For readers who are planning on buying either a Sony Xperia Z1 Compact or an Apple iPhone 5C handset, here is the specification and price comparison in Australia.

Display & Size

The Sony Xperia Z1 Compact comes with a comparatively bigger screen size of 4.3 inches while the iPhone 5C has a 4 inches screen. The Z1 Compact's screen is a Triluminos LCD that is capable of displaying more natural colors relative to traditional LCD panel. The images displayed in Z1 appear sharper and richer.

The resolution of Z1 Compact is 720 x 1,280 pixels with a pixel density of 342 ppi whereas the iPhone 5C has a screen resolution of 640 x 1,136 pixels with a pixel density of 326ppi. Nevertheless, iPhone 5C houses retina display which is known to have a good contrast ratio equivalent to 800:1.

The iPhone 5C has a thickness of 0.35 inches when compared to Xperia Z1 Compact with 0.37 inches. On the other hand, iPhone 5C weighs 132 g while the Z1 Compact weighs 137g.

Additionally, Sony Xperia Z1 Compact is a Water & Dust resistant phone.

Hardware, Software & Storage

The Xperia Z1 Compact is powered by a quad core, 2200 MHz, Krait 400 processor with 2048 MB of RAM; whereas the iPhone 5C is powered by a dual core 1300 MHz, Apple's A6 chipset with 1016 MB of RAM.

The Sony handset comes with a heavily skinned version of Android 4.3 Jelly Bean (upgrade to KitKat is in the offing), whereas the iPhone handset comes with Apple's proprietary iOS 7.

Both the phones sport 16 GB of in-built storage while Xperia Z1 Compact has a microSD slot and hence it is expandable up to 64 GB.

Camera

The Xperia Z1 Compact houses a 20.7 megapixel rear-facing camera (LED Flash) with an aperture size of F2.0 whereas iPhone 5C houses an 8 megapixel rear-facing camera (LED Flash) with an aperture size of F2.4. On the other hand, iPhone 5C has a 1.2 megapixel front-facing camera when compared to the slightly better 2 megapixel camera of Xperia Z1 Compact.

The notable features of both the cameras include image stabilization, panorama, HDR mode, touch to focus, smile detection, geo tagging and face detection.

The difference is in the quality of images produced by both the phones. The Xperia Z1 Compact captures superior images both in broad daylight and in low-light conditions while iPhone 5C's images are pretty good in broad daylight; it fails in low-lighting conditions.

Battery

When it comes to battery life, Sony Xperia Z1 Compact trumps the iPhone 5C hands down. Z1 compact houses a better battery of 2300 mAh, while the iPhone 5C houses a lowly 1507 mAh battery unit. Z1 Compact gives a 3G talk-time of a whopping 18 hours, while iPhone 5C can only give a 10 hours of charge.

Sim

The Sony Xperia Z1 Compact supports a micro-sim while iPhone 5C supports a nano-sim.

Color

The iPhone 5C comes in five shades pink, blue, white, yellow and green, whereas Xperia Z1 Compact comes in black, white, pink and lime green shades.

Connectivity

Both the phones support Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n 5GHz, TV-Out and USB charging. Additionally, Xperia Z1 Compact supports NFC.

Price

The iPhone 5C 16GB is priced at around AU $669 while the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact is priced at around AU $539.95 in Australia.