
Nothing
The $499 phone to beat

Poco
Outstanding value, gaming-first midranger
Nothing Phone (4a) Pro
Nothing Phone (4a) Pro
Nothing Phone (4a) Pro
The defining change this generation: a metal unibody that ditches the transparent back for a minimal lower half and a distinctive rectangular camera island, topped by a slimmed-down Glyph Matrix. Reviewers overwhelmingly call it the slimmest, most premium Nothing ever — but the redesign is genuinely polarising, and the IP65 rating is one notch below the flagship norm.
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Poco X7 Pro
Poco X7 Pro
Poco X7 Pro
A sub-£250 phone with a true flagship IP68 rating and Gorilla Glass 7i — a standout durability story at this price, with one finish that ages especially well.
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.
Poco X7 Pro
A 6.67-inch 1.5K AMOLED that punches well above its price on brightness and smoothness.
Nothing Phone (4a) Pro
The headline value play: a 50MP Sony LYT-710 main with OIS, a true 50MP 3.5x periscope telephoto (80mm) with OIS, and an 8MP ultrawide — flagship-tier hardware Samsung and Apple don't put in phones at this price. Output is characterful and the telephoto is a genuine win, but reviewers consistently flag inconsistency, average low-light and a gimmicky 140x digital zoom.
Poco X7 Pro
A dependable 50MP main with excellent video stabilization — good for the price, but a clear secondary priority on a performance-first 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.
Poco X7 Pro
A roomy 6,000mAh cell (6,550mAh in India) with fast 90W charging and the brick in the box — endurance that's good in daily use but debated under heavy load.
Nothing Phone (4a) Pro
At $499 it directly undercuts the experience-per-dollar of the same-priced Pixel 10a and iPhone 17e, and several reviewers would take it over the 10a without hesitation. The closest internal threat is its own cheaper sibling, the standard Phone (4a), which shares the same cameras for $150 less.
Poco X7 Pro
By broad consensus the best-value cheap phone of 2025 — a gaming-and-multimedia bargain that out-specs phones costing far more.