Two high-end smartphones that have recently been announced are the Microsoft Lumia 950 XL and Sony Xperia Z5 Premium. These are both heading for a release next month and if you don’t have a strong preference for either the Windows or Android platforms you may have difficulty choosing between them. Today we’re considering the Lumia 950 XL vs Xperia Z5 Premium in a specs and price breakdown.
There will be plenty of time for full comparisons of these two devices once they have hit the shelves. For now we’re going to look at the specifications of both to see what they have to offer in this respect, and how they stand up against each other. We’ve also embedding a video below this story that stacks up the advantages of each phone over the other when considering the designs, specs, and features.
Processors
There’s nothing to split them here as both of these handsets pack a Snapdragon 810 octa-core processor (four cores at 2GHz and four at 1.5GHz) and Adreno 430 graphics.
Display
The Microsoft Lumia 950 XL has a 5.7-inch AMOLED display with Quad HD resolution of 2560 x 1440 resulting in 518 ppi . The Xperia Z5 Premium has a 5.5-inch IPS LCD display with 4K resolution of 3840 x 2160 and a whopping 806 ppi.
RAM and Storage
Again it’s a dead heat. Both phones have 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage, expandable via microSD to 200GB.
Camera set-up
The Lumia 950 XL has a 20-megapixel rear camera with autofocus, triple-LED flash, optical image stabilization, and 4K video capture. It also has a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. The Sony Xperia Z5 Premium has a 23-megapixel rear camera with phase detection autofocus, dual LED flash, and 4K video recording capability. It has a 5.1-megapixel front-facing snapper.
Battery
The Microsoft Lumia 950 XL has a removable 3340 mAh battery while the Xperia Z5 Premium has a non-removable 3430 mAh battery.
Connectivity
Both phones support 4G LTE, dual-band WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.1, NFC, and GPS. The Lumia 950 XL has a USB Type-C port while the Sony phone has microUSB 2.0.
Operating System
This may a deciding factor for some buyers as the Lumia 950 XL will runs Windows 10 Mobile out of the box while the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium runs Android 5.1.1 Lollipop with an upgrade to Android 6.0 Marshmallow planned.
Dimensions and Weight
The Microsoft Lumia 950 XL measures 151.9mm x 78.4mm x 8.1mm and weighs in at 165g. The Sony Xperia Z5 Premium measures 154.4mm x 75.8mm x 7.8mm and weighs 180g.
Price
Pricing will vary according to individual market and retailer. For example the Lumia 950 XL price was set at $649 at the launch and following this Microsoft detailed the UK price at £549.99 (although some UK retailers have it cheaper). At the launch of the Xperia Z5 Premium, Sony did not detail prices but said they would follow. In the UK the Z5 Premium is now up for grabs from £629.99 but Sony hasn’t announced any US pricing.
We’re not considering every single feature of the Lumia 950 XL vs Xperia Z5 Premium here but it’s worth saying that the Lumia 950 XL has an iris scanner while the Xperia Z5 Premium has a fingerprint sensor and also has dust and waterproof qualities. It’s also worth noting that there are single SIM and dual SIM models for both handsets.
Obviously there are other factors to consider apart from specs, but the above may help you get an idea of which might be best for you. You can also watch the YouTube video below that considers features and the designs of the Lumia 950 XL vs Xperia Z5 Premium. It first shows the benefits of the Lumia 950 XL over the Xperia Z5 Premium and then vice versa.
We can’t wait for both of these new smartphones to release so that we can see how they compete against each other. From what we know so far are you more inclined towards the Microsoft Lumia 950 XL or the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium?