Still trying to choose which flagship smartphone you’re going to pick up this year? Well, if display is the most important thing to you, the Huawei Ascend D2 currently has the best on the market, according to the experts at DisplayMate. Steer clear of the Sony Xperia Z, though, because that has the worst.

DisplayMate has been putting the latest smartphones with 1080p displays through their paces in an effort to establish which is best. Out of the Ascend D2, the HTC One, and the Xperia Z, it’s the first that has been rated best, while the latter was labeled “extremely disappointing.”

“With the Ascend D2 Huawei appears to have taken the same successful solid approach for display performance as Apple,” DisplayMate said. “In our extensive side-by-side viewing test comparisons the Ascend D2 was virtually indistinguishable from the iPhone 5 and iPad Retina Display, two of the most accurate and high quality mobile displays we have ever tested.”

“The Huawei Ascend D2 joins an elite group of Smartphones with world class displays,” DisplayMate concluded.

Very impressive indeed. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the HTC One or the Sony Xperia Z. DisplayMate found that while the One has an “excellent” LCD panel, which is manufactured by Sharp, HTC has significantly degraded its performance by “introducing unnecessary image and color processing in a poorly implemented attempt at making the display stand out.”

As a result, the One’s display is distorted, with over saturated colors and contrast, DisplayMate said, before adding that HTC should provide users with an option to turn its processing features off like other manufacturers do.

As for the Xperia Z, that’s the worst out of the three.

“First of all, the Xperia Z has awful viewing angle performance, which is common for low-end low-technology displays, but is inexcusable in an expensive flagship top-of-the-line product,” the report reads. “Second, the “Bravia Engine” that they brag enhances picture quality instead significantly degrades it, introducing extremely gaudy, oversaturated and distorted colors – similar to what you’ll see if you turn the Color Control on your HDTV all the way up to maximum.”

DisplayMate notes, however, that Sony does provide the option to turn the Bravia Engine off, which does improve things.

Wondering why the Galaxy S4 wasn’t part of this shoot-out? Well, DisplayMate has already put that through its paces separately, calling it a major enhancement over the Galaxy S III, and a “good reason to consider trading up.”

• SourceDisplayMate