Head to head
Nothing Phone (3)vsSamsung Galaxy A56
The short answer
Choose the Nothing Phone (3) for peak brightness and battery life per charge. Choose the Galaxy A56 for battery lifespan. The Galaxy A56 is £200 cheaper at UK RRP (£499 against £699). The Nothing Phone (3) gets security updates for longer: until July 2032, against March 2031 for the Galaxy A56.
- 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
- Released
- 2025-03-28endoflife.date, retrieved 2026-08-20
- Price
- £499Samsung Newsroom UK — Galaxy A56 5G, A36 5G and A26 5G, retrieved 2026-08-20
- Security updates until
- 2031-03-28endoflife.date — Samsung mobile, retrieved 2026-08-20
2 wins for Nothing Phone (3)1 win for Galaxy A563 gaps borderline2 differences you won’t notice£200 apart at RRP
Verdict: Nothing Phone (3) ahead on 2 rows, Galaxy A56 on 1 row
On the makers’ published figures, the Phone (3) wins on peak brightness (4,500 nits against 1,200 nits) and battery per charge (56.38 h against 44.57 h); the Galaxy A56 wins on battery lifespan (2,000 cycles against 1,400 cycles). 3 gaps are borderline, differences most people would not notice: weight (198 g against 218 g) for the Galaxy A56, RAM (12 GB against 8 GB) for the Phone (3) and fast charging (65 W against 45 W) for the Phone (3). The differences in display size and battery capacity are below the thresholds you would notice. Both state the same refresh rate and storage (base). The other 38 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
Samsung Newsroom UK — Galaxy A56 5G, A36 5G and A26 5G claims 1200 nits · GSMArena — Samsung Galaxy A56 specifications reports 1900 nits
Phone (3) is ahead here, by a gap you’d notice.
Platform
Memory
Camera
Battery
Connectivity
Benchmarks
3 attributes neither phone has a sourced figure for
HDR peak brightness · OS versions supported · Google Mobile Services. Rows appear as sources are cited — a gap in our data, not a statement about either phone.
Questions
Is the Nothing Phone (3) better than the Galaxy A56?
On the figures, neither is better overall: the Nothing Phone (3) wins on peak brightness, 4,500 nits (Nothing UK) against 1,200 nits (Samsung Newsroom UK) and battery per charge, 56.38 h against 44.57 h (both EU energy label); the Galaxy A56 wins on battery lifespan, 2,000 cycles against 1,400 cycles (both EU energy label). 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 44.57 h (both EU energy label). The Nothing Phone (3) is ahead on paper, but not by a gap you’d notice: battery capacity, 5,150 mAh (Nothing UK) against 5,000 mAh (Samsung Newsroom UK).
Which is lighter?
The Galaxy A56 is lighter, narrowly: weight, 198 g (Samsung Newsroom UK) against 218 g (Nothing UK), a borderline gap most people would not notice.
Which has the brighter screen?
The Nothing Phone (3), by a gap you’d notice: peak brightness, 4,500 nits (Nothing UK) against 1,200 nits (Samsung Newsroom UK).
Which gets updates for longer?
The Nothing Phone (3) gets security updates for longer: until July 2032, against March 2031 for the Galaxy A56. Sources: dates from Nothing UK and endoflife.date.
Which is cheaper?
The Galaxy A56 is £200 cheaper at UK RRP (£499 against £699). Prices from Nothing Phone (3): Nothing UK store; Galaxy A56: Samsung Newsroom UK.
Other comparisons
The pairs a buyer of either phone would also weigh. Any two phones in the catalogue can be compared from the chooser.