The Sony Xperia smartphone has reportedly shipped 8.1 million units since the start of 2013, which is still down from projections.

In the first quarter, Sony was expected to ship 9.1 million units, hitting the previously predicted 34 million for the year.

Instead, they came up just short with 33 million, Xperia Blog says.

Despite the slight underperformance, Sony expects Xperia shipments to increase by 27 percent this fiscal year alone.

Sony Mobile had revenues of $7.8 billion, with whole company coming in at $72.3 billion. That makes for about 11 percent of the company’s total intake. Their operating income was said to be $2.4 billion with a net income of $458 million.

The 8.1 million units is a short fall from the fourth quarter of 2012, which saw 8.7 million units shipped. The third quarter of 2012 was the all time high at 8.8 million.

“Xperia Z was doing so well, so other models which we were expecting a lot of in sales did not actually make it,” Sony Chief Financial Officer Masaru Kato said.

Kato seems to be implying that the Xperia Z had so much hype that the other smartphones had no rollover into the beginning of 2013.

Information on the Xperia Z was leaked in early December, leading to buzz being built on that model right during the middle of a massive marketing push for the Xperia T.

The Xperia T was seen and used in the latest James Bond film Skyfall, which saw worldwide release in late October/early November. Sony likely believed that this would be enough for the phone to sell more in the first quarter of 2013.

But it appears the Xperia Z, as Kato suspected, turned the consumers’ heads the most.

This comes just after Sony announced the Xperia ZR, a new waterproof smartphone said to be available in the second quarter of 2013.