iPhone 16 vs Nothing Phone (4a) Pro

iPhone 16

A 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR OLED that's bright (2,000 nits) and dims to 1 nit — but remains stuck at 60Hz, the phone's single biggest criticism.

• The displays now go down to 1 nit of brightness — very nice for not waking your partner while you doomscroll in bed.
• What grates on a phone starting at $900/£900 is the display remaining 60Hz.
• The 60Hz screen was initially called 'an unreasonable spec,' but after a month of use it's not nearly as big an issue as expected.
• It hits ~2,000 nits peak — bright and easily legible, matching the Pro models on brightness.

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

The A18 with 8GB RAM — the same RAM as the Pro this generation — is fast and a massive leap for anyone upgrading from an older iPhone.

• The base 16 sees a roughly 5x graphics gain in the 3DMark Solar Bay test versus the iPhone 15.
• Your tired iPhone XR may run iOS 18, but the iPhone 16 runs it exponentially better — the iterative criticism misses the point for upgraders.
• The A18 chip is shared across the iPhone 16 family with the same 8GB RAM — no performance compromise versus the Pro for everyday use.
• Switchers concede the iPhone's A-series still outclasses mid-range Android processors.

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

Improved over the iPhone 15 with all-day life for most; charging is slow, with Qi2/MagSafe up to 25W on a 30W brick.

• The iPhone 16 is rated for up to 22 hours of video playback and 80 hours of audio.
• Apple says the iPhone 16 line gets significantly better battery life than the iPhone 15, and units held up for full heavy days in testing.
• Updated MagSafe charges at up to 25W using the Qi2 puck and a 30W charger.
• iOS 18 adds a Battery Health charge-limit option (80–100%) plus visible cycle count to prolong cell lifespan.

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.
• Roughly 13 hours of continuous playback at maximum brightness in a streaming test — impressive for what Nothing is doing at this price.