Nothing Phone (4a)

The Nothing Phone (4a) is the mid-range phone in Nothing's lineup and the successor to the Phone (3a). It keeps the transparent-looking design and adds a periscope telephoto camera with 3.5x optical zoom, a brighter 6.78-inch AMOLED screen, a new light strip called the Glyph Bar and a larger battery. This page is based on the published specifications and manufacturer information from Nothing's official Phone (4a) product page and its pre-order terms. Statements that come from Nothing's own laboratory or from comparisons with other Nothing phones are marked as manufacturer claims.

Place in the lineup

Nothing opened pre-orders for the Phone (4a) on 5 March 2026 and the UK pre-order terms give 13 March 2026 as the date for first deliveries and pick-ups, which is why that date is used for this entry. The UK store lists the 8GB with 128GB model at 379 pounds; the pages used here do not state a US price, so none is given. Four colours are offered: black, white and two tinted-glass finishes, blue and pink. Memory options are 8GB with 128GB, 8GB with 256GB and 12GB with 256GB. The phone follows the Nothing Phone (3a), which had a 50MP main camera, a 2x telephoto and a 5,000 mAh battery, and it sits below the flagship Nothing Phone (3). The table for Nothing Phone (4a) vs. Nothing Phone (3a) lists the differences in numbers.

Design and display

The Phone (4a) measures 163.9 x 77.5 x 8.5 mm and weighs 205 g. Nothing describes the back as tinted glass over aluminium details and visible internal-looking structure, with high-grade tempered glass on the front and back and more metal inside, which the company says improves bend resistance by 34 percent compared with an earlier model. The phone is rated IP64, meaning protection against splashes and dust, and Nothing states it was tested under 25 cm of water for up to 20 minutes; that is a lower rating than the IP68 offered by some rivals, so it is not designed for swimming or submersion. A red recording light switches on whenever video is being shot, a nod to film cameras.

The display is a 6.78-inch flexible AMOLED panel at 1224 x 2720 pixels (440 ppi), protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 7i. The refresh rate adapts between 30Hz and 120Hz. Nothing lists 800 nits typical brightness, 1600 nits outdoors and 4500 nits peak, and claims the panel is 50 percent brighter than that of the Phone (3a) Pro. The panel has 10-bit colour with 1.07 billion colours, a contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1, 2160Hz PWM dimming and a touch sampling rate of up to 2500Hz. The fingerprint reader is an in-screen optical sensor, and a linear haptic motor provides vibration feedback. The Glyph Bar on the back uses 63 mini-LEDs, which Nothing claims are up to 40 percent brighter than before, and it can show progress for rides, deliveries and timers from supported apps, assign light patterns to contacts and act as a signal when the phone is face down.

Performance and software

The Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 is built on TSMC's 4nm process with eight Kryo cores: one prime core at up to 2.7GHz, three performance cores at up to 2.4GHz and four efficiency cores at up to 1.8GHz, plus an Adreno 810 graphics unit. Memory is LPDDR4X and storage is UFS 3.1. Nothing says the 12GB model can reach 20GB of RAM by borrowing storage, which is a memory extension and not extra physical RAM. In a gaming test the company reports about 116.7 frames per second on average in a mobile battle-royale title at 120 frames per second, with a 4600 mm² vapour cooling system; these are lab numbers.

The software is Nothing OS on Android 16, and the specification page describes it as Nothing OS 4.1. Nothing promises three years of Android updates and six years of security patches, counted from the first availability of the phone on its store. The software includes the Essential tools: Essential Space for saving screenshots, notes and voice memos with summaries, an Essential Key for capturing them, Essential Search, Essential Voice and an Essential Apps builder that creates small tools from plain-language descriptions. Google Gemini is built in, ChatGPT is integrated through widgets, and the gallery has an AI eraser that runs on the device. Availability of some features differs by region.

Camera

This is the biggest step over the predecessor. The triple camera has a 50MP main sensor (1/1.57 inch, f/1.88, optical and electronic stabilisation, phase-detect autofocus), a 50MP periscope telephoto (1/2.75 inch, f/2.88, optical and electronic stabilisation) and an ultrawide camera with a 120-degree field of view, f/2.2 and a 1/4-inch sensor. The periscope gives 3.5x optical zoom, 7x in-sensor zoom and up to 70x "ultra zoom", which is digital and will lose detail at the far end. Nothing says the main sensor captures 64 percent more light than other 1/1.95-inch sensors in the segment. The front camera has 32MP with an f/2.2 lens and an 89-degree field of view, 10 percent wider than the Phone (3a) Pro according to Nothing. TrueLens Engine 4 powers Ultra XDR photos, which merge 13 RAW frames, motion photos, 12-layer AI segmentation for portraits and Night mode. Video goes up to 4K at 30 frames per second, with 1080p at 60, Ultra XDR at 1080p, 120 frames per second slow motion at 1080p and time-lapse. 4K at 60 frames per second is not listed.

Battery and charging

The battery is 5,080 mAh in most markets and 5,400 mAh in India. Nothing quotes 47 hours of voice calls, 26 hours of music and Instagram, and 21 hours of YouTube, all from its laboratory, and states that capacity stays above 90 percent after 1,200 charging cycles. Wired charging is 50W, which Nothing says supplies a day's power in under 30 minutes, with wired reverse charging at 7.5W. The specification list does not mention wireless charging. The charger is not mentioned as included on the pages used here.

Connectivity

The phone supports 5G, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.4, GPS with several satellite systems and NFC, except in India. It takes two nano SIM cards; the specifications say there is no eSIM. Audio is dual stereo speakers with two microphones. No headphone jack is listed.

Who it is for and trade-offs

The Phone (4a) is for buyers who want a distinctive design, a very bright screen and the rare combination of a real periscope telephoto lens in the mid-range, with a clean software experience and a long update promise. Its compromises are the IP64 rating, the lack of an eSIM, a battery that is only moderately larger than before, 7.5W reverse charging and no wireless charging, and the fact that the maximum zoom figure is mostly digital. Readers who want a big battery and charging speed above all can compare it with the POCO X8, and the phone rankings show how it fits among all listed models.