Home > Smartphone comparison > Phone (3a) vs Moto G86 5G – which one to choose?

Nothing Phone (3a) vs Motorola Moto G86 5G

66 out of 100
Nothing Phone (3a)
VS
65 out of 100
Motorola Moto G86 5G
Nothing Phone (3a)
Motorola Moto G86 5G

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 Motorola Moto G86 5G, which is powered by MediaTek Dimensity 7300 and came out 3 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
  • 19% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1050K versus 885K)
  • Has 2 SIM card slots
  • Supports higher wattage charging (50W versus 30W)
  • 12% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 1158 and 1031 points
Reasons to consider the Motorola Moto G86 5G
  • Expandable storage via MicroSD card
  • Waterproof body (IP69 classification)
  • 15% higher pixel density (446 vs 387 PPI)
  • Supports Dolby Atmos sound technology
  • Weighs 16 grams less
  • The front-facing camera can record video at 4K
  • Ready for eSIM technology

Review

Evaluation of Nothing Phone (3a) and Motorola Moto G86 5G 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
πŸ“± 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
92.0
(Very good)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests
Phone:
Phone (3a)
vs
Moto G86 5G

Display

Type AMOLED AMOLED
Size 6.77 inches 6.67 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2392 pixels 1220 x 2712 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.9:9 20:9
PPI 387 ppi 446 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (60-120 Hz) Yes
Max rated brightness 1300 nits 1500 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 3000 nits 4500 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10+
Touch sampling rate - 240 Hz
Screen protection Panda Glass Corning Gorilla Glass 7i
Screen-to-body ratio 87.7% 89.1%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DC Dimming		 - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DC Dimming
Display tests
RGB color space 99.8% 95.3%
PWM 90 Hz 733 Hz
Response time 1 ms 1 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
Phone (3a)
1270 nits
Moto G86 5G +7%
1360 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 163.52 mm (6.44 inches) 161.21 mm (6.35 inches)
Width 77.5 mm (3.05 inches) 74.74 mm (2.94 inches)
Thickness 8.35 mm (0.33 inches) 7.87 mm (0.31 inches)
Weight 201 g (7.09 oz) 185 g (6.53 oz)
Waterproof IP64 IP69
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber -
Rear material Glass Eco-leather
Frame material Plastic Plastic
Colors White, Black, Blue Black, Gold, Gray, Red
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Repairability Average (2.84/5) Good (3.64/5)
Drop resistance Good (C) Β· 90 drops Excellent (A) Β· 270 drops
Screen-to-body ratio
Phone (3a)
87.7%
Moto G86 5G +2%
89.1%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Nothing Phone (3a) and Motorola Moto G86 5G
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 MediaTek Dimensity 7300
Max clock 2500 MHz 2500 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 3 + 4) 8 (4 + 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 2 GHz: Cortex-A55
- 4 cores at 2.5 GHz: Cortex-A78
L3 cache - 4 MB
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Lithography process 4 nanometers 4 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Yes MediaTek APU 655
GPU
Graphics Adreno 810 Mali-G615 MP2
GPU shading units 256 256
GPU clock 1050 MHz 1047 MHz
FLOPS ~537.6 GFLOPS ~536.1 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Nothing Phone (3a) and Motorola Moto G86 5G
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Phone (3a) +12%
1158
Moto G86 5G
1031
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Phone (3a) +8%
3276
Moto G86 5G
3042
Compute Score (GPU)
Compute Score (GPU) 4435 -
Single-core score 1158 1031
Multi-core score 3276 3042
Sources: Geekbench [3]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
Phone (3a) +19%
1050601
Moto G86 5G
885764
CPU 402549 314616
GPU 179108 129043
Memory 194640 158602
UX 274304 283503
Total score 1050601 885764
Samples [38 tests] [7 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Phone (3a) +10%
379
Moto G86 5G
345
Stability 98% 98%
Graphics test 3 FPS 3 FPS
Graphics score 379 345
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
Phone (3a)
12382
Moto G86 5G +27%
15764
Web score 11533 18996
Video editing 6290 8056
Photo editing 20294 31171
Data manipulation 10511 11444
Writing score 16899 18800
Submit your benchmark results

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Nothing Phone (3a)
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-07-10 -> ratulislam-55CPU Throttle82%
πŸ“˜ 2026-07-10 -> ratulislam-55GeekBench GPU3328
πŸ“˜ 2026-07-10 -> ratulislam-55GeekBench CPU1158 / 3276
πŸ“˜ 2026-06-07 (Aames Ng)AnTuTu1069149
πŸ“˜ 2026-06-03 (xperz3650)AnTuTu1065584
Add View all (41)
Motorola Moto G86 5G
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-08-09 (GK tech)AnTuTu929841
πŸ“˜ 2026-08-07 (Mkkss)AnTuTu885326
πŸ“˜ 2026-04-30 (Dasket)AnTuTu889030
πŸ“˜ 2026-04-22 (HenriqueAg)AnTuTu944420
πŸ“˜ 2026-04-14 (Juan)AnTuTu880378
Add View all (7)

Memory

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

Software

Operating system Android 15 (Can be upgraded to Android 16) Android 15 (Can be upgraded to Android 16)
ROM Nothing OS 4.0 Hello UI
OS size - 44 GB
OS updates 3 years 2 years
Security updates 4 years 4 years

Battery

Capacity 5000 mAh 5200 mAh
Max charge power 50 W 30 W
Battery type Li-Po Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging No No
Reverse charging No No
Bypass charging No -
Fast charging Yes (61% in 30 min) Yes
Full charging time 1:06 hr -
Battery cycles 1400 cycles 1000 cycles
Battery life tests
Web browsing 08:06 hr 10:02 hr
Watching video 16:25 hr 14:52 hr
Gaming 05:49 hr 05:59 hr
Standby 131 hr 122 hr
General battery life
Phone (3a)
25:03 hr
Moto G86 5G
25:00 hr
Add your battery life

Main camera

Matrix 50 megapixels 50 megapixels
Image resolution 8192 x 6144 8192 x 6144
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) 240 FPS (720p)
Angle of widest lens 120Β° 118Β°
Lenses 1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Telephoto: 50 MP
3) Ultrawide: 8 MP
1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Ultrawide: 8 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode		 - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
Standard lens
Image resolution 50 MP 50 MP
Aperture f/1.9 f/1.8
Focal length 24 mm 25 mm
Sensor Samsung ISOCELL S5KGN9 -
Sensor size 1/1.57" (β‰ˆ 0.64 inch) 1/1.95" (β‰ˆ 0.51 inch)
Pixel size 1 micron 0.8 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
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" (β‰ˆ 0.36 inch) -
Pixel size 0.64 micron -
Stabilization Optical -
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 8 MP 8 MP
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 15 mm 12 mm
Sensor Sony IMX355 -
Sensor size 1/4.0" (β‰ˆ 0.25 inch) -
Pixel size 1.12 micron 1.12 micron
Stabilization Digital Digital

Selfie camera

Megapixels 32 megapixels 32 megapixels
Image resolution 6560 x 4928 3280 x 2460
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 22 mm -
Sensor Samsung ISOCELL -
Sensor size 1/3.44" (β‰ˆ 0.29 inch) -
Pixel size - 0.7 micron
Autofocus No No
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 1080p (Full HD) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) 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 5.4
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, QZSS
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* 2 1
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode Standby Standby
eSIM support* No 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 Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness
Phone (3a) +4%
90.5 dB
Moto G86 5G
87.1 dB

Other

Category Mid-range Mid-range
Announced March 2025 May 2025
Release date March 2025 July 2025
Launch price (MSRP) $329 $339
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, 33 W
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

If the performance and gaming are more important to you, then choose the Nothing Phone (3a). But if the design and sound are more of a priority – go for the Motorola Moto G86 5G.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
4 (44.4%)
5 (55.6%)
Total votes: 9

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