Apple may be winning the war in the retail arena via its iPhone 5S release this year but the Android-powered Moto X is the hands-down winner when its comes to innovation - both in internal engineering and external design, a new report said.

Analytic firm ABI Research is impressed by the outcome of the new Google-Motorola collaboration, represented of course in the mid-range Moto X. True, the Android device is pitted against the upscale iPhone 5S but it is the former that delivered the 'new things' for gadget consumers.

"Google (Motorola Mobility) trumps Apple in engineering design and creativity," said ABI on its report, which was first picked up by Forbes.

The two new features that the Moto X can boast of as its own imprint are the Always-On voice command and the display screen, which both performed to expectations with one major bonus - they are not power-hogs.

Google and Motorola successfully blended 'ergonomic for factor' and efficient power-use in the final build of the Moto X, all of which set the device "a step above the rest," ABI said.

In coming out with the relatively cheaper Motorola handset, its maker proved that practicality and innovation can be combined in a single package, the report stressed.

While ABI lauded Apple for its tradition of innovation, it noted too that the company's "combination of solid engineering, creative features and timely introduction (of those features) ... has faded in this category over the last two years."

What were served in the iPhone 5S, as well as the iPhone 5C, were device capabilities that "all have ... been seen before," the research firm insisted.

Among the new features rolled out by Apple with its 2013 flagship are the Touch ID fingerprint scanner and an A7 chip that is governed by 64-bit computing standard.

Essentially, ABI gave premium on the Moto X's extra-ordinary staying power and its ability to listen to its users and respond swiftly when prompted.

Also in the design department, the report also treated Motorola's approach on device personalisation as fresh and practical, allowing users to morph their existing into toy into a 'different look' without having to spend too much.

The dogfight between the iPhone 5S and the Moto X demonstrated anew that killer features will not always prevail. At times devices with less but realistic offerings emerges as the preferred toy by many.