The Nothing Telephone universe continues to increase. On Wednesday, the corporate launched the fourth mannequin within the Telephone 3 lineup: the Nothing Telephone 3a Lite. The most affordable mannequin within the sequence, the Telephone 3a Lite pairs the model’s distinct styling with strong all-around specs for an entry-level handset. Nonetheless, with the corporate saying its non-flagship gadgets will quickly embody pre-installed apps and lock-screen advertisements, there could also be a trade-off.
First, Nothing instructed Engadget that the telephone will not come to the US. So, Individuals solely have the earlier trio of third-gen handsets to select from. That is the Nothing Telephone 3, Nothing Telephone 3a, and Nothing Telephone 3a Professional.
The Nothing Telephone 3a Lite makes use of a Panda Glass casing over an aluminum inside body. As you possibly can see, it retains some acquainted design strokes, albeit pared right down to match its €249 value. As the corporate describes it, the handset’s “uneven, clear look and nano-coating creates a ravishing steadiness of matte and gloss.” (Poetry!) The telephone ships in white and black variants. Whether or not Nothing’s design language is your cup of tea or not, you will be hard-pressed to discover a extra placing and daring design language in a finances mannequin.
The handset consists of the Important Key, a multi-purpose bodily button discovered on all Telephone 3 sequence fashions. The telephone is IP54-rated for mud and water resistance.
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Nothing honors the model’s distinctive Glyph system (whereas protecting prices down) through the use of a notification LED. (Keep in mind these on early Android telephones?) This mannequin’s “Glyph Mild” helps the lineup’s Flip to Glyph characteristic, which switches to light-only alerts when the system is face down. The LED can keep on for “key contact and app notifications” and function a digital camera countdown timer. It’s also possible to customise its mild sequences for calls and particular contacts.
The handset has a hearty 5,000 mAh battery. Nothing advertises 22 hours of YouTube playback or 9.5 hours of gaming. It helps 33W quick charging, reaching 50 % in about 20 minutes.
The Telephone 3a Lite has a triple-camera system. That features a 50MP main digital camera with a 1/1.57-inch Samsung sensor. Becoming a member of it are an 8MP ultra-wide and a macro lens. The rear digital camera system shoots 4K video at app to 30 FPS. On its entrance is a 16MP lens.
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The Nothing Telephone 3a Lite has greater than respectable show specs for a finances telephone. It makes use of a 6.77-inch versatile AMOLED panel with 1,080 x 2,392 decision (387 PPI). It has a 120Hz adaptive refresh price and a 1,000Hz contact sampling price. It could actually attain 3,000 nits peak HDR brightness and 1,300 nits out of doors brightness.
The handset’s processor is the 4nm MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Professional 5G. The 8-core CPU can attain as much as 2.5 GHz. Nothing says the chip performs higher than the MediaTek 7200 silicon in final yr’s Telephone 2a. The corporate claims its CPU is 15 % sooner, its GPU helps 20 % greater FPS, and its NPU delivers 100% higher AI efficiency.
The telephone additionally makes use of a liquid-cooling system, which can assist throughout intensive gaming classes. It ships with 8GB of RAM and is available in 128GB and 256GB storage tiers.
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The telephone runs the Nothing OS 3.5 UI on prime of Android 15. The corporate says Nothing OS 4.0 will arrive within the first half of 2026.
And that brings us again to these trade-offs. Earlier this week, Nothing confirmed to 9to5Google that its technique shifting ahead will embody “Lock Glimpse.” This rotating lock-screen wallpaper characteristic consists of textual content with hyperlinks to exterior content material hosted by a Chinese language promoting firm. (That agency, Boyuan, says it affords a “wealthy combination of content material” to assist its companions “commercialize the cell site visitors.”) Consider it as a barely much less obnoxious model of lock-screen advertisements.
Fortuitously, Lock Glimpse is off by default within the present Nothing OS 4.0 beta. Nothing pledges it’ll give customers “full management over options like Lock Glimpse.” Nonetheless, that promise would not explicitly say the characteristic will stay off by default.
One other cost-subsidizing transfer is Nothing’s (additionally confirmed) embrace of pre-installed apps. The corporate mentioned its “fastidiously thought of” third-party apps are these “most individuals set up on day one, like Instagram.” In equity, that is a typical follow amongst Android telephone producers. And Nothing says it’ll make third-party apps detachable.
However once more, the concessions right here arguably run counter to 1 side of the model’s said ethos: clear, bloat-free software program. And if enterprise concerns compelled compromises on this space, it makes you query how lengthy Lock Glimpse will keep off by default.
The Nothing Telephone 3a Lite is out there now in Europe on the firm web site. The 128GB mannequin prices €249 (EU) / £249 (UK). In the meantime, the 256GB mannequin will set you again €279 (EU) / £279 (UK).
Replace, October 29, 2025, 11:20 AM ET: This story has been up to date so as to add info from Nothing concerning the lack of US availability and extra element from Nothing’s group submit.