A lot of people were intrigued when rumors came out that Sony has been working on a new flagship which would be unveiled in this year's IFA in Berlin. 

And it looks like the rumors were spot on as the Japanese manufacturer indeed unveiled its newest high-end device, the Xperia Z3 smartphone, together with a couple other handsets, a wearable device and other devices. 

However, right after the Xperia Z3 launch, it became apparent that the new smartphone hardly has some differences compared to the Xperia Z2 which made its debut at the MWC event in Barcelona earlier this year. 

And because there is nothing interesting to see in this season's newest flagship, we now take a look at the Xperia Z3 Compact which is a successor to the Xperia Z1 Compact which was announced in January, though its earlier versions were already made available in other parts of Asia last year. 

Like the Z1 Compact, the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact release date arrived with the phone boasting a smaller display (only 4.6 inches), and a lower resolution screen (HD or 1280 x 720). However, it more than makes up for it with a Snapdragon 801 chipset, quad-core CPU and 3GB RAM running the show. 

There is still the staple 20.7MP camera at the back which has already been a regular feature for flagship Sony phones in recent years. The phone is also water resistant just like previous editions, and comes with Android 4.4.4 Kit Kat out of the box. 

In the report by GSM Arena, it looks like the Sony smartphone will become a contender for the upcoming 4.7-inch iPhone 6, as well as the newly announced Galaxy Alpha from Samsung. 

The question now is who will take the smartphone crown for this quarter. It will all come down to pricing.