The Nothing Phone (2a) debuted in India recently for a starting price of Rs 23,999. For the price, it offers a good set of specifications and a substantial 5,000mAh battery, which is the highest yet in a Nothing smartphone. In order to test out its performance, we will conduct a battery comparison between the Nothing Phone (2a) and its higher-priced flagship sibling, the Nothing Phone (2), to determine which phone offers superior battery output.
The battery comparison will comprise four tests: 4K video recording, 4K video streaming, a gaming test, and the PCMark battery benchmark. Let’s take a look at the results below:
Table of Contents
4K video recording
In the 4K video recording test, both phones were set to record at 4K 30FPS for 30 minutes to gauge the battery drain. The Nothing Phone (2) wins the round with a battery drop from 100 to 94 percent, whereas the Nothing Phone (2a) declined from 100 to 91 percent in comparison. Here’s a screenshot that shows the battery settings for each smartphone.
| Nothing Phone (2a) | Nothing Phone (2) |
| Battery drain: 9 percent | Battery drain: 6 percent |
Winner: Nothing Phone (2)
4K video streaming
Next, we set both phones to play the same YouTube video at 4K resolution for roughly 35 minutes to check the battery drain, with the brightness cranked to the maximum. Once again, the Nothing Phone (2) wins the round and drops from 93 to 89 percent, while the Phone (2a) falls from 91 to 86 percent.
| Nothing Phone (2a) | Nothing Phone (2) |
| Battery drain: 5 percent | Battery drain: 4 percent |
Winner: Nothing Phone (2)
Gaming test
In the gaming test, we played BGMI set to HDR resolution and Ultra frame rate settings on both phones for roughly 30 minutes each. The gaming round ended with a win for the Nothing Phone (2a) by a small margin, dropping from 83 to 77 percent, and the Phone (2) dropping from 88 to 81 percent.
| Nothing Phone (2a) | Nothing Phone (2) |
| Battery drain: 6 percent | Battery drain: 7 percent |
Winner: Nothing Phone (2a)
PC Mark
The PCMark benchmark assesses how long a smartphone’s battery lasts, from 100 percent to under 20 percent. In the PC Mark test, the Nothing Phone (2) once again impresses with its battery output of 16 hours and 8 minutes compared to the Phone (2a) battery lasting 14 hours 13 minutes. It’s worth noting that the Nothing Phone (2) comes with a 4,700mAh battery, compared to the 5,000mAh cell in the Phone (2a). These results across the PC Mark test and the preceding tests highlight the exceptional battery optimisation of the Phone (2).
| Nothing Phone (2a) | Nothing Phone (2) |
| PC Mark score: 14 hours, 13 minutes | PC Mark score: 16 hours, 8 minutes |
Winner: Nothing Phone (2)
Verdict
The Nothing Phone (2) is the clear winner in terms of battery performance when compared to the Phone (2a), highlighting that bigger is not always better (we’re talking about the battery capacity here). It beats the Phone (2a) when it comes to 4K video recording, 4K video playback, and PC Mark score. Although the Phone (2a) shows slightly better battery retention during gaming, this is just one aspect. While the Phone (2a) may have fallen short in a direct comparison, the differences are not very significant. The Phone (2a) still provides a good battery backup that can easily sustain most users throughout an entire day.
You can hop over to our comprehensive reviews of the Nothing Phone 2a (review) and Phone 2 (review) to learn more about these smartphones.
