Nothing Phone (3a) vs (2a) Plus
66
out of 100
VS
65
out of 100
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 Nothing Phone (2a) Plus, which is powered by MediaTek Dimensity 7350 Pro and came out 7 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
Key differences
Reasons to consider the Nothing Phone (3a)
- The rear camera has a 2x optical zoom
- Newer Bluetooth version (v5.4)
- Water-resistant body (IP64 classification)
- Delivers 16% higher peak brightness (1273 against 1093 nits)
- More recent OS version: Android 16 versus 15
- Slow-motion recording at 240FPS
- The phone is 7 months newer
Reasons to consider the Nothing Phone (2a) Plus
- Shows 31% longer battery life (32:47 vs 25:03 hours)
- Faster storage type - UFS 3.1 versus UFS 2.2
- The front-facing camera can record video at 4K
Review
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.
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate NanoReview Score
Value for money (Beta)
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | AMOLED | AMOLED |
| Size | 6.77 inches | 6.7 inches |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2392 pixels | 1080 x 2412 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 19.9:9 | 20:9 |
| PPI | 387 ppi | 395 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 120 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | Yes (60-120 Hz) | Yes (30-120 Hz) |
| Max rated brightness | 1300 nits | 700 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | 3000 nits | 1300 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | Yes, HDR10+ |
| Touch sampling rate | - | 240 Hz |
| Screen protection | Panda Glass | Corning Gorilla Glass 5 |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 87.7% | 87.8% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display - DC Dimming |
- DCI-P3 - Always-On Display - DC Dimming |
| RGB color space | 99.8% | - |
| PWM | 90 Hz | - |
| Response time | 1 ms | - |
| Contrast | β Infinity | - |
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 163.52 mm (6.44 inches) | 161.7 mm (6.37 inches) |
| Width | 77.5 mm (3.05 inches) | 76.3 mm (3 inches) |
| Thickness | 8.35 mm (0.33 inches) | 8.5 mm (0.33 inches) |
| Weight | 201 g (7.09 oz) | 190 g (6.7 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP64 | IP54 |
| Advanced cooling | Vapor chamber | Vapor chamber |
| Rear material | Glass | Plastic |
| Frame material | Plastic | Plastic |
| Colors | White, Black, Blue | Black, Gray |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | Yes, in-display |
| Repairability | Average (2.84/5) | - |
| Drop resistance | Good (C) Β· 90 drops | - |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 | MediaTek Dimensity 7350 Pro |
| Max clock | 2500 MHz | 3000 MHz |
| CPU cores | 8 (1 + 3 + 4) | 8 (2 + 6) |
| 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) |
- 6 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A510 - 2 cores at 3 GHz: Cortex-A715 |
| L3 cache | - | 4 MB |
| Manufacturing | TSMC | TSMC |
| Lithography process | 4 nanometers | 4 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Yes | MediaTek APU 657 |
| Graphics | Adreno 810 | Mali-G610 MC4 |
| GPU shading units | 256 | - |
| GPU clock | 1050 MHz | 1300 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~537.6 GFLOPS | ~665.6 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 4435 | 3304 |
| Single-core score | 1158 | 1175 |
| Multi-core score | 3276 | 2663 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 402549 | 384931 |
| GPU | 179108 | 175276 |
| Memory | 194640 | 172317 |
| UX | 274304 | 304876 |
| Total score | 1050601 | 1037391 |
| Samples | [38 tests] | [7 tests] |
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Stability | 98% | 98% |
| Graphics test | 3 FPS | 4 FPS |
| Graphics score | 379 | 528 |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 11533 | - |
| Video editing | 6290 | - |
| Photo editing | 20294 | - |
| Data manipulation | 10511 | - |
| Writing score | 16899 | - |
Recent User Tests
Nothing Phone (3a)
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| π 2026-07-10 -> ratulislam-55 | CPU Throttle | 82% |
| π 2026-07-10 -> ratulislam-55 | Geekbench 6 GPU | 3328 |
| π 2026-07-10 -> ratulislam-55 | Geekbench 6 CPU | 1158 / 3276 |
| π 2026-06-07 (Aames Ng) | AnTuTu 11 | 1069149 |
| π 2026-06-03 (xperz3650) | AnTuTu 11 | 1065584 |
Nothing Phone (2a) Plus
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| π 2026-07-12 (Thien) | CPU Throttle | 90% |
| π 2026-07-12 (Thien) | Geekbench 6 GPU | 3734 |
| π 2026-07-12 (Thien) | Geekbench 6 CPU | 1175 / 2663 |
| π 2026-07-12 (Thien) | AnTuTu 11 | 1061670 |
| π 2026-05-24 (Sean) | AnTuTu 11 | 825586 |
Memory
| RAM size | 8 GB | 8 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR4X | LPDDR4X |
| Memory clock | 2133 MHz | 2133 MHz |
| Channels | 2 | 4 |
| 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 14 (Can be upgraded to Android 15) |
| ROM | Nothing OS 4.0 | Nothing OS 3.0 |
| OS size | - | 27 GB |
| OS updates | 3 years | 3 years |
| Security updates | 4 years | 4 years |
Battery
| Capacity | 5000 mAh | 5000 mAh |
| Max charge power | 50 W | 50 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 (60% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:06 hr | 1:01 hr |
| Battery cycles | 1400 cycles | - |
| Web browsing | 08:06 hr | 13:26 hr |
| Watching video | 16:25 hr | 18:52 hr |
| Gaming | 05:49 hr | 06:37 hr |
| Standby | 131 hr | 163 hr |
General battery life
Smartphones With Long Battery Life (#24th place)
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) | 120 FPS (1080p) |
| Angle of widest lens | 120Β° | 114Β° |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 50 MP 2) Telephoto: 50 MP 3) Ultrawide: 8 MP |
1) Standard: 50 MP 2) Ultrawide: 50 MP |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
| Image resolution | 50 MP | 50 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.9 | f/1.9 |
| Focal length | 24 mm | 24 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung ISOCELL S5KGN9 | Samsung GN9 |
| Sensor size | 1/1.57" (β 0.64 inch) | 1/1.57" (β 0.64 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1 micron | 1 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus | Phase autofocus |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | 50 MP | - |
| Aperture | f/2.6 | - |
| Focal length | 50 mm | - |
| Sensor | Samsung ISOCELL | - |
| Sensor size | 1/2.74" (β 0.36 inch) | - |
| Pixel size | 0.64 micron | - |
| Stabilization | Optical | - |
| Image resolution | 8 MP | 50 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 15 mm | - |
| Sensor | Sony IMX355 | Samsung S5KJN1 |
| Sensor size | 1/4.0" (β 0.25 inch) | 1/2.76" (β 0.36 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.12 micron | 0.64 micron |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 32 megapixels | 50 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 6560 x 4928 | 8192 x 6144 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 22 mm | - |
| Sensor | Samsung ISOCELL | Samsung S5KJN1 |
| Sensor size | 1/3.44" (β 0.29 inch) | 1/2.76" (β 0.36 inch) |
| Pixel size | - | 0.64 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 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, QZSS |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| 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
Other
| Category | Mid-range | Mid-range |
| Announced | March 2025 | July 2024 |
| Release date | March 2025 | August 2024 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $329 | $399 |
| 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 | Not included |
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.
Conclusion
If the camera, software, and design are more important to you, then choose the Nothing Phone (3a). But if the battery life is more of a priority β go for the Nothing Phone (2a) Plus.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 255