New images of an unannounced Sony smartphone have leaked ahead of its expected Mobile World Congress official debut. These are the first images of of the "C5303 HuaShan" smartphone.

The device is expected to be a mid-range sibling to the recently announced flagship Sony Xperia Z smartphone. The device appears to share a similar design to the Xperia Z but instead of a front and back glass casing, the device appears to have a soft-touch plastic case, presumably to keep the cost of the device down. The photos were leaked by a German site USP Forum.

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The smartphone is expected to feature a 4.7-inch 1280 x 720p display, on-screen navigational buttons, Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean, 1.7 GHz dual-core Qualcomm processor, Adreno 320 GPU, 1GB of RAM, and a dedicated camera button for its 8-megapixel LED flash rear camera. There is no word on its internal storage at this time.

Sony has been struggling for years to find its place in the smartphone world and is looking to increase its smartphone market share by focusing on the quality of the build of its smartphones so it can better compete with Apple and Samsung. It remains to be seen if Sony's new plan works, but it appears to be promising as Sony's Xperia Z and Xperia X smartphones unveiled at CES 2013 were very well received and complimented for their quality build and waterproof case design.

We'll know the full details, specs, carrier information, and pricing of the smartphone in a few weeks if and when Sony officially announces it at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, which kicks off on Feb. 25 and runs through Feb. 28.

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