Nothing Phone (4a)

♡

19th best phone of 2026 (~$380)

GSMCritic Take: Featuring a transparent design and interactive Glyph lighting, the phone makes a strong visual impression, though it is bulky. Its telephoto camera performs solidly, while low-light and ultrawide photography is limited.

6.78-inch

205g

8.6mm

50W

not waterproof

Click to open full specs on GSMArena.com:

* Screen covers 87.2% of body.

Reviews

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Last update: 2026-04-01

Pros

Camera

Telephoto Camera: Dedicated 3.5x periscope lens delivers strong zoom performance and stands out in the camera system.

Color Consistency: Cameras maintain consistent color reproduction across different lenses.

Creative Camera Features: Includes LUT integration for in-camera color styling.

Respectable Main Camera: Overall camera performance is described as respectable or excellent for its price.

Performance

Stable Performance: Smooth everyday usage with stable behavior even under sustained workloads.

Excellent Thermal Management: Efficient heat control prevents performance drops during extended use.

Design

Distinctive Design: Transparent exterior with Glyph Bar lighting system creates a highly recognizable and refined aesthetic.

Improved Button Placement: Essential Key placement is considered an improvement.

Display

High-Quality Display: AMOLED panel offers high resolution, 120 Hz refresh rate, and delivers sharp, fluid, and vibrant visuals.

Good Brightness: Display provides good brightness levels for a clear viewing experience.

Battery

Solid Battery Life: Provides dependable endurance suitable for extended daily use.

Software

Functional Glyph System: Glyph Bar acts as both a visual signature and functional lighting system with added features over previous versions.

Clean Software: Nothing OS is fast, uncluttered, responsive, and free from ads or unnecessary additions.

Cons

Camera

Camera Weaknesses: Ultrawide camera is basic, low-light performance is mediocre, night images can be overly soft, selfie camera underperforms, HDR preview is misleading.

Limited High Zoom: Zoom performance beyond 10x is largely unusable.

Removed Feature: Glyph Fill Light has been removed from the camera system.

Performance

Weak Raw Performance: Processing power is underwhelming for its price with only minimal improvement over predecessors.

Design

Large and Heavy: Device is bigger and heavier than competing phones.

Average Durability: Does not stand out in durability and is limited to an IP64 rating.

Poor Fingerprint Placement: Fingerprint sensor is positioned slightly too low, affecting usability.

Battery

Battery Not Class-Leading: Battery life is sometimes described as middling despite being dependable.

No Wireless Charging: Lacks wireless charging capability.

Software

Glyph Limitations: Glyph matrix functionality is somewhat limited and does not fully meet expectations.

Software Support Concerns: Long-term software support is considered less competitive.

Inconsistent AI Features: AI functionality behaves inconsistently.

Connectivity

Missing Connectivity Features: No NFC support and no eSIM functionality outside the Japanese variant.

Rankings

The Best Phone Of 2026: #19

The Highest Optical Zoom Of 2026: #4

The Largest Screen Size Of 2026: #12

The Smallest Screen Size Of 2026: #9

The Lightest Phone Of 2026: #11

The Thinnest Phone Of 2026: #17

The Fastest Charging Speed Of 2026: #16

The Highest Screen To Body Ratio Of 2026: #19

The Cheapest Phone Of 2026: #4