Nothing has just announced its latest Phone series at MWC 2025, with the 3a and 3a Pro.
While we haven’t reviewed either handset yet, we are keen to see how the two phones measure up to their predecessors, including the Nothing Phone 2a and Nothing Phone 2.
We’ve compared the early specs of the Nothing Phone 3a vs Phone 3a Pro and highlighted any key differences and noteworthy similarities between the flagship smartphones.
Pricing and Availability
Following its announcement at MWC, the Nothing Phone (3a) is available now with a starting RRP of £329.
As its Pro moniker suggests, the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro is the more expensive of the (3a) series, with an RRP of £449.
Nothing Phone 3a Pro has a periscope lens
The biggest difference between the Nothing Phone (3a) and Phone (3a) Pro is with their camera setups. While both feature a 50MP main and identical ultrawide lenses, the (3a) Pro’s main lens is able to capture more light with a “100% greater full well capacity vs Phone (3a)”.
Essentially this means the Phone (3a) Pro can capture greater dynamic range and “34% less noise” compared to similar sensors.
That’s not only where the Phone (3a) Pro differs. Although the Phone (3a) has a 50MP telephoto camera, with a 2x optical reach and up to 4x lossless in-sensor zoom, the Phone (3a) Pro instead sports a 50MP periscope lens instead. Nothing explains the periscope lens delivers “lossless in-sensor zooming at up to 6x” which is “double that of the Phone (3a)”.
As we are yet to test either handset, we are keen to see just how different the telephoto and periscope lenses make their respective phones.
Both run on Snapdragon 7s Gen 3
While some of the best Android phones of 2025 are sporting Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, the Phone (3a) series instead run on the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 processor. Nothing explains that this processor should result in up to 33% faster CPU than the Nothing Phone (2a) and is up to 92% better at processing AI tasks too, making it “more future-proofed” for any upcoming. AI developments.
Although we haven’t reviewed either of the Nothing series, so can’t comment on how the specific phones run on the processor, we have tested the Realme 14 Pro Plus. We found that while it wasn’t at the top of benchmarking charts, in day-to-day use it’s “hard to tell the difference between this phone and a flagship” so we’d hope the same for the (3a) series.
Nothing Phone 3a is lighter
Weighing in at 201g, the Nothing Phone (3a) is the lighter of the two handsets. Having said that, the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro is only 10g heavier at 211g so the difference is negligible. Putting that into context, this means the Phone (3a) Pro weighs the same as the Kindle Paperwhite.
Both offer access to Essential Space
Essential Space is Nothing’s new, AI-powered hub which houses all your important notes and ideas, and the Phone (3a) series will be among the first to offer full access to it. In fact, the Phone (3a) and (3a) Pro will both be fitted with the Essential Key, a button that acts as a shortcut to Essential Space.
Nothing explains that the Essential Space experience includes Camera Capture which makes sending photos a “one-tap solution” and Smart Collections which recognises and sorts images, audio or texts into catalogues, akin to the likes of Pixel Screenshots.
Both have the highest battery capacity of any Nothing phone
Both the Nothing Phone (3a) and Phone (3a) Pro boast a 5000mAh battery capacity, which although may seem in-line with some of the best Android phones, actually marks the highest capacity seen in a Nothing handset.
Nothing explains that the capacity combined with the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3’s efficiency allows the phones to last longer and charge faster than the Phone (2a). This is especially noteworthy as we were impressed with the battery life of the Phone (2a) and found it could last two full days without heavy use.
Plus, with 50W fast charging, the (3a) Series delivers a full day’s power in under 20 minutes.
Early Verdict
The Nothing Phone (3a) and Phone (3a) Pro are fairly similar, as they both run on Snapdragon 7s Gen 3, have a 5000mAh battery capacity and offer early access to Nothing’s upcoming AI hub, Essential Space.
However, the main difference between the two comes with their camera offerings. While both sport a 50MP main and 8MP ultrawide, the (3a) Pro boasts a periscope lens that supposedly offers double the lossless in-sensor zooming of the (3a).
As we haven’t reviewed either handset yet, we’ll hold off from giving a conclusive verdict until we spend time with both the new phones.
