Rumors and leaks surrounding Sony's 1080p smartphones, the Xperia Z and Xperia ZL, have been flying thick and fast for a while now. Sony, it seems, chose to quietly usher in the New Year by putting up images of the Xperia Z and Xperia ZL smartphones in advance; however, the press shots were spotted by eagle-eyed Sony fans.

Sony is scheduled to hold a press event on Monday, Jan. 7, at the CES 2013 event in Las Vegas. The two new press shot of the Xperia Z (codenamed Yuga) and the Xperia ZL (codenamed Odin) appeared on the Sony Mobile Web site on Jan. 1, 2013. The images appear to be early press renders.

In Dec. 2012, a grainy image of the Xperia Z or Yuga had popped up online, giving fans a fleeting glimpse of the 5-inch smartphone. The current images of the Xperia Z and Xperia ZL are clearer and show a frontal view of the smartphones in black. One can see the on-screen navigation buttons, power and volume buttons, as well as Sony's customized user interface.

Additionally, the leaked images indicate that oddly enough, the Xperia ZL's front-facing camera is positioned at the bottom instead of the top.

Both the Xperia Z and Xperia ZL are believed to sport the same specs but have slightly different form factors. Rumors suggest that the smartphones will sport a 5-inch 1080 display. The devices will also feature a 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 quad-core processor, a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera, 2GB of RAM, and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

Sony is yet to confirm the specifications, but with the devices slated to make their debut in just a week, the wait for fans will soon be over.