Pixel 9a vs Nothing Phone (3a) Pro: Nothing can stop the Pixel 9a

We often lament how expensive modern flagships are, but the truth of the matter is that there are amazing value propositions out there. The Pixel 9a and the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro are both in that camp, and both of these phones offer a great bang for your bucks.

The Pixel 9a is another great A-series device that's even threatening Google's own flagship series among other competitors. The Nothing Phone (3a) Pro, on the other hand, tries to be the buffed-up midranger you'd be tempted to choose over affordable and not-so-affordable flagships.

Today we're going to do a comparison between these two, and we will update it with tests, benchmarks and samples soon.

There was a time when phones were very diverse and sometimes even bizarre when it came to design. The invention of the all-screen smartphone kind of put an end to this, but there are exceptions. The Nothing Phone (3a) Pro is one such exception. It follows the design language Carl Pei started with the original Nothing Phone—a transparent back, showing some of the internals of the phone, plus an interesting LED interface the company called "Glyph."

The Nothing Phone (3a) Pro is bizarre and wacky in the same positive way, and even the placing of the different cameras raises eyebrows. That's not a bad thing, and in fact, it's one of the reasons some people might reach out and grab a unit.

The Pixel 9a, on the other hand also tightly follows the recent design language Google has demonstrated with the regular Pixel 9 series. The phone features a flat front and back, flat sides, and an oval camera housing almost flush with the body of the phone.

Of course, there's a significant difference in size and weight between these two phones, due to the different screen sizes. You can find the detailed dimensions below.

Pixel 9a expected dimensions and weight:
154.7 x 73.3 x 8.9 mm, 186 grams

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

Another big difference lies in the building materials used for the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro and the Pixel 9a. The former employs transparent glass on the back, while the Pixel 9a features a plastic composite back and a painted metal frame.

Now, plastic may sound cheap, but there are different polymers that feel differently, some of which may very well feel almost like glass. So, we shouldn't label the Pixel 9a plastic back as "cheap," at least not before we've tried it ourselves.

On the color front, the Pixel 9a is available in more colors, while the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro comes in just two monochromatic hues.

The smartphone as we know it is moving toward larger and larger screens, and this is evident in all "compact" flagships. Vanilla iPhones and Galaxies used to be 6.1 inches, and they're slowly growing to 6.2 and 6.3-inch diagonals. 

The Pixel 9a is the latest phone to sport a 6.3-inch pOLED screen, which in modern terms can be considered compact. It's an LTPO panel with up to a 120Hz refresh rate and an FHD+ resolution (1080 x 2424 pixels) with resulting pixel density of around 422 PPI. Google cites 1800 nits of brightness in HBM, and 2700 nits peak.

The Nothing Phone (3a) Pro, on the other hand, feels massive in comparison, with its 6.77-inch OLED display. The device features more or less the same FHD+ resolution (1080 x 2392 pixels), which, due to the bigger size of the screen, results in lower pixel density—around 387 PPI. 

The panel is LTPO as well, reaching a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz, while the brightness figures are even more impressive at 3000 nits peak. We were able to measure around 1400 nits on the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro during our display tests, which is a very decent result. We need to wait and finish the tests on the Pixel 9a to see if Google's affordable brainchild can match that.

Google decided to shake things up a bit and go its own way back when the Pixel 6 launched, and since then all Pixel phones have featured the in-house developed Tensor chips. We're now at the fourth generation of that silicon, and the Pixel 9a launched with the same Tensor G4 found inside its more expensive siblings from the Pixel 9 family.

The Nothing Phone (3a), on the other hand, comes equipped with the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 onboard. This 4nm chipset is often compared to the 8 Gen 2 in raw performance and occupies the midrange benchmark territory. The Tensor chips have been losing to flagship Snapdragon processors for so long now that it will be a surprising win, at least in this particular comparison.

We've talked time and again about the difference between raw synthetic scores and real-life performance, and you're probably sick of it, so we're going to wait until we test the Pixel 9a and include the results here. If we extrapolate the scores from the Pixel 9, for example, and take into account that the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro scored around 1200 and 3300 points in Geekbench 6 single and multicore tests respectively, we expect the Tensor to win this one.

In terms of RAM and storage, strangely enough, the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro has an advantage. It comes in only one configuration, featuring 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. In comparison, the Pixel 9a offers the same base 8GB RAM and 128GB storage as its predecessor with a step-up version that mimics the storage of the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro.

Software-wise, the Pixel 9a is a Google phone, after all, and will benefit not only from the seven years of major OS updates pledge but also from getting those updates fast. Nothing offers three years of major OS updates for the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro and six years of security patches, so advantage Pixel!

Google's affordable flagship, the Pixel 9a, adheres to the tried-and-true twin camera system formula. However, it appears that this model does not feature the same sensors and lenses as the previous generation, nor those available on the standard Pixel 9.

The main wide camera of the Pixel 9a uses a 48MP sensor (1/2.0") and an f/1.7 aperture, resulting in a focal length similar to 25mm. This differs from the bigger 50MP sensor (1/1.56") in the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro, which has an aperture of f/1.9 and a 1.0 µm pixel size.

The ultrawide cameras are also different—on the Pixel 9a, we have a new 13MP camera with an f/2.2 and 120-degree field of view. The Nothing Phone (3a) Pro, on the other hand, features a low-megapixel count 8MP ultrawide camera, with the same f/2.2 aperture but a much smaller sensor (1/4.0").

What the Nothing phone has in its sleeve, however, is a 50MP periscope telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom and phase detection autofocus. The Pixel 9a relies on 2x crops from the main sensor, so zoom-wise the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro has an advantage, at least on paper.

Stay tuned for some side-by-side samples soon and a final verdict in the camera department.

It's not just screens; batteries are also getting larger and larger each year (thankfully), and the Pixel 9a has a pretty hefty for its size 5100 mAh battery. The Nothing Phone (3a) Pro is not too far off with its 5000 mAh battery, so this battle will be fierce.

Battery life is a composite metrics, so we need to run our tests to see which one of these will last longer on a single charge. The Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 might be more efficient than the Tensor G4, but on the other hand, the screen of the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro is larger and brighter. Carl Pei's phone managed 6h 42m in our battery test, which is an average result. We have to wait for the Pixel 9a tests to finish to compare the two, so stay tuned.

In terms of charging, the Pixel 9a sadly retains the same slow charging as its predecessor, namely 23W wired charging support and 7.5W wireless. It seems that the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro will be able to topple the Pixel 9a easily when it comes to wired charging, as it supports 50W of charging power. One big drawback (for some people) might be the lack of wireless charging.

Here's a quick specs comparison between the two phones, for a more detailed Pixel 9a vs Nothing Phone (3a) Pro specs comparison, head to our dedicated comparison page on PhoneArena.

This battle is a difficult one. On the one hand, we have the Pixel 9a, representing a very successful bloodline of affordable flagships, featuring the latest Tensor processor, a decent camera system, a big battery, a great OLED screen, and lots of software magic onboard. It's a lot of phone for $499. 

On the other hand, Nothing is starting to expand its lineup and offer more devices. Carl Pei's company now has its own A-series, and the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro is the top model in that series. It comes with faster charging (no wireless charging, though), a good main camera, one additional periscope telephoto system with 3x optical zoom, quite a hefty battery, and a bigger and brighter screen.

Couple all this with the $459 price for the 256GB model and you end up with a very potent midranger. Granted, the phone lacks wireless charging, and its ultrawide camera might not be amazing, plus the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 is slightly slower than the Tensor G4, but the important boxes seem to be ticked.

This comparison will be updated with all the benchmarks and tests soon, so stay tuned for the final verdict.