Sony's early-2014 flagship compared to its late-breaking successor Sony's six-monthly refresh cycle for smartphones shows no sign of stopping, with the recent announcement of the Xperia Z3 at IFA 2014. It's a minor upgrade of the Xperia Z2 in terms of pure specs, but the Z3 also represents a further evolution of the company's "OmniBalance" design language, while tweaking its 20.7-megapixel camera and introducing some subtle software changes. Read on to learn how these two premium handsets compare.

Since Sony's Z series started out in early 2013, the Japanese manufacturer's has quietly iterated upon its flagship smartphone designs with each generation. The Xperia Z3 is another such device — if you're a Z1 or Z2 owner you'll spot the differences straight away, but for those unfamiliar with Sony's Android lineup the subtleties are harder to pick out. Verizon is offering the Pixel 4a for just $10/mo on new Unlimited lines First, let's look at what hasn't changed: its predecessor, the Xperia Z3 is a blocky, chunky beast: another unapologetic rectangle clad in metal and glass — the latter covering its front and back, the framing the whole package. The trim itself has been smoothed out, making for a more comfortable, ergonomic in-hand experience, whereas the Z2 (and most other Z-series phones) were significantly more squared-off. The location of the front-facing speakers has also changed — they're not smaller and situated further towards the display, rather than sitting between the glass and the frame.

Sony's managed to trim down Z3's thickness and weight, going from 8.2 to 7.3mm. It's also noticeably lighter lighter — 152 grams compare to the Z2's 163. As a result the battery's taken a small hit, going from 3,200mAh in the Z2 to 3,100mAh in the Z3. That's not to say the newer device will necessarily be worse-off in terms of real-world battery life, as Sony may well be saving power elsewhere. The Xperia Z3 gets a small bump in performance over the Z2, going from a 2.3GHz Snapdragon 801 (MSM8974AB) to the faster 2.5GHz version (MSM8974AC), while keeping the 3GB of RAM and 16GB internal storage, backed up by a microSD slot. There's not a huge difference in performance, though the Z3 did seem a little more responsive to touch than the Z2 we've been using periodically since launch. Around the back, the Z3 uses the same 20.7-megapixel Sony Exmor RS shooter as the Z2 and Z1, but with a new 25mm wide-angle lens that captures a slightly wider view. The difference is pretty subtle, though, even with Z2 and Z3 side by side.