Nothing has added another member to the Phone (3a) family in the form of the Phone (3a) Lite. As the name suggests, it is a thoughtfully trimmed down phone which brings some noteworthy specs at an incredibly affordable price point. Here is what the new Nothing phone offers.
Nothing Phone (3a) Lite is here with asymmetrical cameras and a single Glyph Light
Kicking things off with the Phone (3a) Lite's design, it brings a stripped down Nothing Phone 3 look in the unmistakable transparent design, a signature of Nothing's identity. It features a clear top Panda Glass with a nano-textured plastic layer underneath, which shows off the smartphone's asymmetrical industrial look.
Just like the Phone 3, the Phone (3a) Lite also brings a misaligned triple rear camera setup at the top, devoid of a camera deco. However, instead of the new Glyph Matrix, the Phone (3a) Lite has resurrected the iconic Glyph LED, now reduced to a single dot.
Nothing is calling this the Glyph Light, and just like the Phone (3a) series, the single white LED dot can respond to calls, app notifications, Essential Notifications and more. It even supports the Flip to Glyph DND functionality and can respond to ringtones and sounds.
At the front, the Phone (3a) Lite features a 6.77-inch Full HD+ 120 Hz flexible AMOLED display with up to 3,000 nits of peak brightness. It even features symmetrical bezels around the display, which gives the phone a premium touch. Moreover, just like the back glass, the front of the smartphone is also Panda Glass protected.
Under the hood, the Phone (3a) Lite draws its power from the capable MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Pro processor. This is the same chipset that the CMF Phone 2 Pro uses and it is currently available to purchase for Rs 18,999.
Now, talking about the software, the Nothing Phone (3a) Lite ships with Nothing OS 3.5 based on Android 15. However, this time around, it is not the signature Nothing OS experience that we saw with previous models.
The clean and minimal UI now features pre-installed third-party apps and also features the Lock Glimpse, which is basically ads on the lock screen. Fortunately, you can turn off Lock Glimpse on Nothing phones with ease.
Aside from that, it retails all the Nothing OS features like lockscreen widgets, monochrome apps, Essential Space and more. Nothing is promising 3 years of software upgrades and 4 years of security updates with the Phone (3a) Lite.
Moving on to the camera department, this is another area where the budget smartphone experience shows off. It features a triple rear camera at the back. However, aside from the 50 MP main camera with OIS support and 8 MP ultra-wide angle lens, there is also a 2 MP macro camera, a first for Nothing.
The front gets a 16 MP selfie shooter with an f/1.45 aperture. Video recording-wise, the phone is limited to up to 4K footages at 30 FPS.
Coming to the Nothing Phone (3a) Lite's battery and charging, it features a modest 5,000mAh capacity and supports 33W USB-C fast charging. There is also 5W reverse wired charging support with the smartphone.
Lastly, Phone (3a) Lite brings an in-display fingerprint scanner, a mono speaker, IP54 rating, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, NFC, GPS, dual 5G SIM support and a USB-C 2.0 port.
As for how much the Phone (3a) Lite costs, it has been introduced in the UK for a starting price of 249 pounds (approximately Rs 29,000) for the base 8 GB + 128 GB variant. Interested folks can avail the phone in the White and Black colour options.
That said, we expect Nothing to launch the Phone (3a) Lite in India somewhere in November 2025. It may not cost above Rs 20,000 since at that price, the Phone (3a) and the Phone (3a) Pro already exist. Hence, we believe that the phone will sit somewhere between the CMF Phone 2 Pro and the Nothing Phone (3a). At the time of writing, no official info regarding the India launch of the smartphone is official yet.
