Samsung Galaxy A56 5G vs Nothing Phone (3a) Pro

Here we compared two mid-range smartphones: the 6.7-inch Samsung Galaxy A56 5G (with Exynos 1580) that was released on March 2, 2025, against the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro, which is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3. 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

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy A56 5G
  • Shows 15% longer battery life (28:42 vs 25:01 hours)
  • Waterproof body (IP67 classification)
  • Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5 3200 MHz
  • 18% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1251K versus 1063K)
  • Faster storage type - UFS 3.1 versus UFS 2.2
  • Supports Dolby Atmos sound technology
  • 15% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 1354 and 1182 points
Reasons to consider the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro
  • The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.4)
  • Has 33% more RAM: 8GB versus 6GB

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy A56 5G and Nothing Phone (3a) Pro 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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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
6 / 128 GB
VS
8 / 128 GB
89.8
(Very good)
Value Index
67.6
(Good)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type Super AMOLED AMOLED
Size 6.7 inches 6.77 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2340 pixels 1080 x 2392 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.5:9 20:9
PPI 385 ppi 387 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (60-120 Hz) Yes (60-120 Hz)
Max rated brightness 1200 nits 1300 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 1900 nits 3000 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10+
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus Plus Panda Glass
Screen-to-body ratio 87.6% 87.4%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DC Dimming
Display tests
RGB color space 99.1% -
PWM 120 Hz -
Response time 1 ms -
Contrast ∞ Infinity -
Peak brightness test (auto)
1225 nits
1307 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3]

Design and build

Height 162.2 mm (6.39 inches) 163.52 mm (6.44 inches)
Width 77.5 mm (3.05 inches) 77.5 mm (3.05 inches)
Thickness 7.4 mm (0.29 inches) 8.39 mm (0.33 inches)
Weight 198 g (6.98 oz) 211 g (7.44 oz)
Waterproof IP67 IP64
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber Vapor chamber
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Plastic
Colors Black, Gray, Green, Pink Black, Gray
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Repairability Good (3.19/5) -
Drop resistance Excellent (A) · 270 drops -
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Chipset specifications of Samsung Galaxy A56 5G and Nothing Phone (3a) Pro
SoC
Chipset Samsung Exynos 1580 Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3
Max clock 2900 MHz 2500 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 3 + 4) 8 (1 + 3 + 4)
Architecture - 4 cores at 1.95 GHz: Cortex-A520
- 3 cores at 2.6 GHz: Cortex-A720
- 1 core at 2.9 GHz: Cortex-A720
- 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)
L3 cache 4 MB -
Manufacturing Samsung TSMC
Lithography process 4 nanometers 4 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Yes Yes
GPU
Graphics Xclipse 540 Adreno 810
GPU shading units 256 256
GPU clock 1300 MHz 1050 MHz
FLOPS ~1331.2 GFLOPS ~537.6 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Samsung Galaxy A56 5G and Nothing Phone (3a) Pro
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
1354
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
3789
Compute Score (GPU)
6865
Compute Score (GPU) 6865 4459
Single-core score 1354 1182
Multi-core score 3789 3357
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
1251512
1063109
CPU 490457 412882
GPU 296896 181358
Memory 173263 195833
UX 290896 273036
Total score 1251512 1063109
Samples [130 tests] [14 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Stability 97% 98%
Graphics test 5 FPS 3 FPS
Graphics score 641 380
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
14006
Web score 14131 11321
Video editing 7744 6246
Photo editing 22842 20223
Data manipulation 11699 10284
Writing score 18128 16850

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Samsung Galaxy A56 5G
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-10-11 -> Baogia_VNAnTuTu 111281445
📘 2026-10-09 (Baogia_VN)AnTuTu 121090096
📘 2026-10-09 (Baogia_VN)AnTuTu 111278747
📘 2026-10-09 (Baogia_VN)AnTuTu 121090096
📘 2026-09-24 (.)CPU Throttle82%
Nothing Phone (3a) Pro
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-15 (Floyd)AnTuTu 111054677
📘 2026-08-04 (Chicha | #LYT-600)AnTuTu 111059547
📘 2026-08-01 (Ghost)AnTuTu 111075398
📘 2026-06-13 (Wal)AnTuTu 111078269
📘 2026-05-30 (Syed Shahzaib Subhani)AnTuTu 111040961

Memory

RAM
RAM size 6 GB 8 GB
Memory type LPDDR5 LPDDR4X
Memory clock 3200 MHz 2133 MHz
Channels 2 2
Storage
Storage size 128 GB 128 GB
Storage type UFS 3.1 UFS 2.2
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 15 (Can be upgraded to Android 16) Android 15 (Can be upgraded to Android 16)
ROM One UI 8.5 Nothing OS 4.0
OS size 21.5 GB -
OS updates 6 years 3 years
Security updates 6 years 4 years

Battery

Capacity 5000 mAh 5000 mAh
Max charge power 45 W 50 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging No No
Reverse charging No No
Bypass charging No -
Fast charging Yes (65% in 30 min) Yes (60% in 15 min)
Full charging time 1:13 hr 1:05 hr
Battery cycles 2000 cycles -
Battery life tests
Web browsing 11:28 hr 08:09 hr
Watching video 19:50 hr 16:21 hr
Gaming 04:53 hr 05:48 hr
Standby 131 hr 131 hr
General battery life
28:42 hr
25:01 hr

Main camera

Matrix 50 megapixels 50 megapixels
Image resolution 8192 x 6144 8192 x 6144
Zoom Digital Optical, 3x
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 123° 120°
Lenses 1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Ultrawide: 12 MP
3) Macro: 5 MP
1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Telephoto: 50 MP
3) Ultrawide: 8 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
Standard lens
Image resolution 50 MP 50 MP
Aperture f/1.8 f/1.9
Focal length - 24 mm
Sensor Sony IMX906 Samsung GNJ
Sensor size 1/1.56" (≈ 0.64 inch) 1/1.56" (≈ 0.64 inch)
Pixel size 1 micron 1 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
Stabilization Optical Optical
Telephoto lens
Image resolution - 50 MP
Aperture - f/2.5
Focal length - 70 mm
Sensor - Sony LYT-600
Sensor size - 1/1.95" (≈ 0.51 inch)
Pixel size - 0.8 micron
Stabilization - Optical
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 12 MP 8 MP
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length - 15 mm
Sensor Sony IMX258 Sony IMX355
Sensor size 1/3.06" (≈ 0.33 inch) 1/4.0" (≈ 0.25 inch)
Pixel size 1.12 micron 1.12 micron
Stabilization Digital Digital
Macro lens
Image resolution 5 MP -
Aperture f/2.4 -
Stabilization Digital -

DxOMark main camera tests

Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
Bokeh 145 -
Zoom 59 -
Samples Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy A56 5G from DxOMark -

Selfie camera

Megapixels 12 megapixels 50 megapixels
Image resolution - 8192 x 6144
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length - 24 mm
Sensor Samsung S5K3LC Samsung S5KJN1
Sensor size - 1/2.76" (≈ 0.36 inch)
Pixel size - 0.64 micron
Autofocus No No
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 30 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 5.3 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, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS
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* 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 Yes No
Speakers test
Max loudness

Other

Category Mid-range Mid-range
Announced March 2025 March 2025
Release date March 2025 March 2025
Launch price (MSRP) $499 $459
Successor - Samsung Galaxy A57 5G - Nothing Phone (4a) Pro
SAR (head) 0.61 W/kg -
SAR (body) 1.05 W/kg -
Sensors - 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 performance, gaming, battery life, software, design, and sound are more important to you, then choose the Samsung Galaxy A56 5G. But if the camera is more of a priority – go for the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
151 (54.7%)
125 (45.3%)
Total votes: 276

User opinions

You can share your opinion or ask a question in the comments below
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TCR June 5, 2026 at 01:06 PM
Nothing Phone has a more unique design,better software experience and cameras. Samsung has better performance and ecosystem integration.
+1 Reply
ITZVIKTOH_77 June 22, 2025 at 07:01 PM
A56 is the better device hands down but I like the telephoto lens on the 3a pro
+7 Reply
Avatar
Andile June 16, 2025 at 06:27 PM
A56 only has 8 and 12 gb ram with no 6 gb option your info is wrong
+13 Reply