iPhone 7 Plus
A customer tries on a new iPhone 7 Plus in Australian's flagship Apple store in Sydney, September 16, 2016 as the iPhone 7 range goes on sale for the first time. Reuters/Jason Reed

iPhone 7 Plus and Xperia XZ Premium are the current flagship phones of Apple and Sony, respectively. Many fans wonder if Apple’s flagship phone can go up against Sony’s Xperia XZ Premium. Both of these phones are impressive, according to fans. However, there is always a better one. Find out which of these two smartphones is the best.

Release and operating system

Sony’s Xperia XZ Premium has not yet been released. However, it was unveiled during the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2017, and it will be released sometime in Spring 2017. Xperia XZ Premium will be using the latest Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box.

Apple’s iPhone 7 Plus was released in September 2016. When it was released, many people bought it due to its innovative dual camera design. It came with the iOS 10 version out of the box. However, it can be updated to the latest iOS 10.2 version.

Specs

Considering the amount of difference between the two, the specs may shed some light on some notable differences. The iPhone 7 Plus has a 5.5-inch LCD display. It makes use of the A10 Fusion processor with a quad-core CPU and a six-core graphics card.

With these, buyers would be able to choose from 32GB, 128GB or 256GB internal storage that is paired with a 3GB RAM. The phone still uses Apple’s lightning port and supports Bluetooth 4.2, Near Field Communication (NFC) and Wi-Fi. It also has an IP67 water resistance rating.

Compared to the Sony Xperia XZ Premium, the iPhone 7 Plus offers a measly display. Sony’s flagship phone offers a 5.5-inch display with new technology that has 4K HDR Triluminous capability. It also uses the latest Snapdragon 835 processor paired with 4GB of RAM.

Although it only has one storage variant, which is 64GB, it can be expanded using a microSD. It uses a USB Type-C as its data transfer and charging port. Similar to the iPhone 7 Plus, the Xperia XZ Premium also supports Bluetooth 4.2, Near Field Communication (NFC) and Wi-Fi.

Camera

Although the iPhone 7 Plus offers a dual main camera setup, the new technology added in Sony’s Xperia XZ Premium may be more amazing. The XZ Premium offers Motion Eye technology with a high megapixel rating that provides videos and photos with high-quality resolution. It is also the first phone to offer a super slow motion video function that can records at 960 frames per second.

The iPhone 7 Plus sports a 12MP camera while Xperia XZ Premium sports 19MP. Both phones have LED flash and autofocus. The iPhone 7 Plus, however, offers a dual lens, wherein one is a wide-angle lens and the other uses a telephoto lens. Both of these cameras offer 12MP.

The selfie cameras on these devices differ greatly as well. iPhone 7 Plus sports a 7MP front cam, while the Xperia XZ Premium offers 12MP.

Colours

According to MacWorld, the iPhone is available in five colours, while the Xperia is only available in two. iPhone 7 Plus is available in jet black, matte black, silver, gold and rose gold. Xperia XZ Premium is available in deepsea black and luminous chrome that has a mirror finish.

Battery

When comparing the batteries of the iPhone 7 Plus to the Xperia XZ Premium, the latter stands on top. The iPhone 7 Plus offers on 2,900 mAh, while the Xperia XZ Premium offers 3,230 mAh. This means that both talk, usage and standby time will be much longer with the Xperia XZ Premium.

Price

The prices for the iPhone 7 Plus differs depending on the size of the storage. The 32GB, 128GB and 256GB costs $1269, $1419 and $1569, respectively. Although the Xperia XZ Premium does not have a price yet, it is expected to be released at $839, according to Mirror.

Overall, it is up to the buyers which phone to buy-- the Sony Xperia XZ Premium or iPhone 7 Plus. Those who are looking to purchase the XZ Premium will have to wait until the Spring of 2017 while the iPhone 7 Plus is already released. iPhone 8 is also expected to be released this year. Therefore, some people may just wait and see what the upcoming smartphones will have to offer.

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