iPhone 16 Plus vs Nothing Phone (4a) Pro

iPhone 16 Plus

A large 6.7-inch Super Retina XDR OLED that's bright but, for yet another year, capped at 60Hz with no Always-On — the phone's defining weakness.

• The display is only 60Hz for yet another year, with no Always-On option and bezels thicker than the Pro models.
• The 6.7-inch screen is a key reason to choose the Plus over the smaller iPhone 16 for media and big-screen use.
• For long-time 60Hz users the lack of 120Hz isn't a deal-breaker, but spec-conscious buyers find it hard to accept at the price.
• The big screen plus the relatively small Dynamic Island (vs the old large notch) is a standout for upgraders.

Nothing Phone (4a) Pro

A 6.83-inch 1.5K AMOLED at 144Hz with 2,160Hz PWM dimming — reviewers agree it's the best screen Nothing has built, with realistic outdoor brightness around 1,600 nits. The headline 5,000-nit peak, though, only materialises with special HDR test files; everyday brightness is far lower.

• Nothing's best-ever display: a 144Hz panel with 1,600 nits of outdoor brightness and a claimed 5,000 nits peak; the main camera is solid too with nice detail and well-reproduced colours.
• A claimed 1,600-nit outdoor brightness is realistic — no major visibility issues outdoors even in strong sunshine, putting it among the best affordable phones, and Nothing OS has some of the best design consistency of any Android UI.
• The 4,500-nit HDR peak was only validated with specific HDR test files, not actual video playback — real-world output is around 700 nits in SDR and 1,550–1,600 in HDR.
• The '5,000-nit peak brightness' spec means nothing in practice — a marketing figure pulled from a single-pixel measurement.
• 144Hz refresh (vs 120Hz on the regular 4a) and 1,600 nits white brightness / 5,000 nits peak, marketed as 66% brighter than the Phone (3a) series — though there's no extra output on a small 10% window.

iPhone 16 Plus

The A18 with 8GB RAM — the same RAM as the Pro this year — delivers strong, future-proof performance, especially as an upgrade from older iPhones.

• The A18 provides enhanced performance and supports Apple Intelligence — 'Pro features at a mainstream price.'
• Optimisations from the new A18 chip clearly improved efficiency over the iPhone 15.
• Your tired old iPhone may run iOS 18, but the iPhone 16 runs it exponentially better — the iterative criticism misses the point for upgraders.
• Owners report great performance and photos, with the powerful chip making the upgrade worthwhile coming from an iPhone 13.

Nothing Phone (4a) Pro

The Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 with UFS 3.1 storage is a clear, tangible step up from the Phone (3a) generation — Nothing claims +27% CPU, +30% GPU and +65% AI. It's a perfectly capable everyday chip that feels noticeably quicker, but it's explicitly not a gaming powerhouse and warms up under sustained heavy load.

• Backed by OS optimisations and a custom CPU scheduler, the chipset delivers 27% better CPU, 30% better GPU and 65% better AI performance than the Nothing Phone (3a); storage is 147% faster in reads and 380% faster in writes.
• Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 is a perfectly acceptable chip across the board, and the upgrade to UFS 3.1 makes this feel noticeably quicker compared to the Nothing Phone (3a) and prior.
• The CPU performance difference between the 4a Pro and the vanilla 4a is not massive, but it is still very much notable.
• Available in 8GB+128GB, 8GB+256GB and 12GB+256GB configurations, all running near-stock AOSP-style Nothing OS.
• Like most phones in this segment, it shows some basic heat build-up during really extensive tasks like gaming or 4K editing in high-end software, though it stays responsive while gaming.
• It's by no means a top-notch gaming phone, although the processor is better than the regular 4a's and squeezes out a bit more performance and FPS.

iPhone 16 Plus

The Plus's headline strength: the best battery life in the entire iPhone 16 line — undercut by slow charging.

• It's claimed to last up to 27 hours of video playback and up to 100 hours of audio playback.
• The battery on the 16 Plus has been significantly better than the 16 Pro Max for some owners — ~9 hours screen-on-time on a single charge with excellent standby.
• Battery life is excellent, a key reason to pick the Plus and a huge step for those used to a 12 Pro Max.
• Proper fast-charging technology has yet to reach Apple's labs.
• iOS 18 adds an 80–100% charge-limit option and visible cycle count to extend long-term battery health.

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.

• 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.