diff --git a/src/ng/filter/orderBy.js b/src/ng/filter/orderBy.js
index 961faa368642..b8d3e302d342 100644
--- a/src/ng/filter/orderBy.js
+++ b/src/ng/filter/orderBy.js
@@ -123,8 +123,11 @@ function orderByFilter($parse){
       var t2 = typeof v2;
       if (t1 == t2) {
         if (t1 == "string") {
-           v1 = v1.toLowerCase();
-           v2 = v2.toLowerCase();
+          v1 = v1.toLowerCase();
+          v2 = v2.toLowerCase();
+          if (typeof v1.localeCompare == 'function') {
+            return v1.localeCompare(v2);
+          }
         }
         if (v1 === v2) return 0;
         return v1 < v2 ? -1 : 1;
diff --git a/test/ng/filter/orderBySpec.js b/test/ng/filter/orderBySpec.js
index 5c1178910255..15a41a0f220e 100644
--- a/test/ng/filter/orderBySpec.js
+++ b/test/ng/filter/orderBySpec.js
@@ -23,6 +23,10 @@ describe('Filter: orderBy', function() {
     expect(orderBy([{a:15, b:1}, {a:2, b:1}], ['+b', '-a'])).toEqualData([{a:15, b:1}, {a:2, b:1}]);
   });
 
+  it('should sort strings via localeCompare', function() {
+    expect(orderBy([{a:'ö'},{a:'a'},{a:'z'}], 'a')).toEqualData([{a:'a'},{a:'ö'},{a:'z'}]);
+  });
+
   it('should use function', function() {
     expect(
       orderBy(