London-based Nothing launched the Nothing Phone (4a) and Phone (4a) Pro smartphones last month, as the successors to last year’s Phone (3a) series. Here we have the Nothing Phone (4a) Pro that gets a better screen, a faster SoC, a new glyph matrix, a metal unibody design, better cameras, and a bigger battery.
Is this worth the price? Let us dive into the review to find out.
Box Contents
- Nothing Phone (4a) Pro 12GB + 256GB in Silver
- USB Type-C to C cable
- SIM Ejector tool
- Clear Protective Case
- User manual and warranty information
Display, Hardware and Design
Starting with the display, the Nothing Phone (4a) Pro has a 6.83-inch 1.5K AMOLED display with a pixel resolution of 260 x 2800 pixels, a 20:9 aspect ratio, and a pixel density of about 440 PPI. The display is bright, thanks to 800 nits (typical), 1600 nits outdoors, and 5000 nits peak brightness, which is enabled when you are watching HDR content, offering up to a 66% improvement in peak brightness compared to the Phone (3a) Pro.
The phone has a 30-144Hz refresh rate display that can switch between 30Hz, 60Hz, 90Hz, 120Hz, and 144Hz according to the content. It has 480Hz touch sampling rate and a 2,500 Hz touch sampling rate when in Gaming Mode. It offers a buttery smooth user experience, especially when you are scrolling through the UI and when gaming. It also has HDR 10+ support, which works for YouTube.
Under the display options, there are different options to adjust colours based on your preference. There is also a night light option that lets you reduce the display’s blue light emission, so it doesn’t cause eye strain when you are reading at night. It has an always-on display option, but it doesn’t offer a lot of customization and is similar to the Pixel. It doesn’t have MEMC or DC dimming option but comes with 2160Hz PWM dimming that is enabled in low lighting conditions. The phone comes with Corning Gorilla Glass 7i protection.
The phone has a tiny center punch hole that houses a 32-megapixel camera, compared to the 50-megapixel camera in the Phone (3a) Pro. Above the display there is an earpiece on the top edge, which also doubles up as a secondary speaker.
The phone has an optical in-display fingerprint scanner. The small bezel below the display is uniform to the sides and the top, similar to the older models.
Coming to the button placements, the power button is present on the right side along with the volume rockers. The essential key is now on the left instead of the right since the volume rockers are present on the right. The dual SIM slot, primary microphone, USB Type-C port, and the loudspeaker grill are on the bottom. The secondary microphone is on the top. The phone has finally moved from a polycarbonate frame to a metal frame that looks and feels premium, which you rarely see in phones in the price range. It is also the company’s slimmest phone from the company at just 7.9mm.
Instead of a transparent glass back, Nothing has moved to a metal back, offering a unibody metal design. Since it has a metal body, it weighs 210 grams, even with a smaller battery compared to the competitors. The eye-catching camera deco has a glass finish, looking brilliant. This also houses the glyph matrix similar to the Nothing Phone (3), replacing glyph LEDs.
Glyph Matrix now has 137 mini-LEDs. While using fewer lights than before, it covers a 57% larger area and is 100% brighter at around 3000 nits, delivering sharper, more detailed notifications, said the company.
The phone has IP65 ratings for splash resistance, so it can manage slight spills or light rain, but you can’t immerse it in water. Some competitors offer IP68 and even IP69 ratings in the price range, but this is mainly the user’s preference since water damage is not covered under warranty. In addition to sliver, it also comes in pink and black colors.
Camera
- 50MP main camera with 1/1.56″ Sony LYT700c sensor, f/1.88 aperture, OIS,
- 8MP 120° ultra-wide camera with IMX355 sensor, f/2.2 aperture
- 50MP 1/2.75″ Samsung JN5 3.5x periscope telephoto, OIS, 7x in-sensor zoom, up to 140x hybrid zoom
- 32MP 1/3.44″ front camera with Samsung KD1 sensor, f/2.2 aperture
The camera UI is similar to other phones with Nothing OS 4.1. There are options for Night, Macro, Portrait, Photo, Video, and more options that have slow-mo, time-lapse, pano, and expert mode. The expert mode is pro mode, which lets you adjust white balance, focus, shutter speed (1/8000s to 32 seconds), ISO (50 to 6400) and the option to select the main, ultra-wide, and telephoto lenses. There is also a RAW option.
Coming to the image quality, daylight shots came out well with good dynamic range, and the images are natural-looking. After pixel binning technology, you get a 12.5MP output from the main and the telephoto cameras. HDR shots are better with improved dynamic range. The 8MP ultra-wide camera is decent, and the colors are almost similar. The 50MP periscope telephoto camera does a good job. 3.5x optical zoom and 7x in-sensor zoom are excellent. Even though there is up to 140x zoom, quality is good up to 40x.
Instead of the Telemaco option, the company offers the Macro with the main camera since this uses a tetra-prism telephoto. The 32MP front camera does a decent job in daylight and could be better in low light. Edge detection is good in portrait shots. Low-light camera performance is good, and the auto night mode helps to keep the noise low.
Check out the camera samples.
It can record videos at 4k resolution at 30 fps from the main and telephoto cameras. It also has slow motion 1080p at 120 fps. However, it misses 4K video recording with the front camera, which the Phone (3a) Pro had. OIS in the main camera and telephoto does its job. Video quality from the main camera and the telephoto camera is good, and the stabilization is good as well. There is no HDR video option.
Software, UI and Apps
The Nothing Phone (4a) Pro runs Android 16 out of the box, with Nothing OS 4.1 on top. It has the March 2026 Android security patch. The company has promised 3 Android OS updates and 6 years of security patches, the same as the 3a series. Apart from the fonts and UI, it gives a stock Android experience.
Nothing OS 4.0 is already available, bringing a refined design, better Quick Settings, Extra Dark Mode, Pop-up View, app optimization, a new camera interface and controls, user-controlled AI, a more responsive lock screen and Always-On Display (AOD), clearer brightness controls, and improved connectivity for Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.
Nothing OS 4.1 brings a new lock screen with depth wallpaper and more customization for the watch; there is a Breathing Break widget that gives you access to simple, structured breathing exercises. There is a new AI eraser feature in the gallery, but it can remove people and reflections and doesn’t erase objects.
The essential key below the power button launches Essential Space, an AI-powered hub for note-taking, ideas, and inspirations. You can press the Essential Key to capture and send content to Essential Space, long-press to record a voice note, and double-tap to head straight to all your saved content. With Nothing OS 4.1, Essential Space gets cloud access, so you can sync across Nothing devices.
Out of 12GB LPDDR5X RAM, you get 11.14GB of usable RAM, and about 5GB of RAM is free when default apps are running in the background. It also has memory extension or virtual RAM for up to 8GB. Out of 256GB UFS 3.1 storage, you get about 224.84GB of free storage. It has UFS 3.1 storage; compared to UFS 2.2 in the Phone (4a) series, it is a good improvement.
Apart from the Google apps, it has Facebook and Instagram apps pre-installed. The Lock Glimpse feature that was introduced with the Phone (3a) Lite has been removed.
Glyph Matrix
The Glyph Matrix is a disc made up of 489 individually firing LEDs, offering a monochrome display that shows key information visible at a glance in dot-matrix style. In addition to the digital clock, solar clock, stop watch, battery level, compass, and more glyph toys, you can assign custom icons to contacts that appear as pixelated avatars when the person calls or sends a message. The Glyph Button lets you tap to cycle through tools and widgets, hold to play.
Glyph Toys
- Glyph Mirror – Use the rear display to perfectly frame selfies
- Spin the Bottle – Tap, spin, land
- Rock Paper Scissors – Let fate decide
- Digital Clock – Displays the time in 12 or 24-hour formats
- Battery Indicator – Visually check charge level
- Stopwatch – Precision timing
- Solar Clock – A visual representation of the sun’s journey
- Magic 8 Ball – A Nothing Community co-creation; ask away
- Leveller – Another community-built tool for perfect alignment
During calls, a long-press on the Glyph Button lets you check caller ID without turning the phone.
Other Glyph Interface Features:
- Camera Countdown: A visual countdown when using the camera timer.
- Glyph Torch: A powerful burst of light and an excellent fill light.
- Volume Indicator: A visualisation of volume levels.
- NFC: An animation comes to life when NFC is triggered
You can also use Playground to find and download custom tools created by the Nothing Community. Just like the Glyph Interface with LEDs, the Glyph Matrix is useful only when you keep the phone upside down when you don’t use it.
Fingerprint sensor and Face unlock
The phone has an in-display optical fingerprint sensor that immediately unlocks the phone just by keeping your finger on the sensor. You don’t get any animation options. The phone also has face unlock that can unlock the phone in seconds, but it is not as secure as a fingerprint.
Music Player and Multimedia
YouTube Music is the default music player. It doesn’t have Dolby Atmos or any other custom audio features. Audio through the stereo speakers is good and loud. Audio through the headphones is good as well. Haptic feedback is also good. This has Widevine L1 so that you can play HD content on Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and other streaming apps. HDR works on YouTube, but you don’t get HDR playback on Netflix.
Dual SIM and Connectivity
It has the usual set of connectivity features such as 5G with support for n1, n3, n5, n8, n28 ,n38, n40, n41, n77, n78 bands, dual 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 6 802.11 ax (2.4 + 5GHz), Bluetooth 5.4, GPS + GLONASS, but the NFC support has been removed from the Indian version. It also has USB OTG support. The phone also has carrier aggregation. We did not face any call drops, and the earpiece volume is good.
The Nothing Phone 4a Pro’s body SAR is 0.935W/Kg and head SAR is at 1.18/Kg which is almost similar to Phone (3a) Pro and is well under the limit in India, which is 1.6 W/kg (over 1 g).
Performance and Benchmarks
The phone is powered by the Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 Mobile Platform, which is a considerable upgrade compared to the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 used in the Phone 3a Pro. This has 1 x 2.8 GHz ARM Cortex-A720 prime core, 3 x A720 performance cores at up to 2.4 GHz, and 4 x Cortex-A520 efficiency cores at up to 1.84 GHz.
The Adreno 722 GPU offers good gaming performance and promises 30% faster GPU graphic renderings compared to the 7 Gen 3. The phone has a large 5,300mm² VC Cooling System to help keep the phone cool. The Adaptive Performance Engine 4.0 offers 120 FPS gameplay in BGMI and up to 90 FPS in Call of Duty: Mobile. It can handle graphic-intensive games like Genshin Impact, but not at max graphics. In BGMI, HDR and Extreme work.
In 3D Mark wild life stress test, it scored 99%, which is good. The temperature increased from 33 to 49 degrees, which is high compared to the Phone (3a) Pro. That said, check out some synthetic benchmark scores below.
This shows a good improvement in performance compared to the Phone (3a) Pro, obviously due to the SoC.
Battery life
Coming to the battery life, the phone packs a 5400mAh (typical) built-in battery, compared to 5000mAh in the Phone (3a) series. Thanks to the opitimization, it lasts for more than a day even with heavy use on 5G. With minimal use on Wi-Fi, it should last for over 2 days. I got 7 and a half hours of screen on time with over 2 days of use, with mixed use of mostly Wi-Fi and occasional 5G use in 144Hz.
With the 50W fast charging, it can charge up to 50% in about 25 minutes and up to 100% in about 1 hour with the charge. It doesn’t have wireless charging capabilities but has reverse wired charging at 7.5W.
The phone can maintain over 90% of its maximum capacity after 1,200 charging cycles, corresponding to over 3 years and 4 months of daily charging, says the company.
Conclusion
At a starting price of Rs. 39,999, the Nothing Phone (4a) Pro takes a massive leap forward from its predecessor, actively blurring the lines between the mid-range and premium smartphone segments. Nothing has clearly listened to community feedback, delivering a striking metal unibody design that feels incredibly premium, a brilliant 144Hz AMOLED display, and a highly capable camera setup highlighted by that impressive 50MP periscope telephoto lens. The evolution from standard LED strips to the new Glyph Matrix also adds a fresh, functional layer of dot-matrix interaction, ensuring the phone stands out in a crowded market.
Under the hood, the leap to the Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 brings a noticeable bump in everyday snappiness and gaming performance. Paired with a larger 5400mAh battery, the phone easily sails through a day of heavy use and stretches into two days on lighter usage. As always, Nothing OS 4.1 remains the star of the show—offering one of the cleanest, most refreshing, and bloat-free Android experiences available.
It isn’t without its compromises, however. The lack of 4K video recording on the front camera is a confusing step backward from the Phone (3a) Pro. Furthermore, while performance is stellar, the phone does tend to run warm during intensive gaming sessions, and some users might lament the IP65 rating when competitors are offering IP68.
Is it worth the price? Absolutely. If you are looking for a device that breaks the visual monotony of standard glass slabs, offers a versatile camera system with great zoom capabilities, and prioritizes a clean, smooth software experience, the Nothing Phone (4a) Pro is an exceptional choice.
Pricing and availability
The Nothing Phone (4a) Pro is priced at Rs. 39,999 for the 8GB + 128GB model, Rs. 42,999 for the 8GB + 256GB model, and the 12GB + 256GB model costs Rs. 45,999.
It is now available from Flipkart, Flipkart Minutes, Vijay Sales, Croma and all leading retail stores.
Alternatives
The motorola edge 70 has the same chip, and a bigger battery is a good option, but it doesn’t have a telephoto camera. The vivo T4 Ultra and the realme 14 Pro+ are good options with periscope a telephoto camera in the budget.
Pros
- Brilliant display
- Smooth performance
- Good cameras
- Solid metal unibody design
- Good battery life with fast charging
Cons
- No charger in the box
- No 4K video recording for the front camera
- Heats up quickly on intesntive use