Nothing Phone (4a) Pro vs Samsung Galaxy S26

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 S26

The 6.3-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X (up 0.1" from the S25) hits 2,600 nits peak with a 1-120Hz LTPO refresh rate. Reviewers like the panel itself, but most flag that the new Privacy Display and Gorilla Armor 2 anti-reflective coating are Ultra-exclusive — frustrating at this price.

• 6.3-inch panel feels meaningfully larger than the S25's 6.2-inch without making the phone bigger overall — pixel density change is imperceptible
• Notebookcheck measured the panel as bright, uniform, and color-accurate — among the best in its class
• PhoneArena measured 2,425 nits at 20% APL — comfortably bright enough for outdoor use, though Pixel 10 Pro hits 2,921 nits
• 1-120Hz LTPO adapts smoothly; haptics are 'precise' and contribute to the premium feel
• Sustains peak brightness over longer periods better than the iPhone 17, which throttles brightness after a few minutes

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.

• Triple rear system: 50MP Sony LYT-710 main (f/1.9, OIS), 8MP ultrawide, and a 50MP periscope telephoto with 3.5x optical zoom (80mm, f/2.9, OIS).
• Both the main and periscope-zoom cameras are 50MP and deliver strong results for this price range; the zoom in particular stands out from competitors and even allows for extreme digital zoom.
• Having a proper dedicated telephoto shooter is a genuine love, although the camera experience itself is a little bit inconsistent at times.
• It's not clinically the best camera, but the shots have a bit more soul to them.
• Low-light performance isn't the best, and image quality when you zoom right in isn't the best out there — not bad, just not class-leading.
• The 140x zoom headline grabs attention, but in use it's more about how far the camera can push digitally than something you'd rely on day-to-day.
• Not super impressed by the camera or the giant protruding bumps the lenses sit in.

Samsung Galaxy S26

The single most contentious topic in every S26 review. The hardware (50MP main, 12MP ultrawide, 10MP 3x telephoto) is unchanged from the S22 — four years old. Software upgrades (Photo Assist, Horizon Lock, Auto-framing) add features, but reviewers split sharply on whether the resulting images are 'still great' or 'severely outdated at $900'.

• Same 50MP + 12MP UW + 10MP 3x telephoto hardware Samsung has shipped since the Galaxy S22 in 2022
• Main camera produces vibrant, detailed shots with excellent sharpness — handles dynamic range more naturally than iPhone 17 or Pixel 10
• Ultrawide is the weakest of the three lenses — soft, grainy edges and clear distortion in low light or backlit scenes
• 10MP 3x telephoto can't match Pixel 10's 5x reach; only 10MP resolution limits useful digital cropping
• Object Aware Engine extended to the front camera — selfies are slightly warmer and more accurate than the S25

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 S26

The US/China Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 variant is one of the fastest Android phones you can buy, hitting Geekbench multi-core ~10,700 and stable in everyday and gaming workloads. The Exynos 2600 (Europe/ROW) is competitive in benchmarks but throttles harder under sustained load — reviewers split on whether it matters in daily use.

• US Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 variant scores Geekbench 6 multi-core ~10,700 and single-core ~3,100 — among the fastest Android phones in 2026
• Engadget's Exynos 2600 review unit hit Geekbench 6 multi-core 10,664 — surprisingly close to the Snapdragon S26 Ultra's 11,240
• Exynos 2600 is Samsung's first 2nm chip — Geekbench AI scores noticeably trail Qualcomm, indicating a weaker NPU for on-device AI
• S26 suffers significant performance dips under sustained load — smaller chassis has less thermal headroom than the Ultra's vapor chamber
• Day-to-day responsiveness is excellent — multitasking, app launches, scrolling all instantaneous with no lag

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 S26

The 4,300 mAh cell is up from 4,000 in the S25 — a real but modest gain. Charging is the biggest pain point: 25W wired (slowest of any 2026 flagship), 15W wireless, and no integrated Qi2 magnets. PhoneArena measured 1h 16m for a full charge — slower than the iPhone 17.

• 4,300 mAh battery — first capacity increase for the base Galaxy in years; 7-10% bump over the S25
• BGR tested Samsung's claim of 31 hours video playback at 200 nits — measured just over 30 hours, on target
• Engadget measured the Exynos S26 at 28 hours of looped video at 50% brightness — Snapdragon S26 hit 30 hours in the same test
• PhoneArena battery estimate of 6h 37m places the S26 at #102 of phones tested in the past 2 years — below the 7h 29m class average
• Charging speed unchanged at 25W — full charge takes ~76 minutes; the OnePlus 15 hits 100W and lasts two days per charge

Nothing Phone (4a) Pro

Nothing OS 4.1 on Android 16 is the universal favourite: near-stock AOSP functionality with a distinctive monochrome visual identity, almost no bloatware, and AI that's present but not forced. The one hard reservation is update length — only 3 years of OS upgrades against 6 years of security patches.

• Nothing OS sticks close to a clean, near-stock Android (AOSP) experience in functionality, but stands out with its distinctive visual identity.
• After a week the phone is 'absolutely brilliant'; software is where Nothing phones shine, even if the camera 'window' at the top of the display is basically a pseudo-iPhone look.
• Software is where Nothing phones absolutely shine — the clearest reason to pick this over rivals.
• There's a smattering of AI here, but it's not shoved down your throat — and the software is basically the same clean setup as the regular Nothing Phone (4a).
• Unlike Samsung's Galaxy AI which is in your face from day one, Nothing's AI stays out of the way — an impressive, restrained package overall.
• Nothing's take on Android 16 has some of the best design consistency you'll find on any Android UI, Google included.

Samsung Galaxy S26

One UI 8.5 on Android 16 is feature-packed but heavy. Samsung's seven-year update commitment matches Google's Pixel — class-leading. The new Galaxy AI features (Now Nudge, Now Brief, Perplexity integration, Photo Assist) are split-decision: a few genuinely useful (call screening, AI noise eraser), the rest forgettable.

• Seven years of Android OS upgrades and security patches — class-leading alongside Google's Pixel commitment
• Call Screening that forwards unknown numbers to an AI chatbot is 'the first bit of Galaxy AI worth paying for'
• Audio Eraser now works in third-party apps like YouTube — genuinely useful for cutting crowd noise or background music
• Now Nudge contextual suggestions rarely surface in practice; require Samsung Keyboard to function
• Perplexity integration is curiously incomplete at launch — voice commands and Samsung Browser integration not working at review time