It also makes me wonder how Nothing came up with the idea of making a phone so unconventional at a price I least expected, given how much effort goes into designing a new product from the ground up. Most importantly, it’s a phone that feels truly unique, almost as if I am wearing a statement watch.

I have been using the Phone 4a Pro for a few days now, since I first saw it at its launch in London. It’s nice to see a tone set from the outset, a device that feels remarkably coherent from start to finish, something the young tech brand is known for yet still feels so mainstream at the same time. 

Here is my review of the Nothing Phone 4a Pro.

What: Nothing Phone 4a Pro | Price: Rs 39,999 onwards (US $499, £549)

The Phone 4a Pro has a distinctive design, like Nothing’s previous phones, but it also follows the design language seen in other leading phones on the market. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

Design that warrants your attention 

I am very particular about the phones I choose to review. They need to have style, and I need to genuinely like them. If something moves me, it grabs my interest. Just like a watch that stays on your wrist, a phone has its own energy, and you interact with it constantly throughout the day.

As a brand, Nothing has a vibe; it’s unconventional, and only purists understand. The Phone 4a Pro is abstract, but when you get deeper, it is secretly a mainstream phone. Well, it’s true. 

You really have to hold the Phone 4a Pro in your own hands to believe it, without a case. It’s very light, though not as thin and light as the iPhone Air. I prefer my phones to be 6.1 inches or less, but despite its large 6.8-inch screen, the Phone 4a Pro is comfortable to use with one hand and fits in my pocket without popping out. Honestly, the phone feels smaller than it actually is.

I knew almost immediately that the Phone 4a Pro would divide opinion. It was an instinct. The back of the phone features a unibody aluminium design, not glass or Nothing’s trademark see-through look. It’s a departure from Nothing’s design philosophy. 

Nothing Phone 4a Pro is rated IP65 for dust and water resistance. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

Instead, the Phone 4a Pro’s aesthetics are akin to a high-end Apple product. Undoubtedly, it’s a beautiful phone, like a fine jewellery watch. At the same time, the Phone 4a Pro feels sturdier and more substantial. 

I like how Nothing has switched to an aluminium design, which is a staple among many premium phones. That might help consumers take Nothing more seriously, as it has often been seen as a brand that designs tech products that look like toys. Change is good – after all. 

But Nothing isn’t ready to submit to conventional norms, at least not for now. And I am glad the brand is sticking to what it does best: bringing its own Midas touch to the design. 

One of the oddest things Nothing has done with the Phone 4a Pro is draw attention to the top rear of the phone. Quite literally. It’s a whole world of its own. I have seen other brands do various things to make the back of a phone more exciting. For instance, last year Xiaomi put a second screen on the back of the 17 Pro that displays the time and notifications, can be used for selfies with the main camera, and can even run some games.

Nothing Phone 4a Pro (right) next to the Headphone 1 (right). Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

It’s always interesting and often thought-provoking. This one is different.

Nothing has added a circular “Glyph” matrix LED display instead of a regular colour screen. It’s over 50 per cent larger than the one fitted to the flagship Phone 3 that debuted last year, and while it has fewer mini-LEDs, they shine twice as brightly. It supports all the Glyph features that were available on the Phone 3, but the one I liked most was the charging feedback. 

Drop the phone face down at night, plug it in, and the Glyph shows the charging percentage at a glance. I also liked the always-on feature, which keeps the Glyph display lit. There’s no need to pick it up or tap the screen: it’s always on and ready to check the time at night.

I think the Glyph display is a peak Nothing moment; it’s half practical and half gimmick. Some may question its usability, but I find it a lot of fun in how the Glyph display is integrated into the user interface. There are reasons for it, of course, but it still feels a bit bizarre. I suppose it shouldn’t be surprising- after all, phones are functional, but someone like me sees them as an expression of culture. You are making a statement through your phone.

There’s something refreshing about the Phone 4a Pro’s design, and it’s not as straightforward as you might think. I believe this device warrants your attention. The camera plateau is a mishmash of ideas; if the Glyph display acts as a secondary display with a twist, the red square on the back lights up when you are recording video or voice. They each serve a different purpose. Very intentional, I would say.

The Phone 4a Pro features an enlarged Glyph Matrix to show you important information from the back of your phone. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

Noticeably better performance

I will be honest: the quality of screens on high-end phones peaked years ago. Pick up any premium phone, and it comes with a bright, high-res, vibrant display. The Phone 4a Pro is no different but this is a mid-range phone, and seeing this quality of display genuinely shocked me. The Phone 4a Pro has an outstanding flexible AMOLED screen. It’s not only bigger, at 6.83 inches, but also has a higher refresh rate of 144Hz. Although its 5000-nit peak claim only applies to a small part of the screen and only when displaying HDR content, it’s nonetheless the best screen on a Nothing phone. 

I can vouch for that. I watched My Oxford Year on Netflix during a flight from Los Angeles earlier this week, and it easily matches the screen quality of far more expensive smartphones. It’s quite an achievement. The sound quality is a definite improvement over previous Nothing phones. It’s a bit tricky to explain, or even differentiate, since I am not an audio expert or audiophile, but I can tell you one thing: it sounds amazing.

Performance isn’t the biggest story here, but Nothing claims the Phone 4a Pro’s Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 chipset delivers a noticeably better experience than before. Frankly, it performs just as well: fast and fluid, exactly as you would expect from a mid-range phone. It depends a lot on your needs. If you are only doing basic tasks like browsing the web, sending messages, checking emails, watching videos, and taking photos, the Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 is more than capable. 

There’s room for powerful gaming as well. I played Genshin Impact, a graphics-intensive game, and my review unit never got hot, with performance remaining consistent throughout. But I would still say, if you are a heavy mobile gamer, look elsewhere. My review unit came with 12GB RAM and 256GB of internal storage. 

The battery lasts almost a full day. Using it as my primary device with hundreds of emails, messages, and push notifications, around 4–5 hours of streaming music on Bluetooth headphones, an hour of Netflix, a quick game, and about 10 photos taken a day, I would say the Phone 4a Pro’s battery life is very good. That means it can easily last from 8 am until late evening, even for a heavy phone user like me. The device supports 50W wired charging. There’s no wireless charging support, though. 

Nothing’s black-and-white interface is so refreshing. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

Nothing OS is not for everyone 

The Phone 4a Pro runs Nothing’s version of Android 16, which offers a distinct look. It’s minimalist, distraction-free, fast, and offers a unique experience filled with thoughtful design touches inspired by dot-matrix art. I love the user interface. I grew up on Nintendo products and games, and it reminds me of my childhood. 

There are plenty of customisation options to tailor the phone’s look and feel, including monochrome modes and themes, but overall it’s just a bit more fun than most versions of Android, though it won’t appeal to everyone. You can always switch to a standard, vanilla Android interface if you prefer. Nothing has promised three years of Android updates and six years of security updates.

AI is integrated into the interface, with direct access to ChatGPT right out of the box. However, the main AI feature is the Essential AI tools, which have been available on Nothing phones for quite some time. They are powered by the Essential Key (located on the left-hand side of the phone), which also doubles as a dedicated screenshot trigger. The main purpose of Essential Space is to use AI to organise notes, ideas, screenshots, and other similar content.

A lot is going inside that camera module, believe it or not. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

Solid cameras for a mid-range phone 

The main lens features a 50MP sensor with an f/1.88 aperture, along with a 50MP 3.5x telephoto lens and an 8MP ultra-wide sensor at the rear, plus a 32MP front-facing selfie camera. 

I have found the Phone 4a Pro’s cameras to be a mix of good, bad, and great. The good news is that the main camera performs well in almost all lighting conditions. In bright daylight, the pictures are sharp and have a true-to-life colour balance. They don’t feel oversharpened or oversaturated in any way. The 3.5x zoom camera is arguably the best of the lot, producing nicely detailed images with reasonable reach.  The night mode shots are awesome, to my surprise. It’s a solid camera with good sharpness and wide dynamic range.

Nothing also offers up to 140x zoom, which it claims is a world first. However, I found the AI corrections to be poor, and zooming that far, even on a very high-resolution camera, often looks terrible without some form of upscaling. I am also not too impressed with the 8MP ultra-wide lens. That said, the photos look great if you are just posting them on social media or sending them in a messaging app, which is what 99 per cent of people do.

Nothing Phone 4a Pro camera sample. Image resized for web.
Nothing Phone 4a Pro camera sample. Image resized for web.
Nothing Phone 4a Pro camera sample. Image resized for web.
Nothing Phone 4a Pro camera sample. Image resized for web.
Nothing Phone 4a Pro camera sample. Image resized for web.
Nothing Phone 4a Pro camera sample. Image resized for web.
Nothing Phone 4a Pro camera sample. Image resized for web.
Nothing Phone 4a Pro camera sample. Image resized for web.
Nothing Phone 4a Pro camera sample. Image resized for web.
Nothing Phone 4a Pro camera sample. Image resized for web.
Nothing Phone 4a Pro camera sample. Image resized for web.
Nothing Phone 4a Pro camera sample. Image resized for web.

However, I found the AI corrections to be poor, and zooming that far, even on a very high-resolution camera, often looks terrible without some form of upscaling. I am also not too impressed with the 8MP ultra-wide lens. That said, the photos look great if you are just posting them on social media or sending them in a messaging app, which is what 99 per cent of people do. Don’t expect the Phone 4a Pro’s cameras to reach the levels of the iPhone 17 Pro Max and the Galaxy S26 Ultra, but I’ve seen consistent camera improvements year over year on Nothing phones. 

The Nothing Phone 4a Pro has received a polarised reaction, and I had a feeling that would happen when I first saw the device in London a few days ago. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

So, should you buy the Nothing Phone 4a Pro?

I think the Phone 4a Pro, which you could compare to what Seiko or Citizen are to watches, is a make-or-break moment for Nothing. If you ask me, the Phone 4a Pro fulfils its intentions as a design object. It’s a designer phone for a mainstream audience, a first for a Nothing phone in my opinion. I can see Nothing taking cues from how Apple and Nintendo design their products.  I make no judgment against anyone who likes it – there is, after all, no arguing in matters of taste. Every little design element on the Phone 4a Pro screams “cool” to me, yet the device remains a fully functional product. At the end of it all, the most basic foundation of a phone is the experience it offers. At Rs 40,000, the Phone 4a Pro hits that sweet spot, balancing a designer phone with mainstream elements.