Head to head
Apple iPhone 17vsNothing Phone (3)
The short answer
Choose the Nothing Phone (3) for peak brightness, battery capacity, battery life per charge, battery lifespan and faster charging. Choose the iPhone 17 for lower weight. The Nothing Phone (3) is £100 cheaper at UK RRP (£699 against £799). The Nothing Phone (3) gets security updates until July 2032; Apple publishes no date for the iPhone 17, and its record with retired iPhones points to 2032–2036, our estimate, not Apple’s. On that estimate neither clearly gets them for longer.
- Released
- 2025-09-19endoflife.date, retrieved 2026-08-20
- Price
- £799Apple UK store, retrieved 2026-08-20
- Security updates until
- Not published by the makerendoflife.date — iPhone, retrieved 2026-08-20
- Released
- 2025-07-15GSMArena — Nothing Phone (3) specifications, retrieved 2026-08-20
- Price
- £699Nothing UK store — Phone (3), retrieved 2026-08-20
- Security updates until
- 2032-07-15Nothing UK — Phone (3), retrieved 2026-08-20
1 win for iPhone 175 wins for Nothing Phone (3)4 gaps borderline1 difference you won’t notice£100 apart at RRP
Verdict: Nothing Phone (3) ahead on 5 rows, iPhone 17 on 1 row
On the makers’ figures and the named third-party sources, the iPhone 17 wins on weight (177 g against 218 g); the Phone (3) wins on peak brightness (4,500 nits against 3,000 nits), battery capacity (5,150 mAh from the maker against 3,692 mAh from GSMArena), battery per charge (56.38 h against 41 h), battery lifespan (1,400 cycles against 1,000 cycles) and fast charging (65 W against 40 W). 4 gaps are borderline, differences most people would not notice: display size (6.67 in against 6.3 in) for the Phone (3), typical brightness (1,000 nits against 800 nits) for the iPhone 17, RAM (12 GB from the maker against 8 GB from GSMArena) for the Phone (3) and wireless charging (25 W against 15 W) for the iPhone 17. The difference in 3DMark Wild Life Extreme is below the threshold you would notice. Both state the same refresh rate and storage (base). The other 36 rows have no threshold or no direction to judge by, so nobody wins them.
True to scale
Outlines from each maker’s published dimensions, drawn to scale. Corner rounding is our drawing convention, not a measurement.
Specifications
A win is marked only where the figures can be ranked and the gap is one you could notice. A row the site has no threshold for says whether the two differ, and that it is not ranking them. = marks the same figure on both, ≠ not ranked a difference with no ranking. Every figure carries its source.
Body
Display
Platform
Memory
Camera
Battery
Connectivity
Benchmarks
2 attributes neither phone has a sourced figure for
Google Mobile Services · AnTuTu benchmark. Rows appear as sources are cited — a gap in our data, not a statement about either phone.
Questions
Is the iPhone 17 better than the Nothing Phone (3)?
On the figures, neither is better overall: the iPhone 17 wins on weight, 177 g (Apple UK) against 218 g (Nothing UK); the Nothing Phone (3) wins on peak brightness, 4,500 nits (Nothing UK) against 3,000 nits (Apple UK), battery capacity, 5,150 mAh (Nothing UK) against 3,692 mAh (GSMArena), battery per charge, 56.38 h against 41 h (both EU energy label), battery lifespan, 1,400 cycles against 1,000 cycles (both EU energy label) and fast charging, 65 W (Nothing UK) against 40 W (Apple UK). Every other row is borderline, too close to notice, or not ranked.
Which has the better battery?
The Nothing Phone (3), by a gap you’d notice: battery per charge, 56.38 h against 41 h (both EU energy label). The Nothing Phone (3), by a gap you’d notice: battery capacity, 5,150 mAh (Nothing UK) against 3,692 mAh (GSMArena).
Which is lighter?
The iPhone 17, by a gap you’d notice: weight, 177 g (Apple UK) against 218 g (Nothing UK).
Which has the brighter screen?
The Nothing Phone (3), by a gap you’d notice: peak brightness, 4,500 nits (Nothing UK) against 3,000 nits (Apple UK). The iPhone 17 is brighter, narrowly: typical brightness, 1,000 nits (Apple UK) against 800 nits (Nothing UK), a borderline gap most people would not notice.
Which gets updates for longer?
The Nothing Phone (3) gets security updates until July 2032; Apple publishes no date for the iPhone 17, and its record with retired iPhones points to 2032–2036, our estimate, not Apple’s. On that estimate neither clearly gets them for longer. Sources: dates from Nothing UK; Apple’s record from endoflife.date and Apple security releases.
Which is cheaper?
The Nothing Phone (3) is £100 cheaper at UK RRP (£699 against £799). Prices from iPhone 17: Apple UK store; Nothing Phone (3): Nothing UK store.
Other comparisons
The pairs a buyer of either phone would also weigh. Any two phones in the catalogue can be compared from the chooser.