The Nothing Phone 3a Lite brings a decent performance and a unique design. But is it enough to survive in this price segment?
The Nothing Phone 3a Lite packs a triple-camera setup on the rear panel.
Nothing is consistently expanding its portfolio in India. We have the CMF sub-brand that takes care of the budget segment, while the 'a' and number series handle the mid-range and premium segment, respectively. However, there was a slight gap for customers to transition from the CMF to Nothing-branded smartphones. To sort this out, the brand introduced its entry-level 'a' series smartphone with the launch of the Nothing Phone 3a Lite. The latest handset comes with a price tag of Rs. 20,999 for the 8GB + 128GB model, and the 8GB + 256GB model costs Rs. 22,999. That said, does it really make sense to go for the Nothing Phone 3a Lite in 2025? Let's try to figure it out.
The Nothing Phone 3a Lite is available in black and white colour options.
The Nothing Phone 3a Lite follows the legacy of Nothing when it comes to design. You get the same iconic transparent back panel and Glyph interface as on other Nothing-branded smartphones. The device is available in two colour options: Black and White. I got the White colour option for the review, and it sure looks premium, though the black colour option looks more minimalistic, to be honest. For me, I would have preferred the Black colour option over the white one, though it all boils down to personal preference.
Moving on, the transparent black panel is protected with Panda Glass, and you get a Nothing Phone 3-inspired camera module present at the top-left corner. The back is flat, and the protruding camera sensor does not make it wobble on the flat surface. The weight distribution is good, and you will not feel top-heavy, which is the case with some smartphones.
The handset features black-coloured buttons, which adds a good look overall.
The frame is made of aluminium, which is a good thing, and you also get an IP54 rating. The rating can feel a bit underwhelming, given that the competition offers much better ingress protection at the same price point. The button placement is decent on both sides. The right side features a power on/off button and a dedicated Essential Key, while the volume controls are on the left. The buttons are easy to reach and provide good tactile feedback.
The Nothing Phone 3a Lite features a 6.77-inch Full HD+ AMOLED 10-bit display. You also get 120Hz of adaptive screen refresh rate, 1000Hz touch sampling rate, 3,000nits of peak brightness, and more. The display is protected with Panda Glass.
The Nothing Phone 3a Lite features a 6.77-inch 1.5K pOLED display.
That said, the display is similar to the one present in the CMF Phone 2 Pro. And the result is similar to the CMF one: you get a good AMOLED screen in this price point.
The flat display delivers rich colours, and you can also change the colour profiles in the display settings using Alive and Normal modes. The Alive mode is enabled by default and makes colours appear brighter. The phone also has HDR10+ certification, which is interesting because it means you can easily stream HDR material on Netflix and YouTube.
Next, the 120Hz screen refresh rate can now run all the time, which is a nice touch. This makes the scrolls and swipes feel considerably more responsive. The brightness is also better, and you won't have any trouble using it in direct sunshine.
The handset offers an AMOLED display, which is vibrant and crisp.
It also has a fingerprint sensor built into the screen that works quickly and reliably. That said, the only thing that makes the experience less enjoyable is the mono speaker configuration. In 2025, this is a little disappointing because other companies in the same price range are delivering better sound quality. The down-firing speaker sounds good, but not as well as I thought it would.
The Nothing Phone 3a Lite runs the latest version of Nothing OS 3.5, which is based on Android 15. More importantly, this is the first Nothing-branded smartphone that comes pre-installed with third-party applications. However, it is not as bloated as some user interfaces are in this price range. You have two applications, Facebook and Instagram, on your smartphone that you can delete. You also get Glance on the lock screen, which can be disabled again.
The handset runs on NothingOS 3.5, which is based on the Android 15 operating system.
That being said, the user interface is still minimalistic and simple to use. You can choose between the standard and Dot Matrix layouts on your Phone 3a Lite. We have already discussed the user interface for the Nothing Phone 3a Pro; you can view it here.
The Nothing Phone 3a Lite is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Pro processor, which is also found in the CMF Phone 2 Pro. You also get 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB of internal storage, which can be expanded using a microSD card slot. I have compiled some synthetic benchmarks comparing the new Nothing device with similarly-priced smartphones, which you can check here:
| Benchmarks | Nothing Phone 3a Lite | Poxo X7 Pro | CMF Phone 2 Pro | OnePlus Nord CE5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Display resolution | FHD+ | FHD+ | FHD+ | FHD+ |
| Chipset | MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Pro | Dimensity 8400 Ultra (4nm) | MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Pro | Dimensity 8350 Ultimate (4nm) |
| AnTuTu v10 | 9,50,898 | 16,02,933 | 6,91,275 | 14,12,373 |
| PCMark Work 3.0 | 11,662 | 14,628 | 12,102 | 13,435 |
| Geekbench 6 Single | 1018 | 1,549 | 1,013 | 1,317 |
| Geekbench 6 Multi | 2993 | 6,216 | 2,928 | 3,989 |
| Geekbench AI CPU (Quantised) | 2076 | NA | NA | NA |
| Geekbench AI GPU (Quantised) | 580 | NA | NA | NA |
| 3DM Wild Life | 3139 | Maxed Out | 3,148 | Maxed Out |
| 3DM Wild Life Unlimited | 3145 | 13,102 | 3,148 | 11,038 |
| 3DM Steel Nomad Light | NA | NA | NA | NA |
In daily use, you will not feel much struggle or lag. Whether you are scrolling through Reels or Shorts, reading some interesting blog on Chrome, or simply browsing Amazon, the phone does not feel stuttery at all. To be honest, the MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Pro is not a top performer in this segment, but it also doesn't lag behind the competition.
The handset is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Pro processor.
The chipset can also easily handle major titles like BGMI and Call of Duty: Mobile, but you need to keep the settings low to avoid lag. That being said, this one does an excellent job of keeping cool, and it didn't become too hot over the whole gaming session.
The Nothing Phone 3a Lite features a triple-camera setup on the rear panel.
The Nothing Phone 3a Lite features a triple-camera setup on the rear panel, which is quite different from the CMF Phone 2 Pro. While the latter features the same 50-megapixel primary sensor, the Phone 2 Pro comes with a telephoto sensor, which is currently missing on this smartphone. Instead, the brand has added a 2-megapixel macro lens.
Nothing Phone 3a Lite daylight camera samples taken using the primary lens. (Tap to Open)
Coming to the performance, the Nothing Phone 3a Lite primary camera does an above-average job in capturing images. Although you can get a good amount of contrasts, the dynamic range is limited. The colours look decent, though in some cases they seem a bit muted.
The phone lacks a telephoto sensor, but you get a 2x digital zoom option. However, the results are similar, and in some cases, you might see a bit of softness and upscaling by the algorithm.
Nothing Phone 3a Lite daylight camera samples taken using a wide-angle lens. (Tap to Open)
The wide-angle lens performs well enough. The photos taken with the sensor showed slightly warmer tones, while the colours were slightly washed out. The macro sensor does a decent job, and you can click decent photos.
Nothing Phone 3a Lite low-light camera samples. (Tap to Open)
In low light, the results are more or less the same. The primary sensor takes average photos during the testing period. The colours were maintained, but you can still see some background noise. The wide-angle sensor also delivered okayish performance. Although the colours were slightly better compared to daylight, the details were missing.
The Nothing Phone 3a Lite 5G comes with a 5,000 mAh battery. The phone delivers more than a day's battery life with moderate to normal usage. If you are a power user, then you can easily get one full day of battery backup.
The handset packs a 5,000mAh battery, which can last one full day with moderate usage.
The phone lasted 18 hours and 21 minutes in the PC Mark Work 3.0 Battery Life test, which is decent considering the price range. The handset also supports 33W fast charging, though the brand does not ship the charging brick. With a 75W GaN charger, I got 0 to 53 percent in 30 minutes, while it took 1 hour and 10 minutes to charge to 100 percent.
To conclude, the Nothing Phone 3a Lite is a good attempt by the company to bridge its CMF and number series. However, the product seems to be a mixed bag when it comes to the overall experience. Although the design still stands out, it has surely crafted its recall value among the customers. The display is vibrant and sharp, and you will enjoy binge-watching on this smartphone.
The performance is decent for the price, and the battery life is good. The user interface is clean as always, and it remains one of my favourite UI of 2025. However, the camera quality is average to be honest, and you will find better models in a similar price range that deliver way better camera performance. The phone will face a lot of heat from the likes of Poco X7 Pro (Review), OnePlus Nord CE5 (Review), Motorola G67 Power (Review), and more.
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