Google Pixel 8 vs Nothing Phone (4a) Pro

Google Pixel 8

Google

8.3

Best compact Google flagship — 7-year updates + AI in a small body

Nothing Phone (4a) Pro

Nothing

8.5

The $499 phone to beat

Google Pixel 8

What Reviewers Agree On

Same industry-first 7-year update commitment as the Pixel 8 Pro — through October 2030
Same Magic Editor, Best Take, Audio Magic Eraser AI features as the Pro — entire AI suite trickles down to the cheaper Pixel
Compact 6.2-inch body at 187g — genuinely pocketable, rare in a 6.7"+ flagship market
Tensor G3 + 8GB RAM run the new AI features locally, same chip as Pro
6.2" Actua display at 2000-nit peak, 1-120Hz adaptive — bright enough for sunlight even without LTPO
Cleaner curve-free flat-front design with polished aluminum rails — most refined Pixel design yet

Pros & Cons

Google Pixel 8

Pros

Same industry-first 7-year update commitment as the Pixel 8 Pro — through October 2030
Same Magic Editor, Best Take, Audio Magic Eraser AI features as the Pro — entire AI suite trickles down to the cheaper Pixel
Compact 6.2-inch body at 187g — genuinely pocketable, rare in a 6.7"+ flagship market
Tensor G3 + 8GB RAM run the new AI features locally, same chip as Pro
6.2" Actua display at 2000-nit peak, 1-120Hz adaptive — bright enough for sunlight even without LTPO

Detailed Comparison

Battery & Charging

Google Pixel 8

4,575mAh battery delivers average all-day life — behind iPhone 15 (3,349mAh) per-mAh due to Tensor G3 inefficiency. 27W wired charging is modest.

4,575mAh battery — bigger than iPhone 15 (3,349mAh) but Tensor G3 inefficiency cancels much of the advantage.
Real-world: ~5-6 hours of screen-on time typical; all-day for moderate use but rarely two-day endurance.
27W wired charging — modest by 2023 standards. 0-50% in ~30 min, full in ~1h30m.
18W Qi wireless via Pixel Stand 2; 12W standard Qi — solid wireless charging story for a $699 phone.

Nothing Phone (4a) Pro

The ~5,080mAh cell reliably gets through a day and endurance improved across all of GSMArena's tests versus the 3a Pro — but it's only an 80mAh bump over last year and looks small next to 6,000–7,000mAh budget rivals. 50W wired charging is the trade-off win; there is no wireless charging at all.

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Nothing Phone (4a) Pro

What Reviewers Agree On

The new metal unibody makes the 4a Pro look and feel more premium than Nothing's own £799 Phone 3 — the slimmest, most 'pro'-feeling Nothing yet.
The 6.83-inch 1.5K 144Hz AMOLED is the best display Nothing has ever shipped, with strong real-world outdoor visibility around its realistic 1,600-nit figure.
The dual 50MP main plus 50MP 3.5x periscope-telephoto system is rare flagship-tier camera hardware at $499 and the single biggest reason to buy.
Nothing OS 4.1 on Android 16 is clean, bloat-free and has some of the best design consistency of any Android UI, Google included.
At $499 — the exact price of a Pixel 10a — it's outstanding value, with several reviewers preferring it outright to the 10a.
50W wired charging beats anything Google, Apple or Samsung offer below £500.

Deal Breakers

Only 3 years of OS updates (6 years of security patches) — well behind the 7 years Google and Samsung give at this price.
No wireless charging at all — sacrificed for the metal back.
The battery is only an 80mAh increase over last year and runs marginal next to 6,000–7,000mAh budget rivals.
Measured brightness (~700 nits SDR, ~1,550 HDR) is nowhere near the 5,000-nit headline.
The camera is inconsistent — low-light and deep zoom are merely average rather than class-leading.

Nothing Phone (4a) Pro

Pros

The new metal unibody makes the 4a Pro look and feel more premium than Nothing's own £799 Phone 3 — the slimmest, most 'pro'-feeling Nothing yet.
The 6.83-inch 1.5K 144Hz AMOLED is the best display Nothing has ever shipped, with strong real-world outdoor visibility around its realistic 1,600-nit figure.
The dual 50MP main plus 50MP 3.5x periscope-telephoto system is rare flagship-tier camera hardware at $499 and the single biggest reason to buy.
Nothing OS 4.1 on Android 16 is clean, bloat-free and has some of the best design consistency of any Android UI, Google included.
At $499 — the exact price of a Pixel 10a — it's outstanding value, with several reviewers preferring it outright to the 10a.
50W wired charging beats anything Google, Apple or Samsung offer below £500.

Cons

Only 3 years of OS updates (6 years of security patches) — well behind the 7 years Google and Samsung give at this price.
No wireless charging at all — sacrificed for the metal back.
The battery is only an 80mAh increase over last year and runs marginal next to 6,000–7,000mAh budget rivals.
Measured brightness (~700 nits SDR, ~1,550 HDR) is nowhere near the 5,000-nit headline.
The camera is inconsistent — low-light and deep zoom are merely average rather than class-leading.

Endurance has improved across the board in all tests compared to last year's Nothing Phone (3a) Pro; with a 68W USB-PD charger the phone peaked at around 42W.
The review unit gets through a day without problems, but it'll certainly be into the red and close to done after about 15 hours of use; the OnePlus 15R has a much meatier battery to last longer.
It's only an 80mAh increase over last year — small fry next to budget rivals like the Poco M8 Pro, which uses silicon-carbon tech to reach 6,500mAh.
50W wired charging is very respectable at this price — besting anything Google, Apple or Samsung offers below £500.
Because the processor isn't power-hungry and the battery is large for the chip, real-world battery life is excellent.
Roughly 13 hours of continuous playback at maximum brightness in a streaming test — impressive for what Nothing is doing at this price.