Home > Smartphone comparison > Phone (3) vs Pixel 9 – which one to choose?

Nothing Phone (3) vs Google Pixel 9

79 out of 100
Nothing Phone (3)
VS
73 out of 100
Google Pixel 9
Nothing Phone (3)
Google Pixel 9

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.67-inch Nothing Phone (3) (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 4) that was released on July 2, 2025, against the Google Pixel 9, which is powered by Google Tensor G4 and came out 11 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Memory
  1. Differences
  2. Review
  3. Specs
  4. Benchmarks
  5. Battery life
  6. Camera
  7. Comments

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Nothing Phone (3)
  • The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
  • 52% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (2371K versus 1561K)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v6.0)
  • Supports higher wattage charging (65W versus 27W)
  • Has a 0.37 inch larger screen size
  • Has 2 SIM card slots
  • The phone is 11 months newer
  • Faster storage type - UFS 4.0 versus UFS 3.1
  • 24% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 2117 and 1707 points
Reasons to consider the Google Pixel 9
  • Delivers 49% higher peak brightness (2244 against 1508 nits)
  • More recent OS version: Android 17 versus 16
  • Weighs 20 grams less

Review

Evaluation of Nothing Phone (3) and Google Pixel 9 crucial features
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
Scores with a red asterisk (*) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate NanoReview Score
📱 Primary usage:

Value for money (Beta)

To get an accurate value-for-money index, update the default prices with actual prices from your country’s retailers (for the selected memory configs) and press the "Calculate" button.
Currency
12 / 256 GB
VS
12 / 128 GB
63.9
(Average)
Value Index
136.1
(Excellent)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests
Phone:
Phone (3)
vs
Pixel 9

Display

Type AMOLED OLED
Size 6.67 inches 6.3 inches
Resolution 1260 x 2800 pixels 1080 x 2424 pixels
Aspect ratio 20:9 20:9
PPI 460 ppi 422 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (60-120 Hz) Yes (60-120 Hz)
Max rated brightness 1600 nits 2700 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 4500 nits 1800 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10+
Screen protection Corning Gorilla Glass 7i Gorilla Glass Victus 2
Screen-to-body ratio 88.5% 87.1%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DC Dimming		 - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 95.5% 99%
PWM 90 Hz 120 Hz
Response time 4 ms 1 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Screen space comparison
Phone (3)
6.67″ (20:9 ratio) = 16.6 in2
Pixel 9
6.3″ (20:9 ratio) = 14.9 in2
~12% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Phone (3)
1508 nits
Pixel 9 +49%
2244 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 160.6 mm (6.32 inches) 152.8 mm (6.02 inches)
Width 75.59 mm (2.98 inches) 72 mm (2.83 inches)
Thickness 8.99 mm (0.35 inches) 8.5 mm (0.33 inches)
Weight 218 g (7.69 oz) 198 g (6.98 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber -
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Black White, Black, Green, Pink
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Repairability Good (3.34/5) Good (3.5/5)
Drop resistance Good (C) · 90 drops Excellent (A) · 270 drops
Screen-to-body ratio
Phone (3) +2%
88.5%
Pixel 9
87.1%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Nothing Phone (3) and Google Pixel 9
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 Google Tensor G4
Max clock 3210 MHz 3100 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 3 + 2 + 2) 8 (1 + 3 + 4)
Architecture - 2 cores at 2.02 GHz: Cortex-A720
- 2 cores at 2.8 GHz: Cortex-A720
- 3 cores at 3 GHz: Cortex-A720
- 1 core at 3.21 GHz: Cortex-X4		 - 4 cores at 1.92 GHz: Cortex-A520
- 3 cores at 2.6 GHz: Cortex-A720
- 1 core at 3.1 GHz: Cortex-X4
L3 cache 8 MB -
Manufacturing TSMC Samsung
Lithography process 4 nanometers 4 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon Yes
GPU
Graphics Adreno 825 Mali-G715 MC7
GPU shading units 1024 896
GPU clock 1150 MHz 940 MHz
FLOPS ~2355.2 GFLOPS ~1684.4 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Nothing Phone (3) and Google Pixel 9
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Phone (3) +24%
2117
Pixel 9
1707
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Phone (3) +53%
6798
Pixel 9
4431
Compute Score (GPU)
Phone (3) +148%
18674
Pixel 9
7536
Compute Score (GPU) 18674 7536
Single-core score 2117 1707
Multi-core score 6798 4431
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
Phone (3) +52%
2371693
Pixel 9
1561427
CPU 707936 576617
GPU 802873 410060
Memory 376970 210177
UX 483914 364573
Total score 2371693 1561427
Samples [9 tests] [4 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Phone (3) +67%
1749
Pixel 9
1047
Stability 61% 74%
Graphics test 13 FPS 8 FPS
Graphics score 1749 1047
3DMark Solar Bay
Phone (3)
7966
Pixel 9
n/a
Graphics test 30 FPS -
Section 1 34 FPS -
Section 2 31 FPS -
Section 3 25 FPS -
Graphics score 7966 -
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
Phone (3) +12%
14328
Pixel 9
12789
Web score 13254 10043
Video editing 6510 7463
Photo editing 27186 21077
Data manipulation 13887 13349
Writing score 19394 15810
AnTuTu 11 Ranking List (#179th place)
Submit your benchmark results

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Nothing Phone (3)
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-23 (Val)AnTuTu 122658288
📘 2026-07-15 (Leo)AnTuTu 112371693
📘 2026-07-10 (Sumit Pandit)AnTuTu 112392977
📘 2026-03-14 (Michael)AnTuTu 112428616
📘 2026-02-01 (TheFunder)AnTuTu 112270521
Add View all (13)
Google Pixel 9
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-18 -> Oleg 16 cmAnTuTu 111423579
📘 2026-06-13 (Plotwa)CPU Throttle82%
📘 2026-04-14 (LymXT)AnTuTu 111577137
📘 2025-12-09 (enigma)AnTuTu 111519937
📘 2025-11-28 (W1TRAY)AnTuTu 111561427
Add View all (8)

Memory

RAM
RAM size 12 GB 12 GB
Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR5X
Memory clock 4800 MHz 4200 MHz
Channels 4 4
Storage
Storage size 256 GB 128 GB
Storage type UFS 4.0 UFS 3.1
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 16 Android 14 (Can be upgraded to Android 17)
ROM Nothing OS 4.0 Stock Android
OS size 26 GB 19 GB
OS updates 5 years 7 years
Security updates 7 years 7 years

Battery

Capacity 5150 mAh 4700 mAh
Max charge power 65 W 27 W
Battery type Silicon-Carbon (Si/C) Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (15 W) Yes (12 W)
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) Yes, (wireless)
Bypass charging No No
Fast charging Yes (63% in 30 min) Yes (55% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:00 hr 1:25 hr
Battery cycles 1400 cycles 1000 cycles
Battery life tests
Web browsing 08:36 hr 10:01 hr
Watching video 13:19 hr 13:38 hr
Gaming 05:45 hr 05:41 hr
Standby 117 hr 98 hr
General battery life
Phone (3) +2%
22:56 hr
Pixel 9
22:26 hr
Add your battery life

Main camera

Matrix 50 megapixels 50 megapixels
Image resolution 8192 x 6144 8160 x 6144
Zoom Optical, 3x Digital
Flash LED LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording No No
4K video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 240 FPS (1080p) 240 FPS (1080p)
Angle of widest lens 114° 123°
Lenses 1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Telephoto: 50 MP
3) Ultrawide: 50 MP
1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Ultrawide: 48 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Standard lens
Image resolution 50 MP 50 MP
Aperture f/1.7 f/1.7
Focal length 24 mm 24 mm
Sensor Omnivision OV50H Samsung GNK
Sensor size 1/1.3" (≈ 0.77 inch) 1/1.31" (≈ 0.76 inch)
Pixel size 1.2 micron 1.2 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus Laser autofocus
Stabilization Optical Optical
Telephoto lens
Image resolution 50 MP -
Aperture f/2.7 -
Sensor Samsung S5KJN5 -
Sensor size 1/2.75" (≈ 0.36 inch) -
Pixel size 0.64 micron -
Stabilization Optical -
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 50 MP 48 MP
Aperture f/2.2 f/1.7
Sensor Samsung S5KJN1 -
Sensor size 1/2.76" (≈ 0.36 inch) 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch)
Pixel size 0.64 micron -
Stabilization Digital Digital

DxOMark main camera tests

Photo quality
Phone (3)
n/a
Pixel 9
161
Video quality
Phone (3)
n/a
Pixel 9
150
Generic main camera score
Phone (3)
n/a
Pixel 9
154
Bokeh - 75
Preview - 83
Zoom - 132
Samples - Photo samples of Google Pixel 9 from DxOMark

Selfie camera

Megapixels 50 megapixels 10.5 megapixels
Image resolution 8192 x 6144 3648 x 2736
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length - 20 mm
Sensor Samsung S5KJN1 CMOS
Sensor size 1/2.76" (≈ 0.36 inch) 1/3.1" (≈ 0.32 inch)
Pixel size 0.64 micron 1.22 micron
Autofocus No Phase autofocus
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No No

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be) Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display		 - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 6.0 5.3
Bluetooth features LE LE
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 2 3.2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG		 - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
DisplayPort No Yes
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC GPS, GLONASS, Galileo
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* 2 1
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode Standby -
eSIM support* Yes Yes
Hybrid slot No No
5G support Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos No No
Speakers test
Max loudness
Phone (3) +6%
93.2 dB
Pixel 9
87.7 dB

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced July 2025 August 2024
Release date July 2025 August 2024
Launch price (MSRP) $799 $799
Successor - - Google Pixel 10
SAR (head) - 0.99 W/kg
SAR (body) - 1.4 W/kg
Sensors - Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint		 - Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
Bundled charger Not included Not included
Further details
Notes on Phone (3):
    - The Indian model has a 5500 mAh battery, compared to 5150 mAh in the international one, (including the U.S. version).
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

These smartphones have a lot in common, but we would recommend the Nothing Phone (3). It has a better display, performance, gaming, and battery life.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
28 (82.4%)
6 (17.6%)
Total votes: 34

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