The Nothing Phone 3a Pro impresses with its unique design, Glyph interface, bright display, and versatile cameras. However, its Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 chipset offers minimal performance gains over the standard 3a, making the “Pro” branding questionable.
Nothing Phone 3a Pro Review: Until last year, the mid-range smartphone segment had some conventional looks and good enough hardware, but then Nothing entered the market with the Phone 2a (review). The aim was straightforward: to provide a one-of-a-kind design and interesting concept to play with, and it worked really well for them. After the success of Phone 2a, which sold over 100k in the first 24 hours of launch, the company expanded into the entry-level range with its sub-brand CMF.
In 2025, the first product from Nothing is the successor to the Phone 2a and Phone 2a Plus, but there’s a catch. While you can call the Phone 3a, a direct successor, the company seems to have done away with the Plus branding and instead this year we have the Phone 3a Pro, a new iteration in its ‘a’ series priced at Rs 29,999. I know the question you all have in your mind- does the Phone 3a Pro provide an experience comparable to a ‘Pro’ phone?
The first thing you will notice is a big, protruding camera bump with an asymmetrical triple camera setup, a big upgrade over the dual camera setup offered with the Phone 2a. While it is obvious that the device needed some “extra” space to fit the periscope lens, it does have some trade-offs. When you hold the device, you will find the weight distribution somewhat off, making one-handed use slightly uncomfortable. You might find yourself adjusting your grip more often than usual, unlike the Google Pixels and Vivo X series phones. Plus, placing it on a table isn’t the most reassuring experience. I found placing it face-down much better and maybe Nothing wants you to do just that to give way for the LED light effects.
Nothing has retained the Glyph interface which is my favourite aspect of the device with some unique use cases, and the back glass is also covered in Panda glass, giving the phone a more premium look and an improved in-hand feel. There’s also a new button, just below the power button, dedicated to activating the Essential Space feature, which we’ll discuss later in the review. In terms of durability, Nothing has offered a less durable Panda Glass protection, compared to the Gorilla Glass. The device also gets an IP64 certification, meaning it can only handle some water splashes.
The Nothing Phone 3a Pro sports a 6.77-inch Full HD+ AMOLED panel with Panda Glass protection and a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate. The display feels buttery smooth and vibrant with punchy yet accurate colours. Interestingly, Nothing claims the display can reach 800 nits in manual mode and 1,300 nits in auto-brightness mode, but our testing showed even better results where the display hit 1,327 nits in manual mode and 2,250 nits in adaptive mode. This means you get better visibility, especially outdoors or under direct sunlight.
Additionally, the display on the 3a Pro features 10-bit colour depth (1.07 billion colours) and HDR10+ support, making OTT streaming and video playback a treat. In our display test using Calman to determine the colour accuracy, the 3a Pro’s display got an average delta E of 1.5 in the Standard colour profile, which means that you can rest assured of accurate colours on this screen. The display offers a crisp and immersive experience during your Netflix binge-watching sessions.
The Nothing Phone 3a Pro and its sibling the Phone 3a, is powered by the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 chipset. In the AnTuTu benchmark, the Phone 3a scored 790,600, while the Phone 3a Pro managed 822,130, a marginal difference that’s unlikely to impact real-world usage.
Similarly, in Geekbench tests, the Phone 3a scored 1,158 (single-core) and 3,305 (multi-core). In contrast, the Phone 3a Pro scored 1,169 (single-core) and 3,291 (multi-core)—again, no significant gap. Even the read/write speeds and PC Mark Battery Life scores are practically the same. In the CPU throttling test, the Phone 3a witnessed a 7 percent drop while the Phone 3a Pro witnessed a 6 percent drop, excelling in the extreme workload test.
However, I believe Nothing could have opted for the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 chipset to better justify the “Pro” branding. While the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 is well-optimised on the phone, it does not provide a major improvement in performance over the Nothing Phone 3a in daily use.
The device runs on bloatware-free Android 15-based Nothing OS 3.1 that offers a Nothing dot matrix engine, unique animations, and AI-driven optimisations. One of the key additions is the Essential Space, an AI-powered hub that helps organise notes, ideas, and more by acting as a centralised memory, helping in recalling the content when needed.
Nothing has introduced a dedicated Essential Key on the side of the phone for quick access: press it once to send content to Essential Space, long-press to record a voice note, and double-tap to view saved content.
While Essential Space will get out of beta with Nothing Phone 3, Phone 3a users get Early Access to test Camera Capture, Smart Collections, and Focused Search. But will it be able to integrate into our daily lives? Only time will tell.
The Nothing Phone 3a Pro comes backed with a 5,000 mAh battery with support for 50W fast charging. The company promises a full charge in under 56 minutes. During our charging test with a 25W adapter (to simulate more common charging scenarios), the phone took around 1 hour and 15 minutes to fully charge from 0 percent. The battery life is impressive, and it easily lasts over a full day with regular usage. In mixed usage which includes watching videos on YouTube, photo editing, document editing, browsing and checking Instagram feed, the Nothing 3a Pro gave a run time of 11 hours 17 minutes which is very good for a phone in this price range.
The Nothing Phone 3a Pro packs a 50MP primary camera (f/1.88, 1/1.56″) with OIS, EIS, and dual-pixel PDAF, offering 2x in-sensor zoom for crisp shots. It’s paired with a 50MP Sony periscope lens (f/2.55, 1/1.95″) featuring 3x optical zoom, 6x digital crop, and 60x ultra zoom for detailed long-range photography. Completing the setup is an 8MP Sony ultra-wide camera (f/2.2) with a 120° FOV.
If you love shooting portraits, Nothing Phone 3a Pro’s periscope telephoto camera will not disappoint. It can deliver crisp and detailed images with vibrant colours, but at times, the optimisation issues creep in. In some shots, the bokeh looked artificial, impacting the overall clarity of the image.
The 24mm, 50mm, 70mm, and 100mm portrait modes can help you take some good images with lively details. Beyond portraits, the phone captures true-to-life colours in daylight while avoiding oversaturation. I tested the camera under various lighting conditions, during my trip to Uttarakhand. On cloudy days, the images leaned toward cooler tones and had a pleasant warm hue in direct sunlight.
Night photography is another highlight of this camera setup. It retains excellent details and natural colours, producing impressive low-light shots with minimal noise or artificial smoothing.
The Nothing Phone 3a Pro offers a good-looking, unique design language, a bright display, and a capable triple camera setup, making it yet another interesting mid-range option for buyers. However, there is a catch. The Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 chipset offers minimal improvement over the Nothing Phone 3a, raising questions about the “Pro” branding, especially when you get phones such as Poco F6 and the upcoming iQOO Neo 10R with Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 SoC. Of course, the positioning of those devices is towards buyers who are looking for raw performance gains, and Nothing, with the Phone 3a Pro, wants to cater to users who prioritize design, a clean software experience, and a well-rounded camera system over sheer processing power.
The transparent aesthetic, Glyph interface, and Nothing OS’s minimal, bloat-free approach set it apart in a crowded mid-range space. That said, with competitors offering flagship-grade chipsets at similar price points, the Phone 3a Pro’s appeal hinges on whether buyers value Nothing’s unique ecosystem and user experience over raw performance.
