Home > Smartphone comparison > Phone (3a) vs Honor X9d – which one to choose?

Nothing Phone (3a) vs Honor X9d

66 out of 100
Nothing Phone (3a)
VS
71 out of 100
Honor X9d
Nothing Phone (3a)
Honor X9d

Here we compared two mid-range smartphones: the 6.77-inch Nothing Phone (3a) (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3) that was released on March 4, 2025, against the Honor X9d, which is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 and came out 7 months after. 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 (3a)
  • The rear camera has a 2x optical zoom
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.4)
  • More recent OS version: Android 16 versus 15
Reasons to consider the Honor X9d
  • Comes with 3300 mAh larger battery capacity: 8300 vs 5000 mAh
  • Waterproof body (IP69 classification)
  • Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5
  • Supports higher wattage charging (66W versus 50W)
  • Faster storage type - UFS 3.1 versus UFS 2.2
  • 10% higher pixel density (427 vs 387 PPI)
  • Reverse charging feature
  • The phone is 7 months newer

Review

Evaluation of Nothing Phone (3a) and Honor X9d 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
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📱 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
8 / 128 GB
VS
8 / 256 GB
72.8
(Good)
Value Index
95.3
(Very good)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests
Phone:
Phone (3a)
vs
Honor X9d

Display

Type AMOLED AMOLED
Size 6.77 inches 6.79 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2392 pixels 1200 x 2640 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.9:9 19.85:9
PPI 387 ppi 427 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (60-120 Hz) Yes
Max rated brightness 1300 nits 1800 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 3000 nits 6000 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10
Screen protection Panda Glass Aluminosilicate glass
Screen-to-body ratio 87.7% 90.8%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DC Dimming		 - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DC Dimming
Display tests
RGB color space 99.8% -
PWM 90 Hz -
Response time 1 ms -
Contrast ∞ Infinity -
Peak brightness test (auto)
Phone (3a)
1270 nits
Honor X9d
n/a
Sources: NotebookCheck [3]

Design and build

Height 163.52 mm (6.44 inches) 161.9 mm (6.37 inches)
Width 77.5 mm (3.05 inches) 76.1 mm (3 inches)
Thickness 8.35 mm (0.33 inches) 7.9 mm (0.31 inches)
Weight 201 g (7.09 oz) 193 g (6.81 oz)
Waterproof IP64 IP69
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber -
Rear material Glass Plastic
Frame material Plastic Plastic
Colors White, Black, Blue Black, Gold, Green, Brown
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Repairability Average (2.84/5) -
Drop resistance Good (C) · 90 drops -
Screen-to-body ratio
Phone (3a)
87.7%
Honor X9d +4%
90.8%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Nothing Phone (3a) and Honor X9d
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 4
Max clock 2500 MHz 2300 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 3 + 4) 8 (1 + 3 + 4)
Architecture - 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Kryo Silver (Cortex-A520)
- 3 cores at 2.4 GHz: Kryo Gold (Cortex-A720)
- 1 core at 2.5 GHz: Kryo Prime (Cortex-A720)		 - 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Kryo Silver (Cortex-A520)
- 3 cores at 2.2 GHz: Kryo Gold (Cortex-A720)
- 1 core at 2.3 GHz: Kryo Prime (Cortex-A720)
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Lithography process 4 nanometers 4 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Yes Hexagon
GPU
Graphics Adreno 810 Adreno 810
GPU shading units 256 256
GPU clock 1050 MHz 1150 MHz
FLOPS ~537.6 GFLOPS ~588.8 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Nothing Phone (3a) and Honor X9d
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Phone (3a) +5%
1158
Honor X9d
1104
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Phone (3a) +4%
3276
Honor X9d
3159
Compute Score (GPU)
Phone (3a) +11%
4435
Honor X9d
3987
Compute Score (GPU) 4435 3987
Single-core score 1158 1104
Multi-core score 3276 3159
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
Phone (3a) +7%
1050601
Honor X9d
977304
CPU 402549 358049
GPU 179108 160718
Memory 194640 210830
UX 274304 247707
Total score 1050601 977304
Samples [38 tests] [21 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Phone (3a) +8%
379
Honor X9d
350
Stability 98% -
Graphics test 3 FPS 3 FPS
Graphics score 379 350
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
Phone (3a) +16%
12382
Honor X9d
10702
Web score 11533 10627
Video editing 6290 6303
Photo editing 20294 19133
Data manipulation 10511 7981
Writing score 16899 13750
Submit your benchmark results

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Nothing Phone (3a)
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-07-10 -> ratulislam-55CPU Throttle82%
📘 2026-07-10 -> ratulislam-55GeekBench GPU3328
📘 2026-07-10 -> ratulislam-55GeekBench CPU1158 / 3276
📘 2026-06-07 (Aames Ng)AnTuTu1069149
📘 2026-06-03 (xperz3650)AnTuTu1065584
Add View all (41)
Honor X9d
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-04 (BatheanThe_)AnTuTu912468
📘 2026-08-29 (Kk)AnTuTu866729
📘 2026-07-21 (Raf Hakobyan)AnTuTu973945
📘 2026-07-21 (Raf Hakobyan)CPU Throttle100%
📘 2026-07-05 (Никитка)AnTuTu995701
Add View all (26)

Memory

RAM
RAM size 8 GB 8 GB
Memory type LPDDR4X LPDDR5
Memory clock 2133 MHz -
Channels 2 2
Storage
Storage size 128 GB 256 GB
Storage type UFS 2.2 UFS 3.1
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 15 (Can be upgraded to Android 16) Android 15
ROM Nothing OS 4.0 MagicOS 9.0
OS updates 3 years 2 years
Security updates 4 years 3 years

Battery

Capacity 5000 mAh 8300 mAh
Max charge power 50 W 66 W
Battery type Li-Po Silicon-Carbon (Si/C)
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging No No
Reverse charging No Yes
Bypass charging No No
Fast charging Yes (61% in 30 min) Yes (50% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:06 hr 1:21 hr
Battery cycles 1400 cycles -
Battery life tests
Web browsing 08:06 hr -
Watching video 16:25 hr -
Gaming 05:49 hr -
Standby 131 hr -
General battery life
Phone (3a)
25:03 hr
Honor X9d
n/a
Add your battery life

Main camera

Matrix 50 megapixels 108 megapixels
Image resolution 8192 x 6144 12000 x 9000
Zoom Optical, 2x Digital
Flash LED LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording No No
4K video recording Up to 30FPS Up to 30FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 240 FPS (720p) -
Angle of widest lens 120° -
Lenses 1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Telephoto: 50 MP
3) Ultrawide: 8 MP
1) Standard: 108 MP
2) Ultrawide: 5 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode		 - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
Standard lens
Image resolution 50 MP 108 MP
Aperture f/1.9 f/1.8
Focal length 24 mm 24 mm
Sensor Samsung ISOCELL S5KGN9 -
Sensor size 1/1.57" (≈ 0.64 inch) 1/1.67" (≈ 0.6 inch)
Pixel size 1 micron 1 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus Phase autofocus
Stabilization Optical Optical
Telephoto lens
Image resolution 50 MP -
Aperture f/2.6 -
Focal length 50 mm -
Sensor Samsung ISOCELL -
Sensor size 1/2.74" (≈ 0.36 inch) -
Pixel size 0.64 micron -
Stabilization Optical -
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 8 MP 5 MP
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 15 mm 24 mm
Sensor Sony IMX355 -
Sensor size 1/4.0" (≈ 0.25 inch) -
Pixel size 1.12 micron -
Stabilization Digital Digital

Selfie camera

Megapixels 32 megapixels 16 megapixels
Image resolution 6560 x 4928 3456 x 4608
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.5
Focal length 22 mm -
Sensor Samsung ISOCELL CMOS
Sensor size 1/3.44" (≈ 0.29 inch) -
Autofocus No No
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 1080p (Full HD) at 60 FPS 1080p (Full HD) at 30 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No No

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax)
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 5.4 5.3
Bluetooth features LE LE
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 2 2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG		 - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
DisplayPort No No
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* 2 2
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode Standby Standby
eSIM support* No No
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 (3a)
90.5 dB
Honor X9d
n/a

Other

Category Mid-range Mid-range
Announced March 2025 September 2025
Release date March 2025 October 2025
Launch price (MSRP) $329 $350
Successor - Nothing Phone (4a) -
Sensors - Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint		 - Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
Bundled charger Not included Yes, 66 W
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

If the battery life is more important to you, then choose the Honor X9d. But if the gaming is more of a priority – go for the Nothing Phone (3a).

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
10 (28.6%)
25 (71.4%)
Total votes: 35

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