Sony has officially launched a Wi-Fi-only version of its Xperia Z Ultra, but the price tag is quite steep.

There's no doubt that the Sony Xperia Z Ultra is a high-end device with plenty of specs and features to crave for. After the Wi-Fi-only version dropped by the FCC recently, Sony has now made it official in its home country of Japan.

Sony has announced the new Wi-Fi Xperia Z Ultra in a press release on Wednesday, Jan. 22, revealing that the device would drop its cell service radios and turn into a small tablet. The company noted that the Wi-Fi Xperia Z Ultra will be available starting from Jan. 23 in Japan and it will retail for 52,000 Yen, which would translate to roughly $490.

Nearly $500 for a 6.4-inch tablet is arguably steep, and it's considerably pricier than other popular small-size tablets such as Apple's iPad Mini and Google's Nexus 7. The Sony Xperia Z Ultra Wi-Fi tablet may see a lower price tag if it makes a global debut, but the company has offered no such information at this point.

For that whopping $500 price tag, interested buyers would get a high-end tablet with a 6.4-inch full HD touchscreen display with a pixel density of 342 pixels per inch (ppi), a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor clocked at 2.2GHz under the hood, and 2GB of RAM. Other specs include an 8-megapixel rear camera and a 2-megapixel front-facing shooter.

Moreover, just like other recent devices from Sony, the Wi-Fi Xperia Z Ultra is both waterproof and dustproof thanks to its IPX 58 certification, which makes it more durable and safe to use both indoors and outdoors.

The Wi-Fi Sony Xperia Z Ultra also comes with a bonus compared to the iPad Mini and Nexus 7, as it features a microSD card slot for additional memory. Battery life will provide up to 6.5 hours of web browsing, about 7 hours of video playback, and up to 100 hours of music listening.

The tablet will be available from Thursday, Jan. 23, in Japan. The company has yet to mention whether the Wi-Fi Sony Xperia Z Ultra will make its way to other parts of the world as well, but we'll make sure to keep you up to date as soon as we learn more.