Nothing Phone (3a) And Phone (3a) Pro Go Official With Telephoto Cameras From $379

After it struck success with the Phone (2a) series, Nothing is back with more mid-range offerings. The Nothing Phone (3a) and Phone (3a) Pro are built on the same formula, but with key upgrades including the missing telephoto cameras.

The Nothing Phone (3a) and Phone (3a) Pro are both built on the same core platform, starting with the display. A 6.77-inch LTPS AMOLED panel that can adjust between 30Hz-120Hz is paired with a much higher peak brightness of 3,000 nits, more than double that of Phone (2a). The battery on both devices remains the same at 5,000 mAh, but with faster 50W charging. Also upgraded are the build materials, which now includes glass on the backplate. Nothing says this helped in delivering an IP64 dust/water resistance rating, up from IP54.

Under the hood, both devices are using the same Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 chipset, upgraded from a MediaTek chip in last year’s Phone (2a), which Nothing says delivers a 33% performance boost and a 92% boost for AI tasks in particular. That’s paired with 8GB of RAM (with optional virtual RAM) or 12GB of RAM and 128GB or 256GB of storage.

So how do the Nothing Phone (3a) and Phone (3a) Pro differ?

It starts (and mostly ends) with the cameras.

The Nothing Phone (3a) has a 50MP main camera, a 50MP 2x telephoto camera, an 8MP ultrawide camera, and a 32MP front-facing camera. The Nothing Phone (3a) Pro also has a 50MP main camera, a 50MP 2x telephoto camera, an 8MP ultrawide camera, but swaps out the front-facing camera for a third 50MP sensor. The Pro also gets improved sensors for the main and telephoto cameras, namely a Samsung GNJ and Sony LTY-600, respectively.

Another notable difference is that only the Phone (3a) Pro has eSIM support – something that Phone (2a) lacked entirely.

Besides that, differences are primarily aesthetic. The Phone (3a) Pro has a thicker camera module to accommodate the 3x telephoto hardware and is also 10g heavier at 211g total. The Pro also has a wildly different camera arrangement.

Android 15 with Nothing OS 3.1 is available out of the box, and Nothing will provides 6 years of updates for these phones, but only 3 years of Android OS upgrades.

Speaking of software, Nothing is introducing some more new upgrades with Nothing OS 3.1. This includes some tweaks to the Gallery, Camera, and Weather apps. The big new addition is “Essential Space,” though, a new AI-powered experience launching in early access for the Phone (3a) series. The new app is designed to be a “hub” for “notes, ideas, and inspirations.” The dedicated “Essential Key” on the side of both new devices (which cannot be remapped) is used for this feature. Pressing the key takes a screenshot which is then saved in Essential Space. Holding the key down allows you to add a voice recording, while a double-tap opens the app. Nothing says this app will expand to include “Camera Capture, Smart Collections, Focused Search and Flip to Record,” but those have no ETA beyond “the coming months” yet. Phone (3) will presumably include more AI features like this.

Nothing Phone (3a) will be available in white, black, and blue for £379 / $379 / €379 for the 12GB+256GB model. Phone (3a) Pro will cost £449 / $459 / €459 / ₹33,999 for the same variant. Both devices will be available via Nothing’s “Beta Program” in the US as they lack some band support on some carriers in the States. Orders for Phone (3a) start today and will be delivered on March 11, while Phone (3a) Pro will be available to order on March 11 and will be delivered by March 25.

Are you interested?