After the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play first brought its console-style gaming controls to the US on Verizon, AT&T picked up the GSM version of the smartphone and released it as the Xperia Play 4G. If HSPA+ doesn’t have you excited, an even higher-speed model could be arriving soon, at least according to the rumors about an LTE-equipped Xperia Play for Verizon.

Our first mention of the phone comes courtesy of what’s apparently a retailer email leak, mentioning training for the Xperia Play 4G. While the leak itself doesn’t mention Verizon nor LTE, Android Central, which received the screenshot, maintains Verizon’s the carrier under discussion here, and mentions confirming the rumors about an LTE Xperia Play on Verizon separately with additional sources. With training supposed to take place this week, we could hope to see a release before the year’s out.

Faster downloads sound great, but we can’t help but feel like that’s not the upgrade the Xperia Play really needs. For a gaming phone, its processor is starting to date the handset a bit. How about hitting up that component for a refresh?