Nothing Phone 3a Series Teased at MWC 2025: Design and Chipset Revealed

Key Takeaways

1. The Nothing Phone (3a) and Phone (3a) Pro will launch on March 4, featuring the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 chipset for balanced performance and efficiency.

2. The Phone (3a) Pro boasts significant camera upgrades, including a 50MP primary camera with OIS, a 50MP telephoto lens with a periscope design, an 8MP ultrawide lens, and a 50MP selfie camera.

3. The telephoto lens offers impressive zoom capabilities, including 3x optical zoom, 6x in-sensor zoom, and a 60x “ultra” zoom feature.

4. In comparison to competitors, Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Ultra uses an older sensor for its telephoto lens, which may impact its performance against the new Nothing devices.

5. The official unveiling of the Nothing Phone (3a) series is set for today at 10 AM GMT.

The Nothing Phone (3a) and Phone (3a) Pro are set to launch on March 4, which has got everyone excited. Before the big reveal, Nothing has provided fans with a sneak peek of the devices. Displayed at Qualcomm’s booth during MWC 2025 in Barcelona, Spain, the phones showcased their design and featured the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 chipset, which is designed to offer a good mix of performance and efficiency.

Enhanced Camera Features

During the event, Akis Evangelidis, co-founder of Nothing, pointed out that there are “significant improvements in the camera area.” Earlier teasers have indicated that the camera configuration of the (3a) Pro includes a 50MP “Shake Free” primary camera with optical image stabilization (OIS), a 50MP telephoto lens that has a periscope design, an 8MP ultrawide lens made by Sony, and a 50MP selfie camera.

Rumors suggest that the periscope telephoto lens provides 3x optical zoom, 6x in-sensor zoom, and a remarkable 60x “ultra” zoom feature. Until now, Nothing has only included two rear cameras – a main and an ultrawide – so it’s exciting to see the pro model adding a periscope telephoto lens, which, along with the 3x optical zoom, hints at a relatively large sensor size.

Comparison with Competitors

For context, Samsung is still using an older 1/3.52″ (10MP) sensor for its 3x telephoto lens in the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Other models in that series utilize an even tinier 1/1.3.94″ sensor for this purpose. If you’re curious about Samsung’s performance in this area, the Galaxy S25 Ultra holds the 24th position in DxOMark’s camera ranking.

It’s important to remember that smartphone photography also depends a lot on software processing, and AI has become a recent addition to this. For instance, devices like the Xiaomi 15 Ultra automatically activate AI enhancements as soon as you reach 20x zoom. As a newcomer in the smartphone market, it will be interesting to see how Nothing stacks up against more established brands.

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