One of the recent trends in today's smartphone wars is that the base models of flagship releases have their bigger counterparts. Apple has its own iPhone 6s Plus, while another tech giant, Sony, came out with the Premium version for its Xperia Z5 lineup.

Comparing the two recently released big flagships, how does one stack up against the other?

Display

There is a market for bigger-sized flagships, and both the iPhone 6s Plus and Xperia Z5 Premium fulfill the users' preferences. Fans of big-sized devices and bigger displays will find both flagships suit their needs. Both the Z5 Premium and 6s Plus sport a 5.5-inch IPS display. However, in terms of brightness and vividness, the Z5 Premium has the advantage. Sony launched the Z5 Premium as the first smartphone with 4K display, with a massive 3840 x 2160 resolution, and a stunning 806 ppi pixel density, according to industry insider Pocket-Lint. The 6s Plus, meanwhile, has a full HD 1080p screen.

Under the hood

As one of the most recent releases under the Xperia lineup, the flagship Z5 Premium runs on the current-gen, octa-core Snapdragon 810 processor. Sony is quick to note that the chipset for the Z5 lineup is the updated, current-gen 810 SoC, as many fans may remember that the older 810 setup was prone to throttling and overheating issues. The 810 SoC in the Z5 Premium is partnered with 3 GB of RAM. Meanwhile, while the iPhone 6s Plus only has 1 GB of RAM onboard, performance and speed did not suffer, as it was paired with an optimized dual-core A8 chipset. The lean build of Apple apps and iOS platform also offset the minimal RAM installed.

Features

Some observers note that in terms of features, the Xperia lineup had it made over the iPhone flagships. Aside from the Android vs. iOS argument, most of the Z5 Premium's features are selling points against the 6s Plus. For example, aside from the 4K display, there are also a number of display features such as TriLuminos and X-Reality Mobile, giving the Z5 Premium's display a huge advantage. Moreover, other features such as better cameras for both front and back, plus expandable storage make the Z5 Premium one of the best choices for the bigger flagship wars.