The Samsung Galaxy S4 was released March of 2013. The smartphone reflects only a minimal upgrade over the design features of its predecessor, the Galaxy S3. The Sony Xperia Z, on the other hand, was released in January 2013. This phone is the first in the Xperia Z family of devices. The Xperia Z series of phones pack amazing features and provide incredible user experience.

Readers who are planning to buy one of the aforementioned devices, here is a specification and price comparison pertaining to Australia.

Display, Design and Exterior

Both Galaxy S4 and Xperia Z come with 5 inches of display and they pack the same 1,080 x 1,920 pixels screen resolution. Also, there is not much difference in the pixel density of the phones. However, the Sony Xperia Z uses TFT technology, but the Galaxy S4 uses Super AMOLED display technology.

The Galaxy S4 weighs 130 g, while the Sony Xperia Z weighs 146 g. Notably, both the phones share the same thickness of 0.31 inches.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 features a glossy piece of polycarbonate plastic as its exterior. The Sony Xperia Z, on the other hand, features a glass exterior.

Hardware, Software and Internal Storage

The Galaxy S4 is powered by a quad-core (Qualcomm Snapdragon 600) Krait 300 processor, clocked at 1.9 GHz, with 2 GB of RAM. On the other hand, the Sony Xperia Z is powered by a quad-core (Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro) Krait processor, clocked at 1.5 GHz, along with the same 2 GB of RAM.

The Sony Xperia Z runs on Android v4.1 Jelly Bean (upgradable), while the Galaxy S4 runs on Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean (upgradable). Also, the Samsung handset uses TouchWiz UI on top of Android OS.

The Galaxy S4 comes in 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB of internal storage, while the Sony Xperia Z comes in 16 GB of internal storage. In addition, both the handsets support microSD card slot for expansion. The expansion limit is 32 GB for the Sony handset, whereas the Samsung handset provides a limit of 64 GB.

Battery

The Galaxy S4 houses a 2600 mAh battery unit, which provides up to 17 hours of 3G talk-time and 370 hours of 3G stand-by time. The Sony Xperia Z, on the other hand, houses a 2330 mAh battery unit, which provides up to 14 hours of 3G talk-time and 530 hours of 3G stand-by time.

Camera

Both the devices sport the same 13 MP rear-facing camera with LED Flash and a 2 MP front-facing camera. The common camera features include autofocus, geo tagging, digital image stabilization, face and smile detection, digital zoom, panorama and HDR.

Sim

Both the Galaxy devices support micro-sim.

Colour

The Galaxy S4 comes in black, white, gold, purple, pink, red, and brown colours. Nevertheless, not all the colours are available widely. The Sony Xperia Z comes in black, white, and purple shades.

Price

The Samsung Galaxy S4 with 4G LTE 16 GB is priced at AU$499.95, whereas the Sony Xperia Z with 4G LTE 16 GB is priced at AU$379.95 in Australia.