The Nothing Phone (3a) is shaping up to be an absolute mid-range smartphone camera champ, judging from the latest official information.
All the noises coming out of UK-based smartphone maker Nothing suggest that its forthcoming mid-range smartphone, the Nothing Phone (3a), is going to be special for budding photographers on a tight budget.
Hot on the heels of the reveal that the Nothing Phone (3a) will likely have a physical camera button , the brand has issued a YouTube video highlighting some of its camera specs.
Nothing Phone (3a) camera specs
Nothing goes big with its Phone (3a) camera reveal, taking it out and about and comparing its camera output to that of the mighty iPhone 16 Pro Max .
More interesting to us are the confirmed Nothing Phone (3a) camera specs. The new mid-ranger will have three proper cameras, led by a 50Mp main sensor with OIS.
This will be accompanied by an 8Mp ultra-wide and a 50MP telephoto, both supplied by Sony.
Around front there’ll be another 50Mp camera on selfie duty.
Nothing
Why is this so exciting?
The provision of three proper cameras is pretty unusual for a mid-range phone. There’ll often be a dubious macro camera or depth sensor thrown in to make up the numbers.
Here, though, we’re getting a 50Mp 3x periscope telephoto camera, which is highly unusual from a phone that could well cost less than £400 – at least if the Nothing Phone (2a) is anything to go by. Even the £800 Pixel 9 and iPhone 16 lack dedicated telephoto cameras.
Not only does this enable the Nothing Phone (3a) to capture 3x optical zoom shots, it can also grab 6x “lossless zoom” by cropping in. It’ll go up to 60x ultra zoom, though we would expect these shots to be extremely noisy.
The Nothing Phone (3a) is also shown to be capable of grabbing 6x macro zoom shots for those extreme close-ups.
We should also offer a shout out to that 50Mp selfie camera, which similarly sounds like it’s going above and beyond for the price point.
Nothing
What else do we learn about the Nothing Phone (3a)?
Elsewhere in Nothing’s Phone (3a) camera shootout video, we learn that the main sensor has an unusually large full well capacity. Indeed, with a 300% boost, it’s the “largest full well capacity of any comparable sensor”.
This means that the Nothing Phone (3a) will be able to capture a much wider range of brightness levels, which should lead to superior HDR performance.
We also learn of the Nothing Phone (3a)’s enhanced video stabilisation chops, with a quick trip on a bike revealing silky smooth 4K/30fps footage.
It all makes us very excited to take the Nothing Phone (3a) camera for a spin. The phone is set to be launched on 4 March at 10am GMT.
Nothing Phone (2a)
Author: Jon Mundy, Contributor, Tech Advisor
Jon is a freelance journalist who got his start covering mobile games at the dawn of the App Store. He has since covered everything from smart home tech and laptops to food and culture, but always seems to return to his fascination with smartphones.
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