To say there’s been a lot of fuss about Sony’s upcoming flagship duo would be a huge understatement and it would certainly not make justice to the media circus we’ve had to handle these past couple of months.

The two high-end smartphones have been turned inside out by countless “sources”, they’ve changed their names and codenames more than once and have starred in loads of real, but mostly fake unofficial pics.

Fortunately, the spectacle should finally come to an end next week at the CES, but not before the Xperia Z and ZL can enjoy their last few minutes of covert fame. As you may know, the two handhelds are technically still not official, but after the revealing of a couple of stills on Sony’s website they’re anything but inconspicuous.

With the pieces of the puzzle so nicely fitting in, the number of unanswered questions has shrunken to only two or three. When will the two gadgets be made available to users, what will be their prices and what are the differences between the two hardware-wise?

And while that first dilemma is still in search of an answer, the other two seem to have (partially) been answered. Based on a leaked photo that looks like the real deal, the Xperia Z will cost 19,990 THB in Thailand. That’s around $654, which is not exactly prohibitive.

As a matter of fact, considering this big guy’s rumored spec sheet it’s quite “budget-friendly”. Of course, aside from how that pic looks, we have no other proof backing this piece of info’s credibility, but if it does prove to be real we can definitely hope to see the Z available for even less in the States ($600, maybe even $550).

As for the distinctions between the Z and ZL, we’re hearing from a number of sources that the second will be simply a dual-SIM version of the first. Then again, other people are telling us that the ZL will be even cheaper than the Z, so if that’s true some kind of performance compromise will definitely need to be made.

In any case, be sure to tune in to Android Authority come January 8, when we'll be reporting straight from CES 2013 in Las Vegas. The Xperia Z and ZL should be on exhibition there, along with a heap of other brand new exciting Android devices. ‘Tis the season to be jolly indeed!