Nothing is adding a fourth smartphone to its 2025 lineup, with the new Nothing Phone (3a) Lite arriving as an even more affordable device at €249, but in part because it’s really familiar.
To put it simply, the Nothing Phone (3a) Lite is a rehash of the CMF Phone 2 Pro that launched earlier this year. It shares the same MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Pro chipset, the same 6.77-inch FHD+ AMOLED display, the same 8GB of RAM, the same 5,000 mAh battery, and the same main camera array, 50MP wide 8MP ultrawide, but it trades the 50MP telephoto on the CMF Phone 2 Pro for a useless 2MP macro sensor. I’ve only spent a bit of time using the device, but it seems to run just fine for a €249. Nothing says that Phone (3a) Lite will get 3 years of major Android OS updates and 6 years of security patches, and that an Android 16 update will be delivered “early” next year.
The only big difference is the design, which in itself isn’t all that different.
Nothing Phone (3a) Lite trades CMF’s colorful plastic shell for a glass back that shows Nothing’s most subtle design to date. Gone are most of the Glyph Lights from Phone (3a), instead replaced by a single LED – called “Glyph Light” – at the bottom right corner. The cameras, though, are placed identically to CMF Phone 2 Pro, though with styling that matches Nothing Phone 3.
This is not to say any of this is really a “problem.”
Using one smartphone as the basis of another certainly has its benefits, such as driving down the cost. That said, it is a little strange in this case, especially as Phone (3a) Lite won’t be sold in the US in any capacity, where CMF Phone 2 Pro is available via a “Beta Program.” It’s also notable that in regions such as Europe, they share the same €249 price tag (£249 in UK) for the base 8GB + 128GB model.
The full list of markets getting Phone (3a) Lite, Nothing tells us, includes EU, UK, MEA, East Asia, and South East Asia.
Another thing driving down the cost here is bloatware.
Nothing is pre-loading Phone (3a) Lite with the Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok apps, as alluded to in a recent announcement. This is also the company’s first device to launch with “Lock Glimpse” enabled by default, a service that shows “ads” on the lockscreen in the form of automatically changing wallpapers which include a link to online articles. Similar features can be found on devices from other brands.
As Nothing promised, “Lock Glimpse” can be disabled in the Settings menu, and users are also able to disable the feature (alongside a bunch of other T&Cs) during setup.
What do you think of Nothing Phone (3a) Lite?
More on Nothing:
- Nothing Phone rolling out call recording that works with a physical button [Video]
- Nothing’s CMF Headphone Pro launch for $99 with a physical slider to tune bass, more
- Review: Nothing Ear (3) are still great earbuds, but a huge missed opportunity
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Updated to clarify 2MP camera which Nothing did not acknowledge prior to the product’s release.
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