Leaked Nothing Phone 3a and 3a Pro renders tease a mid-range phone that should have Samsung worried

Close up of Nothing Phone 2a showing its glyph lighting
(Image credit: Future / James Ide)

  • Seemingly leaked renders of the Nothing Phone 3a and 3a Pro show both phones with three cameras
  • The addition of a third camera could increase competition with Samsung
  • The Nothing Phone 3a and 3a Pro are expected on March 4

The long-rumored Nothing Phone 3a and Phone 3a Pro are due to launch on March 4, but thanks to a new leak we may already have a clear idea of what the new phones are going to look like.

Leaked renders shared by Android Headlines have seemingly given us a full view of both models from a variety of angles, with their respective frames and camera systems clearly visible.

The Nothing 3a and 3a Pro were heavily rumored to feature a third camera (in both cases an optically zoomed telephoto lens), and these renders corroborate that prediction, which should have expectant Nothing fans excited.

While the leaked 3a Pro render features a lens cutout in the recognizable elongated shape common to many telephoto lenses, the 3a features three circular lenses. According to Android Headlines, these differing shapes allude to a higher-powered 3x zoom on the 3a Pro (with up to 60x digital zoom), and a lower-powered 2x optical zoom on the 3a (with up to 30x digital zoom).

The report adds that the camera systems are otherwise similar, with a 50MP main camera, an 8MP ultra-wide camera, and a 50MP telephoto camera across both models.

The phones also apparently differ in their selfie camera resolution, with the Phone 3a sporting a 32MP selfie snapper and the 3a Pro bumping that figure up to 50MP.

These renders give us a good look at some other design elements of the upcoming Nothing phones, too. Specifically, the glyph design returns with three segments (similar to the glyph design on the Phone 2a), while both phones also feature a flat screen with a punch-hole selfie camera, a round camera island on the rear panel, and a ringer switch alongside the standard power and volume buttons.

Nothing Phone 2a MWC back angled alt

The Nothing Phone 2a (Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)

In any case, the addition of a third camera on Nothing’s mid-range handsets puts the company in direct competition with Samsung, which is the only major phone maker to routinely fit three cameras to its mid-range handsets.

Granted, the third camera fitted to a mid-range Samsung Galaxy smartphone is rarely a telephoto camera – in fact, the only mid-range Galaxy that currently features one is the Galaxy S24 FE, which costs a not-insubstantial $649.99 / £649 / AU$1,099.

The current mid-range offerings from Nothing include the Nothing Phone 2a and 2a Plus. At launch, the Nothing Phone 2a cost $349 / £319 / AU$675, and the Nothing Phone 2a Plus cost $399 / £399 / AU$639.

So, unless the Nothing Phone 3a and Nothing Phone 3a Pro are substantially more expensive than their predecessors, there’s a solid chance they’ll become the cheapest globally available phones with an optical telephoto camera. That’ll give them a decent chance of making it onto our list of the best cheap phones.

What do you think of these leaked renders? Which features do you want to see come to the Nothing Phone 3a and 3a Pro? Let us know in the comments below.

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Jamie Richards
Mobile Computing Staff Writer

Jamie is a Mobile Computing Staff Writer for TechRadar, responsible for covering phones and tablets. He’s been tech-obsessed from a young age and has written for various news and culture publications. Jamie graduated from Goldsmiths, University of London in 2024 with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism. Since starting out as a music blogger in 2020, he’s worked on local news stories, finance trade magazines, and multimedia political features. He brings a love for digital journalism and consumer technology to TechRadar. Outside of the TechRadar office, Jamie can be found binge-watching tech reviews, DJing in local venues around London, or challenging friends to a game of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

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