The Nothing Phone 4a Pro has an outstanding design to challenge the Pixel 10a
If design is an important aspect of a smartphone for you, it is possible that nothing has come to your attention. Founded by former OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei, the company has focused heavily on design to stand out from the crowd, and the latest, the Nothing Phone 4a Pro, continues this trend.
Announced today in London, the Phone 4a Pro is Nothing’s most mature smartphone released to date, both in hardware and design. It features some of the best specs yet on a Nothing phone, but it also shows the company’s willingness to evolve its design while listening to customers.
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The result is a phone with an outstanding design, albeit with one key to alert. I met the Nothing Phone 4a Pro now in London, and here’s what I found.
The Phone 4a Pro has a bold design
Make no mistake: the Phone 4a Pro has the best Nothing Phone design yet. Unlike the Phone 4a – more on that below – which (re)introduces the Glyph bar, the Phone 4a Pro brings back the same Glyph Matrix display from last year’s Phone 3, but fixes all the main complaints with that implementation.
The two main challenges with the Phone 3, which was the first to replace the Glyphs with a dot display, were that you had to press a button to turn on or use the display, and that the display was so small it was easy to miss. The Phone 4a Pro fixes both problems with a large, easy-to-see Glyph Matrix display, making it intuitive to use.
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I like how the Glyph Matrix display now feels like an integrated part of the camera design, unlike the Phone 3, where it felt like an afterthought. This also highlights the cameras, which is another area where Nothing has stepped up its A series phones with this latest launch.
The Phone 4a Pro has a good camera on paper
Priced at $499 or £499, the Nothing Phone 4a Pro is priced to compete directly with the Google Pixel 10a. Besides the bold design, the camera of the Nothing Phone 4a Pro can put the Pixel 10a on notice.
Google’s new entry-level Pixel features a single 48MP camera, and although Google can work its magic with excellent software processing, it’s hard to see how it can compete with Nothing, as the Phone 4a Pro has a 50MP main camera, an 8MP ultrawide, and a 50MP periscope telephoto lens that offers 3.5,40x optical zoom 1.
Of course, it’s more than just hardware, and I’ll need to test this camera more, but this setup could set a new standard for the affordable smartphone segment. The improved 32MP front-facing camera can do the same, however, although much of this will come down to the Nothing camera’s processing.
The rest of the specs sheet is also respected
Then there are other details, and the Nothing Phone 4a Pro also delivers a solid experience here. It’s powered by a Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 processor, which isn’t the absolute best but should be more than good enough, and is paired with 8GB or 12GB of RAM and 128GB or 256GB of storage.
The Phone 4a Pro should also be impressive in its battery life, with the international model having a 5,080 mAh battery, while the Indian version gets a 5,400 mAh battery. This is paired with a 50W wired charger that Nothing promises will charge the phone to 50% in 22 minutes, but given the metal unibody design – and the fact that it’s an A-series device – there’s no wireless charging.
The Phone 4a has one thing the Phone 4a Pro doesn’t
There is only one area that I wish Nothing could be bolder in its choice: colors. While the Phone 4a Pro has a great design, its non-Pro sibling has a better range of colors.
The Phone 4a Pro comes in Pink, Black, and Silver, while the Phone 4a comes in Pink, Black, White, and Blue. But that doesn’t tell the full picture: the Phone 4a features a plastic body, which allows its colors to be more vibrant than the Phone 4a Pro’s, which also means that the Phone 4a Pro lacks the vibrancy and appeal of its non-Pro sibling.
Although this is similar to other phone manufacturers, who tend to reserve their most vivid colors for low-cost devices, it is worth recommending Nothing at least for offering a Pink color. The metal unibody changes color in the light – so it’s pink in some cases and closer to silver in others – but it’s still a great option.
I like the Phone 4a Pro more than I expected
The Nothing Phone 4a Pro stands out for a few reasons, but the other two not mentioned are the build and overall thickness.
The Phone 4a Pro features a full metal unibody design unlike anything else in this price segment. What’s even more impressive is that it manages to pack all these features into a slim 7.9mm body, making it the thinnest phone of Nothing, and resulting in a unique feel in the hand.
The Nothing Phone 4a Pro is available for pre-order on March 13 with general availability on March 27. Based on my first impressions and the starting price of $499/£499, this could be one of the best budget phones you can buy in 2026, though I’ll reserve my final judgment for a full review.
