Nothing Phone (3a) just launched - with a bold design and camera tricks to shake up mid-rangers
It's official: the Nothing Phone (3a) is here - announced today alongside the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro - a breath of fresh air in an otherwise stagnant mobile phone market. The Phone (2a) successor brings improvements across the board, while still maintaining its slightly nerdy and frankly super cool look of difference.
Let's see what the London-based company has cooked up with this promising mid-ranger.
The Nothing Phone (3a) keeps a similar design language that's made Nothign phones look exceptional. We now have a new camera added, and to accommodate it, we have an extended camera module that now houses a row of three cameras.
We still have the Glyph interface surrounding the camera module in a recognizable look. The phone is now taller and with less rounded corners.
As for dimensions, the Phone (3a) is overall bigger and slightly heavier than the Phone (2a), but hey, it's slimmer.
One notable upgrade is the pumped-up IP rating: the Nothing Phone (3a) now comes with an IP64 rating. It's also swapped the polycarbonate material on the back for the more premium-feeling glass.
Turning the phone around, we're greeted by Nothing's biggest and brightest display ever. We have a big 6.77-inch Full HD+ (1080 x 2392) 387 PPI AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and 480Hz touch sampling rate for a smooth and responsive feel.
The brightness sits at a peak brightness of 1,300 nits, which we've also seen in the Nothing Phone (2a) Plus, and it's pretty high-class for a mid-range phone.
We have some very welcome upgrades in the camera department. First off, the Nothing Phone (3a) main camera has been bumped to a 50MP one. The ultra-wide camera is 8MP, which is downgraded from the 50MP ultra-wide on the predecessor, but that's probably due to the huge upgrade Nothing has for us: the telephoto camera.
Nothing's added a telephoto camera on the Nothing Phone (3a) for the first time. It comes with a 50MP sensor with f/2.0 aperture and allows for 2x optical zoom, ideal for portrait images. It uses digital zoom to zoom in further, but also harnesses AI algorithms to enhance clarity and clean up the results.
Meanwhile, the phone supports TrueLens Engine 3.0 for fine-tuning images, and Ultra XDR, which takes a burst of 8 RAW images with various exposures to combine in a bright, detailed, and contrasty image.
As for video recording, the Nothing Phone (3a) still supports 4K recording at 30 FPS with OIS and EIS (Electronic Image Stabilisation). The phone also supports slow-mo at 1080p and 120 FPS.
On the front, we have a 32MP selfie camera.
This time, Nothing has opted for the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 to power the Phone (3a). The company says the chip is specifically optimized for 440 typical mobile tasks and delivers CPU speeds 33% faster than the predecessor and 11% faster GPU speeds. The 7s Geb 3 is also more power-efficient, with Nothing claiming it can give you an extra 30 minutes of battery over the predecessor.
Yep, the Nothing Phone (3a) sports the highest capacity of any Nothing phone so far, a reliable 5,000mAh battery. Nothing says it can give you up to two days of use on one charge, but we'll have to test it ourselves to tell you how it fares.
Nothing says the Phone (3a)'s battery lasts:
On top of that, the Phone (3a) is equipped with 50W fast charging. The company says the Phone (3a) charges from 1% to 100% in 56 minutes, while in 19 minutes, you get from 1% to 50%.
The Nothing Phone (3a) comes with Nothing OS 3.1 and Android 15, with 3 years of Android updates and 4 years of security patches. The new OS skin offers a new suite of bespoke animations, icons and fonts. It also offers you 51 custom sounds. The Gallery and Camera apps have also been updated.
You can now take advantage of a distraction-free monochromatic theme, hide app labels for a cleaner home screen, and customizable lock screen and quick settings.
But also, the Phone (3a) isn't missing out on the feature everyone's been talking about in the past couple of years: AI. Nothing has its own take on AI, with Essential Space, an AI-powered hub where you can store a multitude of things like screenshots, voice notes, saved posts and more for easier organization and less scattered-ness.
Essential Space can capture, process, and remember stuff for you, and is one click away with the new Essential Key button on the right side of the phone. You can press it to capture and send content to Essential Space, long-press it to record a voice note, and double-tap to see all your saved content.
Essential Space Early Access is available with the purchase of the Phone (3a), and gives you access also to upcoming features including Camera Capture, Smart Collections, Focused Search and Flip to Record. These features will launch in the 'coming months', according to Nothing.
Upcoming Essential Space Early Access features:
The Nothing Phone (3a) is available in three colors: Black, White, and Blue (not available in the US). The prices are as follows:
As you can see, it seems only two of the configurations are available in Europe and the UK and only one (12+256GB) will be available in the US.
Pre-orders for the new (3a) start today at nothing.tech. The phone will be available for purchase on March 11, with London's Nothing Store Soho selling both the Phone (3a) and Phone (3a) Pro a bit earlier, on Saturday, March 8 from 11:00 AM GMT.
In the US, users will be able to get a Nothing Phone (3a) exclusively through Nothing's US Beta Program. Participants in the program will be encouraged to give feedback on the phone.
The Nothing Phone (3a) will face off for the title of the best mid-range phone in 2025, and it has some tough competition.
The upcoming Galaxy A56 has just been announced. Samsung's mid-ranger comes with an "Awesome Intelligence" AI suite, a big 6.7-inch screen, an Exynos 1800 processor, and a triple-camera system with a 50MP main camera.
The upcoming Pixel 9a is said to also debut soon. The phone will reportedly sport Google's Tensor G4 chip, a slightly more compact 6.3-inch screen, and a dual camera with a 48MP main.
The iPhone 16e is a bit more expensive than the Nothing phone, offering Apple's A18 chip and a more modern design, a single 48MP camera, and support for Apple intelligence.
Nothing Phone (3a): What's in the box
- Nothing Phone (3a)
- Nothing Cable (c-c) 100cm
- Phone (3a) screen protector (pre-applied)
- SIM tray ejector tool
- Safety information and warranty card
Nothing Phone (3a) display and design: spectacular looks, as expected
The Nothing Phone (3a) keeps a similar design language that's made Nothign phones look exceptional. We now have a new camera added, and to accommodate it, we have an extended camera module that now houses a row of three cameras.
We still have the Glyph interface surrounding the camera module in a recognizable look. The phone is now taller and with less rounded corners.
As for dimensions, the Phone (3a) is overall bigger and slightly heavier than the Phone (2a), but hey, it's slimmer.
Nothing Phone (3a) vs (2a) dimensions:
- Dimensions: 6.44 x 3.05 x 0.33 inches vs 6.41 x 3.00 x 0.34 inches (162.74 x 76.32 x 8.55 mm)
- Weight: 7.09 oz (201g) vs 6.70 oz (190.0 g)
One notable upgrade is the pumped-up IP rating: the Nothing Phone (3a) now comes with an IP64 rating. It's also swapped the polycarbonate material on the back for the more premium-feeling glass.
The brightness sits at a peak brightness of 1,300 nits, which we've also seen in the Nothing Phone (2a) Plus, and it's pretty high-class for a mid-range phone.
Nothing Phone (3a) camera: welcome, triple camera system
We have some very welcome upgrades in the camera department. First off, the Nothing Phone (3a) main camera has been bumped to a 50MP one. The ultra-wide camera is 8MP, which is downgraded from the 50MP ultra-wide on the predecessor, but that's probably due to the huge upgrade Nothing has for us: the telephoto camera.
Nothing Phone (3a) gets a telephoto camera
Nothing's added a telephoto camera on the Nothing Phone (3a) for the first time. It comes with a 50MP sensor with f/2.0 aperture and allows for 2x optical zoom, ideal for portrait images. It uses digital zoom to zoom in further, but also harnesses AI algorithms to enhance clarity and clean up the results.
On the front, we have a 32MP selfie camera.
Nothing ditches the MediaTek chip for Qualcomm's Snapdragon 7s Gen 3
This time, Nothing has opted for the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 to power the Phone (3a). The company says the chip is specifically optimized for 440 typical mobile tasks and delivers CPU speeds 33% faster than the predecessor and 11% faster GPU speeds. The 7s Geb 3 is also more power-efficient, with Nothing claiming it can give you an extra 30 minutes of battery over the predecessor.
Big 5,000mAh battery and 50W fast charging on the Nothing Phone (3a)
Yep, the Nothing Phone (3a) sports the highest capacity of any Nothing phone so far, a reliable 5,000mAh battery. Nothing says it can give you up to two days of use on one charge, but we'll have to test it ourselves to tell you how it fares.
Nothing says the Phone (3a)'s battery lasts:
- 44.67 hours of voice calls
- 21.92 hours of music playback
- 25.85 hours of YouTube viewing
- 24.14 hours of Instagram use
- 10.89 hours of gaming
On top of that, the Phone (3a) is equipped with 50W fast charging. The company says the Phone (3a) charges from 1% to 100% in 56 minutes, while in 19 minutes, you get from 1% to 50%.
Nothing OS 3.1, Essential Key and Essential Space
The Nothing Phone (3a) comes with Nothing OS 3.1 and Android 15, with 3 years of Android updates and 4 years of security patches. The new OS skin offers a new suite of bespoke animations, icons and fonts. It also offers you 51 custom sounds. The Gallery and Camera apps have also been updated.
You can now take advantage of a distraction-free monochromatic theme, hide app labels for a cleaner home screen, and customizable lock screen and quick settings.
But also, the Phone (3a) isn't missing out on the feature everyone's been talking about in the past couple of years: AI. Nothing has its own take on AI, with Essential Space, an AI-powered hub where you can store a multitude of things like screenshots, voice notes, saved posts and more for easier organization and less scattered-ness.
Essential Space Early Access is available with the purchase of the Phone (3a), and gives you access also to upcoming features including Camera Capture, Smart Collections, Focused Search and Flip to Record. These features will launch in the 'coming months', according to Nothing.
Upcoming Essential Space Early Access features:
- Camera Capture: Makes sending photos to Essential Space with the Essential Key from the Camera App. The photo is then analyzed and stored for later.
- Smart Collections: sorts your images, clips and text and catalogs them automatically for your convenience.
Nothing Phone (3a) price and availability
The Nothing Phone (3a) is available in three colors: Black, White, and Blue (not available in the US). The prices are as follows:
- 8+128GB: £329 / €329 / ₹24,999
- 8+256GB: ₹26,999
- 12+256GB: $379 / £379 / €379
As you can see, it seems only two of the configurations are available in Europe and the UK and only one (12+256GB) will be available in the US.
In the US, users will be able to get a Nothing Phone (3a) exclusively through Nothing's US Beta Program. Participants in the program will be encouraged to give feedback on the phone.
Competition
The Nothing Phone (3a) will face off for the title of the best mid-range phone in 2025, and it has some tough competition.
The upcoming Galaxy A56 has just been announced. Samsung's mid-ranger comes with an "Awesome Intelligence" AI suite, a big 6.7-inch screen, an Exynos 1800 processor, and a triple-camera system with a 50MP main camera.
The upcoming Pixel 9a is said to also debut soon. The phone will reportedly sport Google's Tensor G4 chip, a slightly more compact 6.3-inch screen, and a dual camera with a 48MP main.
The iPhone 16e is a bit more expensive than the Nothing phone, offering Apple's A18 chip and a more modern design, a single 48MP camera, and support for Apple intelligence.
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