iPhone 16 Pro vs Nothing Phone (4a) Pro

iPhone 16 Pro

A 6.3-inch Super Retina XDR OLED with 120Hz ProMotion, 2,000-nit peak and an exceptionally low 1.1-nit minimum — bigger than the 15 Pro's.

• 6.3-inch 2622x1206 (460ppi) Super Retina XDR OLED with always-on display and up to 2,000 nits.
• Measured minimum brightness was 1.1 nit (down from 2 nits on the 15 Pro) — excellent for dark rooms.
• Notebookcheck frames it as 'the small Pro phone with the big display' — a roomy panel in a compact body.
• Screen quality is much better than older Pros and a clear highlight for switchers.

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.
• High-frequency PWM dimming makes it better suited to users sensitive to screen flicker, although slight flickering is still present.

iPhone 16 Pro

A 3,582mAh battery (~10% bigger than the 15 Pro) with solid all-day life for most — but ~2 hours less than the Pro Max, slow charging, and a vocal minority reporting poor longevity.

• A 3,582mAh battery — an almost 10% increase over the 15 Pro's capacity.
• It lasts a solid day but the smaller battery lasts ~2 hours less than the 16 Pro Max in a head-to-head.
• Charging hits 50% in 30 min, ~85% in an hour, and a full charge in ~1h38m — slow, with the last 15% taking ~40 min.
• Real-world use is roughly 5–6 hours of screen-on-time on a 95% charge limit.
• A vocal minority report poor battery lifespan — ~10% drop in under an hour of regular tasks and ~5h screen-on-time.

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.