Should I upgrade my Phone (3a)?
The Nothing Phone (3a) went on sale on 11 March 2025. The Nothing UK store price is £329 (read 20 August 2026). It has a 6.77-inch display, a weight of 208 g, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 chip, a 50 MP main camera and 256 GB of storage to start. Security updates are committed until 11 March 2031. Every figure in the Nothing Phone (3a) specifications below links the page it came from and the date it was read.
1.6 years oldPatched until 2031-03-11Read
Is it still supported?
Yes. Nothing has committed to security updates for the Phone (3a) until 2031-03-11. A phone that is still patched is not a phone you have to replace.Nothing UK — Phone (3a), retrieved 2026-08-20
What the Phone (4a) changes
The newest Nothing phone in this line is the Phone (4a) at £379, released 5 March 2026. Judged row by row against our published thresholds; the full table is at Phone (4a) vs Phone (3a).
On the makers’ published figures, the Phone (4a) wins on peak brightness (4,500 nits against 3,000 nits) and battery per charge (51.45 h against 43.93 h); the Phone (3a) wins on storage (base) (256 GB against 128 GB). One gap is borderline, a difference most people would not notice: RAM (12 GB against 8 GB) for the Phone (3a). The differences in weight, display size and battery capacity are below the thresholds you would notice. Both state the same refresh rate, typical brightness, battery lifespan and fast charging. The other 30 rows have no threshold or no direction to judge by, so nobody wins them.
- Peak brightness: 3,000 nits → 4,500 nits
- Battery per charge: 43.93 h → 51.45 h
- RAM: 12 GB → 8 GB borderline; marginal — most people won’t notice.
Other makers at the price
Phones from other makers released within a year of the Phone (4a) and priced within a quarter of its £379, nearest price first, each judged the same way against your Phone (3a) — or, where that pair is not one this site indexes, against the Phone (4a).
What yours is worth
Our reading of the figures
The Phone (3a) is committed to security updates until 11 March 2031, so nothing forces a move yet.
The Phone (4a) clears our noticeable threshold on 2 rows: peak brightness, battery per charge. One more gap is borderline, which most people would not notice. You would give up storage (base).
At £379 new, less the £204 CeX was paying for a grade A Phone (3a) on 2026-08-14, the move costs about £175.
Every sentence above is built from the figures on this page by a rule, not written for this phone: a support date, the rows that clear a published threshold, a price and a trade-in. There is no score and no recommendation. The methodology page has the thresholds and where they come from. Every phone’s version of this page is listed at All upgrade questions.