Motorola Moto X Style vs. Apple iPhone 6s Plus

Back in July, Motorola introduced its flagship with other two handsets catering to the high-end, mid-range and low-cost markets. The flagship Moto X Style (Moto X Pure Edition in the U.S.) shipped with power-packed specs to combat other high-end smartphones. Let’s draw comparisons between the recently released Apple iPhone 6s Plus and Moto X Style.

Display and Design

The Motorola Moto X Style (Pure Edition) comes packed with a 5.7-inch display and very thin bezels in an aluminium frame. The back panel, however, can be customised via Moto Maker to choose from silicon, wood and leather options.

On the other hand, the iPhone 6s Plus is a fully metal clad device made out of a stronger 7000 series aluminium. That makes the Moto X Style (179 g) lighter than the iPhone 6s Plus (192 g).

Apple iPhone 6s Plus sports a 5.5-inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels. Moto X Style has a better screen resolution of 1440 x 2560 pixels that results in a pixel density if 520 pixels per inch.

Moto X Style wins the colour segment. Through Moto Maker, users can pick and choose any colour from a pool of 126 colours whereas iPhone 6s Plus is available in Rose, Gold, Silver and Gray colour variants.

3D Force Touch

Apple's pressure-sensitive display, however, gives the iPhone 6s Plus an edge over the Moto X Style. The 3D Touch technology can sense variable pressures applied on the touchscreen and performs different actions accordingly. The Force Touch is said to be the unique selling proposition of Apple's 2015 flagship device. Moto X Style neither features the 3D Force Touch nor the fingerprint scanner Apple has used since 2013.

Apple iPhone 6s Plus provides more internal storage

Both devices come with three different storage options but in different capacities. But Apple wins in this regard as it offers internal storage up to 128 GB. The iPhone 6s Plus offers 16 GB, 64 GB and 128 GB storage variants, reports Gizmag.

On the other hand, Moto X Style (Pure Edition) come packed with 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB storage options. The phone, however, offers expandable storage via microSD card of up to 128 GB .

Moto X Style has bigger RAM

Both flagship devices have well-matched processors under the hood. But the Moto X Style (Pure Edition) powered by a hexa-core 64-bit Snapdragon 808 chipset gets the upper hand with 3 GB of RAM on board. The iPhone 6s Plus is powered by dual-core Apple A9 processor clocked at 1.8 GHz. When it comes to performance there seems to be no difference in both devices, however.

Both smartphones are equal in multitasking and gaming, according to Android Authority. But the Apple flagship outperforms the Moto X Style with more single and multi-core scores on Geekbench.

Moto X Style has better camera and bigger battery

The 21 MP main camera of the Moto X Style comes with dual-tone LED flash; touch focus and face detect features. The iPhone 6s Plus sports a 12 MP rear camera with optical image stabilisation and simultaneous 4K video and 8 MP image recording capabilities. Apple also introduced “live” photos that record surroundings for 1.5 seconds before and after a photo is taken.

When it comes to battery capacity, the Moto X Style (Pure Edition) is a sure winner. The device packs a 3,000 mAh battery under the hood whereas the iPhone 6s Plus is shipped with a 2,750 mAh battery. Furthermore, Motorola’s Turbo Power charger juices up the device exceptionally fast to full capacity in just 75 minutes.

Operating system and price

This year, Apple launched its flagship with the latest iOS 9 on board. On the other hand, Motorola Moto X Style runs on Android 5.1.1 Lollipop. The phone is expected to get the Marshmallow update sometime in the coming months.

Moreover, there are useful features like Moto Assist, Moto Actions, Moto Display and Moto Voice that enhance the device’s performance. The fully customisable Motorola Moto X Style is available at US$400 (AU$556) whereas the 16 GB base model of the iPhone 6s Plus costs US$750 (AU$1042).

If the high price doesn’t pinch, users can go for the iPhone 6s Plus. But otherwise, Moto X Style (Pure Edition) is one of the best options with its commendable processor, storage, battery life, camera and customisation option at an affordable price.

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