The Apple iPhone 6s is a phone which needs no introduction. As Apple’s main 2015 flagship it’s bound to be one of the biggest bestsellers of the year and deservedly so, given its sleek form, great camera and innovative features.
The Sony Xperia Z5 is a big name too, though not quite as big. With a robust design, powerful processor and new and improved features it’s a tempting alternative to Apple’s phone, but just how does it compare?
Build
Apple iPhone 6s (138.3 x 67.1 x 7.1mm 143g metal) vs Sony Xperia Z5 (146 x 72 x 7.3mm 154g metal and glass)
The Apple iPhone 6s has a slim metal unibody, with gently curved edges, so it sits comfortably in your hand. It looks high end and expensive, which is good, because it is.
The Sony Xperia Z5 is almost as slim at 7.3mm thick, but it has a slightly more rectangular design and while the frame is metal the back is glass. It perhaps doesn’t look quite as good as the iPhone 6s, but it’s nonetheless a premium design and it benefits from water and dust resistance, making it more durable than Apple’s phone.
Apple iPhone 6s (4.7-inch 750*1334 326ppi) vs Sony Xperia Z5 (5.2-inch 1080*1920 428ppi)
The iPhone 6s has a 4.7-inch 750 x 1334 IPS LCD display with a pixel density of 326 pixels per inch, while the Sony Xperia Z5 has a 5.2-inch 1080 x 1920 IPS LCD screen with a pixel density of 428 pixels per inch.
So the technology is the same but the Sony Xperia Z5 is bigger and sharper. It’s also brighter, though can’t quite match the iPhone 6s for colour accuracy. The iPhone 6s’s big win though is 3D Touch, which allows the screen to tell between different levels of pressure and respond differently.
You can kind of do similar on the Sony Xperia Z5, with short or long presses, but it’s slower and feels less natural than Apple’s approach.
Apple iPhone 6s (Apple A9 processor 2GB RAM) vs Sony Xperia Z5 (2GHz octa-core 3GB RAM)
Flagships are rarely short on power and these two certainly aren’t. The Apple iPhone 6s has a dual-core Apple A9 processor plus 2GB of RAM, while the Sony Xperia Z5 has an octa-core Snapdragon 810 processor clocked at up to 2.0GHz, alongside 3GB of RAM.
That might sound like it works out in Sony’s favour, but if you’ve ever used an iPhone you’ll know just how slick and speedy they are, despite comparatively modest specs. Both of these phones have real world performance that won’t disappoint.
They are different though, with the iPhone 6s running iOS 9, while the Sony Xperia Z5 runs Android Lollipop. That in fact is perhaps the single biggest difference between the two handsets as it affects the apps and interface.
There’s no definitive winner there though, it really just comes down to taste, with iOS offering a slightly slicker, more intuitive experience, while Android is better suited to power users who want total control.
Apple iPhone 6s (12MP rear 5MP front-facing) vs Sony Xperia Z5 (23MP rear 5.1MP front-facing)
Both these phones have impressive snappers, with the iPhone 6s sporting a 12 megapixel rear sensor, a 5 megapixel front-facing one, 4K video support and interesting features such as Live Photos, which allow you to turn each image you snap into a short video clip.
The Sony Xperia Z5 meanwhile has a 23 megapixel main camera, a 5.1 megapixel front-facing one and like the iPhone 6s can also shoot video in 4K quality. It’s also incredibly speedy, as it can focus in just 0.03 seconds.
That makes it a snappier shooter, but when it comes to the end results the iPhone 6s’s relative lack of megapixels doesn’t hold it back and both of these handsets are among the best camera phones around.
Apple iPhone 6s (1715 mAh 16/64/128GB 4G) vs Sony Xperia Z5 (2900 mAh 32GB 4G)
The iPhone 6s has a 1715 mAh juice pack which can last for up to 10 days of standby, 14 hours of talk time or 11 hours of HD video. In real use that means you should comfortably get a day from it but not much more. The Sony Xperia Z5 though has a much larger 2900 mAh battery and it makes all the difference as it can stretch to two days of life with moderate use.
The two phones handle storage a little differently to each other. The iPhone 6s comes with a choice of 16, 64 or 128GB built in but doesn’t offer any expansion potential, while the Sony Xperia Z5 comes in just a 32GB size but has a microSD card slot with support for cards of up to 200GB.
The iPhone 6s supports Wi-Fi, 3G, 4G, Bluetooth 4.2 and NFC (though only for Apple Pay), while the Sony Xperia Z5 supports Wi-Fi, 3G, 4G, Bluetooth 4.1 and NFC, so they have a fairly similar set of connectivity options.
The Apple iPhone 6s and Sony Xperia Z5 are both big upgrades on the previous models in their ranges and both among the best flagships of 2015, so you can’t really go wrong with either.
They also have a lot in common, from slim and stylish designs, to great cameras, fingerprint scanners and plenty of power. But there are some notable differences. The Xperia Z5 runs Android, has far better battery life, a more durable build and expandable storage, while the iPhone 6s runs iOS, has a slightly better looking design, an innovative screen technology and more storage built in.
