Although the competitors of Apple produced many variants/models along with their flagship phones, Apple was not giving heed for so long until they released their iPhone 5C. The iPhone 5C is priced slightly lesser than the iPhone 5S. Even though, 5C is not a head-on competition to Xperia Z1, the price range for both phones is almost similar, hence it calls for a comparison.

Readers who are planning on buying either a Sony Xperia Z1 or an Apple iPhone 5C handset, here is the specification and price comparison pertaining to Australia.

Display & Size

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

The Z1 has a resolution of 1,080 x 1,920 pixels with a pixel density of 441 ppi whereas the iPhone 5C has much lesser screen resolution of 640 x 1,136 pixels with a pixel density of 326 ppi. 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 with 0.33 inches. On the other hand, iPhone 5C weighs only 132 g while the Z1 weighs a solid 170g.

Additionally, Sony Xperia Z1 is water & dust resistant (IP 58 Certified).

Hardware, Software & Storage

The Xperia Z1 is powered by a quad core, 2200 MHz, Krait 400 processor (Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 chipset) with 2 GB of RAM; whereas the iPhone 5C is powered by a dual core 1300 MHz, Apple's A6 chipset with 1 GB of RAM.

The Sony handset comes with a heavily skinned version of Android 4.2.2 (upgrade to Android 4.4 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 but Xperia Z1 has a microSD slot and hence it is expandable up to 64 GB.

Camera

The Xperia Z1 houses a 20.7 megapixel rear-facing camera (LED Flash) with an aperture size of F2.0 whereas the 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.

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 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 trumps the iPhone 5C hands down. The Sony Xperia Z1 has a better battery of 3000 mAh, while the iPhone 5C houses a lowly 1507 mAh battery unit. The Xperia Z1 can pack 15 hours of 3G talk-time whereas the iPhone 5C can give only a 10 hours of charge. In addition, Xperia Z1 churns out a stupendous 3G stand-by time of 35 days, while iPhone 5C can only provide 10 days of stand-by time.

Sim

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

Color

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

Connectivity

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

Price

The iPhone 5C 16 GB is priced at around AU $669 while the Sony Xperia Z1 is priced at around AU $549.95 in Australia.