Nothing Phone (3a) vs Nothing Phone (3a) Pro: What you get for paying Rs 5,000 more

Nothing Phone 3a vs 3a Pro

UK-based smartphone brand Nothing has launched Phone (3a) and Phone (3a) Pro in India. This new series from Nothing offers the company’s trademark transparent back design and succeeds the Phone 2a series launched last year. Moreover, both smartphones promise exemplary performance, battery life, cameras, and gorgeous displays. So, what’s the difference and which one should you buy? We find that out in our detailed comparison of the Nothing Phone (3a) and Nothing Phone (3a) Pro.

Design

Like previous Nothing smartphones, the Nothing Phone (3a) and (3a) Pro follow a similar design language with a transparent back and Glyph lights arranged in a familiar layout. The Phone (3a) is available in White, Black, and Blue colorways and has a horizontal camera module at the back with triple cameras.

However, the Nothing Phone ((3a)) Pro looks vastly different as it has a much larger camera bump and a redesigned camera layout. The phone’s colour options are limited to Grey and Black. The Pro model is also slightly heavier at 211g compared to Phone (3a)’s 201g weight.
Both phones also include stereo speakers and offer a new Essential Key, which offers multiple functionalities aided with the help of AI.
Display

In the display department, both the Phone (3a) and the (3a) Pro feature a 6.77-inch AMOLED display with up to 120 Hz refresh rate, HDR10+ support, and come with 3,000 nits peak brightness. Both displays are protected by Panda Glass.

Performance

Both smartphones are powered by the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 chipset with an Adreno 710 GPU. It offers a slight improvement over the Dimensity 7300 chipsets used on the Phone 2a series. Talking about the operating system, the Nothing Phone (3a) series gets Nothing OS 3 based on Android 15, with a promise of three years of major Android updates and four years of security patches.

The Phone (3a) series starts with 8 GB RAM. However, the Phone (3a) Pro is available with a 12GB RAM variant. Storage options are the same on both devices with 128 GB and 256 GB variants. The RAM version on both smartphones is LPDDR4X and the storage version is UFS 2.2.

Camera

The main difference between these two phones lies in the camera department. The Nothing Phone (3a) and (3a) Pro have the same 50 MP Samsung GN9 1/1.57-inch main sensor with Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) Auto Focus (AF) support. Further, they have an 8 MP Sony IMX355 1/4-inch ultrawide sensor.

However, the Phone (3a) Pro offers a more advanced periscope 50 MP Sony LYT600 1/1.95-inch sensor with 3X optical zoom and 6X in sensor zoom with OIS support. In contrast, the Phone (3a) has a standard 50 MP Samsung JN5 1/2.76-inch sensor telephoto lens with 2X optical zoom. However, like the Pro model, it lacks OIS support. For selfies, the standard Phone (3a) has a 32 MP front camera, while the (3a) Pro has a higher resolution 50 MP lens.

Battery

Both phones come with a 5,000 mAh battery and 50W wired fast charging support. Nothing claims that these phones can charge 50% in 19 minutes and a full charge in under an hour. Sadly, Nothing doesn’t offer a charger inside the box of both devices.

Verdict

The Nothing Phone (3a) has a starting price of Rs 24,999, while the Phone (3a) Pro starts at Rs 29,999. At Rs 5,000 difference, the Nothing Phone (3a) offers more value as except for the zoom photography capabilities of the Pro model, the Phone (3a) offers similar hardware at a lower asking price.

Moreover, both phones offer similar performance, battery life, and display experience. However, if you love to take far off object images and want a higher resolution selfie camera, the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro at a Rs 5,000 difference does offer a better overall camera experience.