Sony became the latest vendor to stake its claim on the ‘selfie’ crown, describing its Xperia C3 as “the world’s best selfie smartphone”.

It follows on the heels of Huawei, which has included an 8MP front-facing camera in its P7 smartphone alongside a “preview window” designed to improve eyeline; HTC, which said the 5MP front camera in its One Mini 2 means that “high-quality selfies are guaranteed”; and LG Electronics, which said its flagship G3 includes a larger image sensor and aperture for “better looking selfies”, as well as adding gesture-control.

Sony’s new offering has what the vendor tags a “PROselfie cam”, with 5MP wide-angle lens that enables more to be captured in the frame. It also has a “unique soft flash”, and images can be automatically adjusted for suitable lighting conditions and using an auto scene recognition function.

It is also “loaded with selfie camera apps”, for example enabling users to add “fun graphics and animations” or retouch images.

Otherwise, Xperia C3 has a fairly standard mid/high end specification, with 8MP main camera with Exmor RS for mobile image sensor, large 5.5-inch HD display, and LTE support. It is powered by a 1.2GHz quadcore Qualcomm processor, and includes 8GB of onboard storage with a microSD expansion slot.

Also on the spec sheet is dual-SIM support, and both can be set up independently with custom ringing tones.

Xperia C3 will be available in black, white and “mint”, launching globally next month with China as the first available market.