Nothing Phone (4a) Pro vs Samsung Galaxy A56 5G

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.

Samsung Galaxy A56 5G

The 6.7-inch FHD+ AMOLED is one of the consistent strengths of this generation — slimmer bezels, 120Hz refresh rate, and a peak brightness of 1,200 nits in high-brightness mode plus a claimed 1,900 nits in HDR. It is not LTPO, lacks the S25 Ultra's anti-reflective coating, and the chin bezel is uneven, but every reviewer agrees Samsung delivers the best mid-range display.

• Brightness has been boosted to a 1,900-nit HDR peak and 1,200 nits in high-brightness mode, leaving no real complaint about outdoor visibility on a sunny day.
• The 6.67-inch panel measured up to 2,001 cd/m² in lab tests — super sharp despite a slightly lower pixel density than rivals.
• Brighter and bigger display with HDR10+ support is a clear win, but bezels are still thicker than competing mid-rangers like the OnePlus Nord 4.
• Bezels are slightly smaller than the A55 but they're not uniform — there's still a noticeable chin, which cheaper rivals like the Nothing Phone 3a manage to avoid.

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.

Samsung Galaxy A56 5G

Samsung's in-house 4nm Exynos 1580 replaces last year's 1480 with claimed gains of 18% CPU, 17% GPU and 12% NPU. Reviewers agree it's smooth for everyday use, but unanimously call out throttling and surface heat in demanding games — and rivals running Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 (OnePlus 13R) or Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 (Poco X7 Pro) win on raw throughput at similar prices.

• Geekbench 6 hits 1,363 single-core / 3,881 multi-core / 6,943 GPU — a clear step up from the A55 (1,150 / 3,457 / 3,083) and comfortably ahead of the Nothing Phone 3a Pro.
• The whole experience feels snappy and responsive coming straight from Snapdragon 8 Elite flagships — the average user wouldn't be able to tell the two apart in normal use.
• There's a 15% larger vapor chamber, but the chipset still lacks the graphical grunt to power top-end AAA games at high quality and high textures.
• Running Genshin Impact shows visibly dropped frame rates and reduced in-game graphics — fine for casual games like Last War, but not for heavy 3D titles.
• The phone gets really hot during gaming and when used as a navigation device with voice prompts.

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.

Samsung Galaxy A56 5G

The 5,000mAh cell carries over unchanged and combined with the more efficient Exynos 1580 comfortably clears a full day, with some reviewers reporting near-two-day life under light use. The headline upgrade is 45W wired charging (matching the S25 Ultra) — though Samsung doesn't include a charger in the box. No wireless charging in any region is a consistent complaint.

• The 5,000mAh battery does a good job of making the Galaxy A56 a two-day phone provided you aren't playing games for hours — a 30-minute YouTube video takes only 4%.
• Battery never struggled to get through a full day with around 3-4 hours of screen time, ending most days with 30-35% remaining.
• The 45W charging hits 50% in 24 minutes and 100% in 73 minutes — 10 minutes faster than last year's A55.
• 45W charging hits around a 65% charge in 30 minutes — but there's no charger in the box in many regions and no wireless charging at all.
• It's hard to applaud an upgrade to 45W charging when such speeds should be considered standard on most phones today.