Nothing Phone (4a) launched in India with Glyph Bar, periscope camera; (4a) Pro gets a metal body and Glyph Matrix
Nothing Phone (4a) and Phone (4a) Pro are now official after weeks of dramatic teasers and almost no leaks about the Pro variant. These smartphones represent Nothing’s most advanced offerings for 2026, aiming to deliver a flagship-like experience while filling the gap left by the absence of the Phone (4). The Phone (4a) is the standard model in the lineup, starting at Rs 31,999, while the Phone (4a) Pro sits in the upper mid-range segment, priced at Rs 39,999. Both devices feature Nothing’s signature transparent design, but with their own distinct twists — the Phone (4a) introduces a new Glyph Bar, while the Pro model adopts a refined semi-transparent design.
Now, let’s move on to the interesting part, starting with the Phone (4a) Pro.
Table of Contents
Nothing Phone (4a) Pro
The Phone (4a) Pro features possibly the most dramatic designs we’ve seen on a Nothing phone yet. It’s a semi-transparent design with a lot happening in the upper part of the back panel. The smartphone houses the triple rear cameras with the Glyph Matrix from the Phone (3). The camera placement is quirky, with one sensor on top and the other two at the bottom. It’s a metal body, and the Phone (4a) Pro comes in three colours: black, silver, and pink.
Nothing Phone (4a) Pro is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 chipset, which is a decent chipset, and its performance is something we’ll have to see later. The camera setup includes a 50MP main camera, a 50MP periscope camera with 3.5x optical zoom, and an 8MP ultra-wide camera. For selfies, there’s a 32MP front camera on the Phone (4a) Pro.
Show Full Article
The smartphone packs a 5,400mAh battery with 50W fast charging support. It has an IP65 rating for dust and water resistance. Up front is a 6.83-inch 1.5K Flexible AMOLED display with a 144Hz refresh rate and 5000 nits peak brightness, and Gorilla Glass 7i protection.
On the software front, the Phone (4a) Pro runs Nothing OS 4.1, powered by Android 16 out of the box. It will get three years of Android updates and 6 years of security patches. Nothing offers a clean software experience with no third-party apps, so if you’re someone who doesn’t like a cluttered UI, the Phone (4a) will be a good choice.
Nothing Phone (4a)
Nothing Phone (4a) features a 6.78-inch LTPS AMOLED display with a 30Hz to 120Hz adaptive refresh rate, 4,500 nits peak brightness, and 800 nits typical brightness. The smartphone also gets Gorilla Glass 7i protection on top. It’s powered by the Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 chipset, which would be a generational upgrade over the Phone (3a)’s Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 (review), suggesting notable performance improvements. The smartphone also comes with LPDDR4X RAM and UFS 3.1 storage, another upgrade.
The smartphone comes with a 5,400mAh battery, which is a marginal upgrade from 5,000mAh on the (3a). The Phone (3a) manages to last almost a full day with full settings enabled, so the Phone (4a) should be more reliable in terms of battery life. But the Phone (4a) might fall short among rivals who are offering at least 7,000mAh and even more. The good news is that Nothing is offering a 5,400mAh battery only in India, and a 5,080mAh battery in other markets. Fast charging support remains the same at 50W, which is said to take 64 minutes to reach 100 percent.
Nothing Phone (4a) continues with the same IP64 rating as the Phone (3a). This is minimal protection against dust and water, as phones in the same segment offer up to an IP69K rating. The smartphone is also equipped with 2 high-definition mics and dual-stereo speakers. You also get an in-display optical fingerprint sensor on the Phone (4a).
The Phone (4a) also gets the Essential Key, now placed on the left side. It also debuts a new AI feature called ‘Essential Voice’, which will be rolled out via an OTA update soon after launch. Nothing says that this feature “turns your speech into clear, well-structured text, removing filler words, fixing mistakes and adapting tone for messages, emails or more formal writing, while still sounding like you.”
You can also speak in one language and instantly get text in another. Essential Voice is available in 12 languages, including English and Hindi.
New Glyph Bar on the Phone (4a)
Nothing Phone (4a) debuts a new Glyph Bar, which is a vertical strip of six LEDs and 63 mini-LEDs, along with the red recording LED, a first for the A series. The Glyph Bar sits on the right side of the cameras and lights up for notifications, apps, and other features. Some of these include Glyph Timer, Essential Notifications, Live Notifications, Glyph Torch, Glyph Progress, Bedtime schedule, and Camera Countdown. The Glyph Bar also gets 10 new ringtones, notification sounds, and generative ringtones as well.
Periscope debuts on the A series
The biggest upgrade for the Nothing Phone (4a) is the 50MP Samsung JN5 periscope camera with 3.5x optical zoom, 7x in-sensor zoom, and 70x Ultra zoom. With a periscope camera, the Phone (4a) should deliver improved detail in zoomed-in shots and portraits. This would give an edge to the Phone (4a) over other mid-range rivals, but we’d still have to see how it performs in real-world scenarios. The main camera is a 50MP Samsung GN9 sensor with OIS and EIS, accompanied by an 8MP Sony IMX355 ultra-wide camera.
With this setup, the Phone (4a) offers a versatile built-in photography kit for enthusiasts and regular users. While we’d still have to test the cameras out, it’s still a good setup on paper.
Nothing Phone (4a) series India pricing
| Variants | Nothing Phone (4a) price | Nothing Phone (4a) Pro price |
| 8GB + 128GB | Rs 31,999 | Rs 39,999 |
| 8GB + 256GB | Rs 34,999 | Rs 42,999 |
| 12GB + 256GB | Rs 37,999 | Rs 45,999 |
Pre-orders for the Nothing Phone (4a) start today with an exclusive first drop on March 5th at the Nothing Bengaluru Store, and general sales from March 13th onwards. Phone (4a) Pro will be available to pre-order on March 13th with exclusive drops on the 21st, and sales from the 27th.
The Nothing Phone (4a) stands out for its unique design, versatile cameras, and a decent set of hardware. The handset should suffice for a daily driver, but it might not appeal to those who prefer larger batteries or top-tier performance. So if anyone wants a daily driver that gets the job done, the Phone (4a) should be capable enough, but those who prefer top-end hardware may want to consider rivals. The Phone (4a) Pro shares most of the specifications with the (4a), but can recommended over it for better performance a more interactive Glyph Matrix design.
