Nothing Phone (3a) Pro vs Nothing Phone (2a) Plus: What to expect

Nothing made a big name for itself, and if we're to hop on the pun train, "came out of nothing" back with its first device—the original Nothing Phone. Carl Pei thinks he can offer a true value phone with an innovative design and features for not a lot of money.

Since then, the company has managed to stay afloat and launch a couple of generations. This year the portfolio of Nothing is morphing once again; we're about to witness the launch of the Nothing Phone (3a) next month, following the Nothing Phone (2a) series from last year.

But unlike the Nothing Phone (2a) Plus, this year the company has decided to give us a new moniker for the upper tier model—it's called the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro. Today we're going to find just how "professional" this phone really is and how it stacks up against its spiritual predecessor, the Nothing Phone (2a) Plus.

This comparison is still preliminary, as the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro is still unofficial, but we have the necessary information to give you an idea of how this battle will unfold.

It's debatable who thought of this first, but the fact of the matter is that Nothing struck gold with the design of the first Nothing Phone. The transparent back and the exposed ribbon cable and wireless charging coil gave that phone the distinct look needed in a smartphone world where phones look almost the same from every angle. 

The Nothing Phone (2a) Plus and the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro both follow the same design language with slight differences.

The cameras inside the Nothing Phone (3a) are placed differently and accentuated by black circles, and the whole camera system is placed inside a visible circle (from the leaked images we've seen so far). The placement of the ribbon cables is also different, but all in all, the design language is the same. 

We still don't know if the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro will sport a glass or a plastic back, but chances are it's going to be plastic, just like the one on the Nothing Phone (2a) Plus, to lower the cost.

In terms of size, these two are quite large, but the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro is the bigger one due to its bigger screen. You'll find the exact dimensions and weights below:

Nothing Phone (3a) Pro rumored dimensions and weight:
163.5 x 77.5 x 8.4 mm, 211 grams

Nothing Phone (2a) Plus dimensions and weight:
161.7 x 76.3 x 8.5 mm, 190 grams

The color situation is a bit monochromatic at the moment, but to be fair, this is kind of mandated by the transparent back. We have gray and black on the back, and these are sort of plastic covers of the internals.

The display situation is more similar than different between these two. The new Nothing Phone (3a) Pro is expected to have a bigger 6.8 (6.77) inch display, but the resolution is the same as the one on the Nothing Phone (2a) Plus—1080 x 2412 pixels. Due to the latter having a slightly smaller display (6.7 inches), the resulting pixel density is also slightly different - 395 PPI for the Nothing Phone (2a) Plus and 387 PPI for the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro.

Both phones can do 120Hz on the refresh rate front, and both support HDR10+. The Nothing Phone (2a) Plus has Gorilla Glass 5 on top of its display for protection, while the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro is expected to have a new Panda Glass on top of the screen. The rumored peak brightness for the (3a) Pro is an impressive 3000 nits, while the (2a) Plus is listed to be able to shine with 1300 nits peak, so it's a big difference, at least on paper.

The above numbers, along with color accuracy, temperature, and other important display metrics, will be thoroughly checked in our display tests, which are coming soon.

There's a switch in the hardware coming with the new Nothing Phone (3a) Pro. We expect the phone to have the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 processor onboard. This is different from the Dimensity 7350 Pro found inside the Nothing Phone (2a). Now, whether or not the new silicon will be a big leap in performance, it's too early to say. Both chips are 4 nm, but they're built on different core configurations. So, we will need to run our performance tests on the upcoming Nothing Phone (3a) Pro to get the numbers.

What we can do now is compare the results from the Nothing Phone (2a) Pro to other Snapdragon 7s Gen 3-equipped phones to get a picture of what to expect. This phone managed 1206 in Geekbench 6 single-core and 2672 in the multi-core test. In comparison, the Motorola Edge 50 Pro managed 1156 and 3130 points in the same test, respectively. The latter is equipped with the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3, so we should expect a slight bump in performance from the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro, but nothing too wild.

In terms of RAM, both phones have a version with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, and, in fact, this is the only memory option for the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro. The (2a) Plus, on the other hand, can be purchased with 8GB of RAM and the same 256GB of onboard storage.

Can you get a triple camera system on a phone that costs $300-400? Apparently you can, because the upcoming Nothing Phone (3a) Pro is believed to have such a system, consisting of the same 50MP, f/1.9 main camera as the Nothing Phone (2a) Plus, an 8MP ultrawide camera, and a big and powerful 50MP periscope telephoto with 3x optical zoom.

The Nothing Phone (2a) Plus uses a different approach; the phone trades the telephoto for a better ultrawide camera. It's a 50MP, f/2.2 snapper with a 114-degree field of view. Whether or not an extra telephoto could justify the downgraded ultrawide camera inside the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro, we still don't know.

Both phones come with 50MP selfie cameras, and, as always, we will pit them against each other in a real-life side-by-side comparison once we get the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro in our hands. But with the same main camera and this trade-off with the telephoto, it will go down to what you actually need. A good main and ultrawide with no telephoto, or a good main camera, a midrange ultrawide, and an additional telephoto with 3x zoom. Stay tuned for samples.

There's not much to talk about in the battery department prior to doing some real testing. The Nothing Phone (3a) Pro is expected to have a 5100 mAh battery, while the Nothing Phone (2a) Plus features a 5000 mAh cell onboard. Both phones feature similar-size screens and similarly efficient chipsets, so the battery longevity should be quite similar as well. The Nothing Phone (2a) Plus managed an overall score of 6 hours and 40 minutes in our battery test, so expect a similar time from the new model.

The same goes for charging; it's exactly the same on both phones—50W wired charging support with no wireless coils on either of these phones. The cited charging times for the Nothing Phone (2a) Plus are 50% in 21 min, 100% in 56 min, and the phone absolutely managed to back this up during our charging test—a full charge takes 56 minutes indeed. Again, we expect similar times from the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro.

Here's a quick specs comparison between the two phones, for a more detailed Nothing Phone (3a) Pro vs Nothing Phone (2a) Plus specs comparison, head to our dedicated comparison page on PhoneArena.

*rumored specs

Even at this preliminary stage, we can see a clear evolution in the upcoming Nothing Phone (3a) Pro. Is it enough to justify the "Pro" moniker? We don't think so, but companies are using these names quite lavishly, so we will give Nothing a pass on that. The phone seems to tick a lot of boxes—it has a big, bright OLED screen that can go up to a 120Hz refresh rate, a big battery and fast wired charging, a new Snapdragon chipset (which is still a midrange one), and a flexible triple camera system.

We don't know the exact price tag for the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro, but we expect it to be around the same $399 zone as the Nothing Phone (2a) Plus. And for that kind of money, it's a real bargain. There's little to no reason to go for the older Nothing Phone (2a) Plus; it has very similar specs, except for the better ultrawide camera and the lack of a telephoto. We will update this comparison with all the test results and give you a final verdict soon.