Head to head
Nothing Phone (4a)vsGoogle Pixel 9a
The short answer
Choose the Nothing Phone (4a) for peak brightness, battery lifespan and faster charging. Choose the Pixel 9a for typical brightness. The Nothing Phone (4a) is £20 cheaper at UK RRP (£379 against £399). The Pixel 9a gets security updates for longer: until April 2032, against March 2032 for the Nothing Phone (4a).
- Released
- 2026-03-05GSMArena — Nothing Phone (4a) specifications, retrieved 2026-08-21
- Price
- £379Nothing UK store — Phone (4a), retrieved 2026-08-21
- Security updates until
- 2032-03-05Nothing UK — Phone (4a), retrieved 2026-08-21
- Released
- 2025-04-10endoflife.date, retrieved 2026-08-20
- Price
- £399Google Store UK, retrieved 2026-09-11
- Security updates until
- 2032-04-01endoflife.date — Pixel, retrieved 2026-08-20
3 wins for Nothing Phone (4a)1 win for Pixel 9a2 gaps borderline2 differences you won’t notice£20 apart at RRP
Verdict: Nothing Phone (4a) ahead on 3 rows, Pixel 9a on 1 row
On the makers’ figures and the named third-party sources, the Phone (4a) wins on peak brightness (4,500 nits against 2,700 nits), battery lifespan (1,400 cycles against 1,000 cycles) and fast charging (50 W from the maker against 23 W from GSMArena); the Pixel 9a wins on typical brightness (1,800 nits against 800 nits). 2 gaps are borderline, differences most people would not notice: weight (185.9 g against 205 g) for the Pixel 9a and display size (6.78 in against 6.3 in) for the Phone (4a). The differences in battery capacity and battery per charge are below the thresholds you would notice. Both state the same refresh rate, storage (base) and RAM. The other 35 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
5 attributes neither phone has a sourced figure for
OS versions supported · Google Mobile Services · Claimed video playback · AnTuTu benchmark · 3DMark Wild Life Extreme. Rows appear as sources are cited — a gap in our data, not a statement about either phone.
Questions
Is the Nothing Phone (4a) better than the Pixel 9a?
On the figures, neither is better overall: the Nothing Phone (4a) wins on peak brightness, 4,500 nits (Nothing UK) against 2,700 nits (Google), battery lifespan, 1,400 cycles against 1,000 cycles (both EU energy label) and fast charging, 50 W (Nothing UK) against 23 W (GSMArena); the Pixel 9a wins on typical brightness, 1,800 nits (Google) against 800 nits (Nothing UK). Every other row is borderline, too close to notice, or not ranked.
Which has the better battery?
The Pixel 9a is ahead on paper, but not by a gap you’d notice: battery per charge, 52.32 h against 51.45 h (both EU energy label). The Pixel 9a is ahead on paper, but not by a gap you’d notice: battery capacity, 5,100 mAh (Google) against 5,080 mAh (Nothing UK).
Which is lighter?
The Pixel 9a is lighter, narrowly: weight, 185.9 g (Google) against 205 g (Nothing UK), a borderline gap most people would not notice.
Which has the brighter screen?
The Nothing Phone (4a), by a gap you’d notice: peak brightness, 4,500 nits (Nothing UK) against 2,700 nits (Google). The Pixel 9a, by a gap you’d notice: typical brightness, 1,800 nits (Google) against 800 nits (Nothing UK).
Which gets updates for longer?
The Pixel 9a gets security updates for longer: until April 2032, against March 2032 for the Nothing Phone (4a). Sources: dates from Nothing UK and endoflife.date.
Which is cheaper?
The Nothing Phone (4a) is £20 cheaper at UK RRP (£379 against £399). Prices from Nothing Phone (4a): Nothing UK store; Pixel 9a: Google Store 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.