In a surprising turn of events, popular startup Nothing has launched a pair of new smartphones. But no, you won't see a successor to the flagship Nothing Phone (2) here — not yet. Instead, we now have the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro and Phone (3a). The "a" standing for midrange, with a less complex Glyph interface on the back, less powerful processor, and generally the more affordable model.
Yes, technically, last year there were also two "a" series phones from Nothing. First, we saw the Nothing Phone (2a) launched around this time last year, then a Phone (2a) Plus that was such a tiny upgrade over the OG (slightly more powerful processor) that we couldn't figure out why it even launched.
But now, this phone here bears a "Pro" moniker. It's a bit weird to launch an affordable model that's got midrange specs through and through, yet call it a "Pro".
Here's what we know and what we expect about the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro thus far.
Nothing Phone (3a) Pro
What we like
The Nothing aesthetic, dialed up again!
Good, quality display
Speakers got a little upgrade this year
What we don't like
Back is glass, but frame is plastic
Nothing "Pro" about the performance and metrics
Camera performance dwindles when the sun goes down
6.3
PhoneArena Rating
6.2
Price Class Average
Battery Life
6.7
6.8
Photo Quality
7
6.4
Video Quality
5.1
5.1
Charging
7.7
7.2
Performance Peak
4.3
4.3
Performance Daily
6.1
6.2
Display Quality
8
7.5
Design
7
6.4
Wireless Charging
0
5.5
Biometrics
7
6.8
Audio
7
6.1
Software
5
5.3
Why the score?
This device scores 1.6% better than the average for this price class, which includes devices like the Nothing Phone (3a), Samsung Galaxy A56 5G and Samsung Galaxy A36 5G
The Nothing Phone (3a) Pro is technically not for sale in the US, but also kind of technically available. You need to register for the Nothing US Beta Program to be able to buy one, and you will get access to the 12 GB / 256 GB model for $459.
Nothing Phone (3a) Pro Design and Display
Funky back!
Look! Nothing! (Image credit - PhoneArena)
Nothing's signature design includes a transparent back with a stylized tech look underneath, and a set of LED strips in the shape of the Glyph interface. It glows and blinks and breathes in different patterns, depending on what the phone is doing. Like waiting for an Uber, playing music, working with a Pomodoro timer, or charging — this can all be reflected by the Glyph LEDs.
The Phone (3a) Pro comes with the same three LED strips as the Phone (2a) — arranged in a circle around the camera module. Far less than the complex Glyph of the flagship Phone (2), but still enough to get the point across. But we can't simply mention that camera module and move on. It is certainly funky-looking. As far as we know, there's no practical reason behind the scattered positioning of the lenses, aside from just wanting to look cool.
And look cool the Phone (3a) Pro does — it'll definitely twist some necks, as the techy design makes it appear like a top-secret prototype device than an actual released product. The back is actual glass this time around, last year it was plastic. However, the frame of the device is not metal, so it still doesn't have that cool touch of a more expensive phone.
Getting dizzy? (Image credit - PhoneArena)
You may have noticed that the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro has four buttons. Those are the typical volume buttons and power key, but there's an extra Essential Key on the right side. It's there to activate or be a shortcut for Nothing's AI functions. Currently, it's only capable of capturing screenshots and recording voice notes to go with them (which it will also transcribe later). Further down the line, the Essential Space will be able to capture information from the camera, instantly start a recording, easily search for phone settings and more.
In the box, Nothing typically packs the phone and a charging cable, plus a neat-looking transparent SIM ejector tool. Such is the story here as well!
Thin box, thin on contents (Image credit - PhoneArena)
The screen has been upgraded. It's an OLED panel with a 120 Hz refresh rate, as before, but it now has a peak brightness of 3,000 nits. Of course, peak brightness only measures a small area of the screen for a small timeframe. Which is why we measure 20% APL for a better understanding of how the screen performs when watching "normal" content:
The CIE 1931 xy color gamut chart represents the set(area)of colors that a display can reproduce,with the sRGB colorspace(the highlighted triangle)serving as reference.The chart also provides a visual representation of a display's color accuracy. The small squares across the boundaries of the triangle are the reference points for the various colors, while the small dots are the actual measurements. Ideally, each dot should be positioned on top of its respective square. The 'x:CIE31' and 'y:CIE31' values in the table below the chart indicate the position of each measurement on the chart. 'Y' shows the luminance (in nits) of each measured color, while 'Target Y' is the desired luminance level for that color. Finally, 'ΔE 2000' is the Delta E value of the measured color. Delta E values of below 2 are ideal.
The Color accuracy chart gives an idea of how close a display's measured colors are to their referential values. The first line holds the measured (actual) colors, while the second line holds the reference (target) colors. The closer the actual colors are to the target ones, the better.
The Grayscale accuracy chart shows whether a display has a correct white balance(balance between red,green and blue)across different levels of grey(from dark to bright).The closer the Actual colors are to the Target ones,the better.
In general, the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro can get bright — bright enough to combat direct sunlight. It doesn't get dim enough for comfortable nighttime viewing, but this is often the case with more budget phones. Dimming OLED panels is not an easy and straightforward task, so it's a corner that often gets cut.
The color calibration of the panels is pretty impressive. Measurements show that the greens are more reigned in, even compared to the Galaxy S24 FE's pretty screen. There are two color modes to pick from — Alive and Standard. While the Standard mode is supposedly more realistic, we find it dull and kind of desaturated. The good news is that Alive adds just enough vibrancy to make things pop, without making the reds burn.
The display hides an optical fingerprint scanner underneath. We find it to be fast and accurate enough to be comparable to the competition.
Nothing Phone (3a) Pro Camera
That's a staggered upgrade, ha-ha get it?
Which eye shoud I be looking at? (Image credit - PhoneArena)
Nothing Phone (3a) Pro
PhoneArena Camera Score
BEST 158
135
PhoneArena Photo Score
BEST 165
148
Main (wide)
BEST 87
77
Zoom
BEST 29
24
Ultra-wide
BEST 26
19
Selfie
BEST 30
28
PhoneArena Video Score
BEST 153
122
Main (wide)
BEST 80
68
Zoom
BEST 27
13
Ultra-wide
BEST 24
17
Selfie
BEST 28
24
No doubt that camera centerpiece on the back will get some heads to turn. The arrangement of lenses is weird, quirky, and definitely oozing some character. What are the cameras, though?
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There's a 50 MP main, 50 MP zoom camera at 3x, 8 MP ultra-wide, and another 50 MP on the front. That's a lot of high-res sensors for a sub-$500 phone. And it did get a very respectable 135 on our camera benchmark. Yes, it's far from the top score, but that one was achieved by a Galaxy S25 Ultra that costs almost triple the price of a Phone (3a) Pro. Compared to the real top-tier phones, what drags the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro is the low-ish resolution of the ultra-wide camera, and poor video zoom capabilities. In other fields, it gets a good amount of points — not top scores, but not lagging behind by a lot.
Let's check out some actual photos:
The cameras perform... OK. They do struggle with high dynamics, either flirting with burning the highlights or crushing the shadows. Colors do appear realistic in well-lit photos, but when it's dark around, the camera's attempts to boost exposure will wash out some color, especially skintones.
It does take pretty good portraits when you have plenty of light, though. The bokeh is not super-convincing, but pretty good overall, and it doesn't often cut into the subject's edges. Again, at low light, it starts to suffer a bit more.
Video Quality
The Nothing Phone (3a) Pro can record 4K video with its wide and telephoto cameras, but not the ultra-wide — since it's an 8 MP sensor, that one is limited to 1080p video. That aside, video footage looks pretty good. Its dynamic range is a little bit narrower than on the Galaxy S24 FE, but still plenty of it. Its colors are also pretty lively and nice. Stabilization is probably a notch worse, but still very serviceable. As long as you have some good light, the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro can capture some good clips.
Nothing Phone (3a) Pro Performance & Benchmarks
Switching to Snapdragon
Holding Nothing (Image credit - PhoneArena)
Last year's Phone (2a) series had a MediaTek Dimensity inside — a 7350 Pro, that was worked on by both companies in partnership. Yet, this year, Nothing shifts to a Snapdragon, equipping the Phone (3a) Pro with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 processor.
On paper, the MediaTek chip has a higher clock speed, but what happens when we throw both these chips in the fiery benchmarks?
Hm, whoops? Turns out the MediaTek Dimensity 7350 Pro still has it and is giving the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 a run for its money. In reality, both the old (2a) Plus and new (3a) Pro "feel" the same when using them. They aren't lagging per se, nor are they choppy — on the contrary. Some things do take longer to someone who is spoiled by the latest and fastest top-tier phones. But otherwise, the Nothing Phones are solid daily drivers and don't disappoint.
Of course, if you are out there gaming or editing multi-layer videos on your phone, you may want to up your budget.
Nothing Phone (3a) Pro Software
We have Nothing OS 3.1 here, on top of Android 15. Nothing Phone (3a) users get exclusive access to the Essential Space — Nothing's AI "memory" place, which can store your screenshots with voice recordings attached to them. The Essential Space will transcribe recordings and also "figure out" what screenshots are showing, so you can easily find them later. Imagine searching for "Those trip plans I made 2 months ago that fell through because we got sick". You can recall them that easy.
There will be more features for the Essential Space or more AI features for Nothing OS to come, but that's it for now. And, of course, if you haven't used a Nothing Phone before — there's the News widget, which will read out news that matter to you with an AI-generated narrator, and there's a ChatGPT integration, which allows you to talk to the AI through your Nothing Ear buds.
Nothing OS itself is a pretty light Android reskin. Some things are heavily stylized in the Nothing dotted style, but in general everything is where you expect it to be and looks how you'd expect an Android UI to look. In another bout of good news, Nothing now commits to 6 years of updates. Hold on, though — that's 3 years of Android builds post-release, and then a full 6 years of security patches. Which is still a pretty good lifecycle for a $460 phone.
5,000 mAh is pretty much the industry standard and we currently believe that's the size of battery that the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro will have. That's be a repeat of what we had in the Phone (2a) Plus, and it was plenty enough for a long, long battery life. Especially considering that its processor is no power hog!
What's even better is that the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro charges up pretty quickly — 70% in 30 minutes, and less than an hour for a full charge. Even if you forget to plug it in overnight, you can still get juice in a quick fashion. One thing, though — there's no wireless charging on the Nothing (a) series. At least not thus far.
Nothing Phone (3a) Pro Audio Quality and Haptics
Like its predecessors, the Phone (3a) Pro has a stereo setup with a loudspeaker earpiece and a bottom-firing boomer. Unlike its predecessors, it sounds kind of good. The bass is not super-deep, but is present. And the mids are a bit honky, but overall not tinny. The Nothing Phone (3a) Pro sounds... fine!
The haptics are clicky, clacky and fun. Of course, Nothing puts a huge emphasis on these, because they work in concert with the blinking lights of the Glyph interface on the back.
The Nothing Phone (3a) Pro is an interesting phone. It has a very bold look, it's quirky and undisputedly unique. Its performance is OK, it's fine. It's no 4K video-editing monster, or 8K camcorder, nor a heavy gaming smartphone. But as a phone, a regular daily driver that keeps you online and keeps you going, it's pretty solid. Actually kind of fun, with small but meaningful Nothing modifications.
For the bad part — its camera is not great. And yeah, you can't really judge a $460 phone's camera too hard, and we are not saying this one's terrible. It's just... not great. There's the Pixel 8a, only $40 more, with the better camera and more updates directly from Google. Not to mention, a newer Pixel 9a should be announced any moment now.
But let's say camera is not your top priority. Or the Google Pixel 8a isn't your cup of tea. We are having a hard time finding another $450-$500 smartphone that can truly compete with and crush the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro. In its own tier, it does everything right.
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Preslav, a member of the PhoneArena team since 2014, is a mobile technology enthusiast with a penchant for integrating tech into his hobbies and work. Whether it's writing articles on an iPad Pro, recording band rehearsals with multiple phones, or exploring the potential of mobile gaming through services like GeForce Now and Steam Link, Preslav's approach is hands-on and innovative. His balanced perspective allows him to appreciate both Android and iOS ecosystems, focusing on performance, camera quality, and user experience over brand loyalty.
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