z4, has been renamed as the Xperia Z3 and released for the global market, with a sleeker design, faster processor and better front camera in comparison to its predecessor, the Z3.

The Xperia Z3 appears almost similar to the Xperia Z3, with matching features, such as full HD 5.2-inch screen, 3GB of RAM, and a waterproof and dustproof case. The Xperia Z3 is powered by a Snapdragon 810 series Octa-core SoC (System on Chip) and runs Android 5.0.2 Lollipop OS, packing a 2930 mAh battery. The new Xperia Z3 sports a 20.7-megapixels rear camera, same as the Xperia Z3, but promises to deliver better images due to improved software for the "auto" mode, which automatically adjusts all the settings.

However, soon after the Xperia Z4 became available for purchase in Japan with the country's mobile carrier NTT DoCoMo, Japanese users soon had begun complaining about the handset overheating, and the Japanese carrier had even officially confirmed that that the device had overheating problems. Users of the Xperia Z3 had complained of experiencing overheating issues while playing games, watching HD videos on Netflix, or recording a video with the device. Performance tests conducted on the Xperia Z3 in the Netherlands also revealed overheating issues, particularly when the camera was used to record HD videos. A message appeared on the screen of the Xperia Z3 warning users that the app will be closed due to the device's extremely high temperature.

Now there are more reports of Xperia Z3 becoming very hot when its camera is used for a long period and the handset forcibly closing the camera app with a popup message to the user citing the overheating issue. The Japanese tech giant is aware that the overheating is being caused by Qualcomm's controversial Snapdragon 810 chipset and has promised to soon release a software update to fix the issue. But it does appear strange that Sony has gone ahead with the global rollout of the Xperia Z3 in spite of knowing that the handset faces an overheating problem and without first fixing the issue.