Nothing Phone (4a) vs Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra

Nothing Phone (4a)

A genuine highlight for the price — a big 6.78-inch 120Hz AMOLED that's bright, sharp and HDR-capable, beating similarly priced rivals.

• 6.78-inch AMOLED, 120Hz, 2160Hz PWM, HDR10+, 800 nits typical / 1,600 nits HBM / 4,500 nits peak at 1224x2720 (440ppi).
• The 6.78-inch display is 23% brighter than the 3a, reaching 1,600 nits outdoors with a 4,500-nit HDR peak.
• Brightness goes up to 4,500 nits peak, remaining easily readable outdoors — the display is very strong for this price range and one of the standout features.
• In the real world it hits around 700 nits peak SDR and ~1,550–1,600 nits in HDR, with 460ppi and dynamic 120Hz.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra

Virtually every reviewer calls the S25 Ultra display the best on a smartphone, thanks to the Gorilla Armor 2 anti-reflective coating that practically eliminates glare in sunlight, the 2,600-nit peak brightness, and the sharp 1440p LTPO panel. A few reviewers note PWM dimming only reaches 480 Hz and peak auto-brightness doesn't always sustain.

• The anti-reflective coating makes it one of the easiest phones to use in direct sunlight and held up well to scratches over a week of abuse.
• The Gorilla Armor 2 panel strikes an almost perfect balance between glossy and matte, with 2,600-nit peak brightness that dazzles in any environment.
• The S25 Ultra's anti-reflective screen eclipses every other smartphone right now, especially under harsh sunlight.
• After six months of use it is simply put: the best display I've ever seen on mobile — the bezels, brightness and colors are unbeatable.
• The low-glare, bright LTPO display is a strength, but PWM dimming is only at 480 Hz which can bother sensitive eyes.
• The display still only hits around 850 nits with the manual brightness toggle, so you rarely see the full peak brightness outside of HDR.
• Even without a huge display upgrade, this is still absolutely one of the best displays — super crisp, very bright, high-refresh-rate LTPO.
• Slimmer bezels grow the screen to 6.9 inches without making the body larger, and the Gorilla Armor 2 glass looks great.
• r/Android commenters who upgraded from the S23 Ultra call out the titanium body and the non-reflective screen as the two features they actually notice day-to-day.

Nothing Phone (4a)

A capable mid-range chip that handles everyday use and casual gaming well — not a powerhouse, but appropriate for the price.

• Gaming is absolutely possible on this device, with solid everyday performance for the class.
• There's no shortage of substantial hardware upgrades over the 3a, even if the design doesn't stand out as much as the Pro.
• After 24 hours the home screen is extremely customisable and feels massively more functional than iOS, with no responsiveness complaints.
• Gesture-based navigation is fully supported and the overall experience is good thanks to Nothing's optimisations.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra

The Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy delivers a meaningful generational jump in both CPU and GPU, rivaling Apple's A18 Pro and outscoring the iPhone 16 Pro Max in multi-core. The 40 percent larger vapor chamber keeps the phone cool even under sustained gaming loads. The r/apple thread citing a 36% GPU lead over the iPhone 16 Pro Max generated heated discussion, with most commenters conceding the Snapdragon chip is genuinely fast even if they still wouldn't switch.

• The phone benchmarks crazy high, rivaling Apple's A18 Pro — a little lower in single core but higher in multi-core.
• Samsung's 40 percent larger vapor chamber keeps the phone from warming up in normal use and benchmarks are up 30-40 percent depending on the task.
• Playing Genshin Impact at max settings for nearly an hour produced no stutters and no hot spots — a noticeable improvement over the S24 series.
• Multi-core Geekbench hits 9,793 versus the iPhone 16 Pro Max at 8,772 — the S25 Ultra pulls ahead thanks to extra cores and 12GB of RAM.
• The Snapdragon 8 Elite is the most welcome generational upgrade this year, with a boosted 'for Galaxy' variant delivering more CPU headroom than the standard chip.
• Under heavy loads the S25 Ultra becomes a bit power-hungry, which can cause faster-than-expected battery drain when multitasking or running demanding apps.

Nothing Phone (4a)

A ~5,080mAh cell with 50W wired charging — reviewers call endurance strong, but a notable group of owners report disappointing screen-on time.

• The Nothing Phone (4a) features a ~5,080mAh cell which delivers very strong endurance in everyday use.
• The battery grew slightly — about 80mAh in most markets but a more meaningful 400mAh in India — with a 50W PD unit recommended on the box.
• Several owners report only 4–6.5 hours of screen-on time with moderate use — worse than other phones with similar ~5,000mAh batteries.
• Battery life on this phone is excellent in everyday use.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra

The 5,000 mAh battery is unchanged but the more efficient chip pushes real-world endurance comfortably beyond a day — Engadget measured 29h 27m video runtime, Mrwhosetheboss got nearly 9 hours of screen-on time. Wired charging tops out at 45W, wireless at 25W. The Qi2 Ready implementation without built-in magnets is a consistent frustration, and Reddit users openly say the OnePlus 13's silicon-carbon battery was the more exciting release this year.

• Most days end with 60 percent left over — good but not amazing for a modern flagship.
• Local video rundown lasted an incredible 29 hours 27 minutes — almost two hours longer than the S24 Ultra.
• Battery life is just under 9 hours of total screen-on time per charge, regularly ending days with 30-40 percent remaining.
• Standby time after half a year of use remains excellent — never a single battery issue during long-term testing.
• Qi2 Ready is frustrating — you need a third-party magnetic case for MagSafe-like functionality, and some cases have weak magnets that pop off.
• Samsung is cutting corners by calling the phone Qi2 Ready without including magnets, and as the biggest phone maker it should do better.

Nothing Phone (4a)

Near-stock Nothing OS is repeatedly singled out as one of the best, cleanest and most customisable Android experiences at any price.

• The UI is pretty much stock Android, which is the best Android experience — Nothing and Pixel offer the best Android experience.
• While hard to compare to Samsung's far more customisable One UI, Nothing's OS is one of the best ways to experience Android.
• The in-house gallery, voice recorder and weather apps have wonderful design consistency, with everything else left as Google's clean defaults.
• The home screen is extremely customisable with built-in and user-made widgets — fresher, clearer and bolder than iOS.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra

One UI 7 on Android 15 is Samsung's biggest skin update in years and earns broad praise for polish. Gemini replaces Bixby as the default assistant on long-press and gains cross-app actions, though the experience is uneven — some reviewers report magical moments, others catch hallucinations. Samsung has committed to seven years of updates, and Galaxy AI is free only through the end of 2025. The r/gadgets thread is openly hostile toward the AI pitch — most top comments view it as bloat, tracking, or a distraction from real hardware progress.

• Gemini can put events on the calendar, but it also hallucinates recipes and insists flights leave the wrong city — AI makes things up a lot.
• Galaxy AI features will be free only through the end of 2025, so don't be surprised if the AI phone comes with an AI subscription fee.
• Having two assistants (Gemini and Bixby) is confusing, and Now Brief still hasn't produced anything insightful in two weeks of use.
• Improved natural-language commands throughout the phone feel slightly magical — asking the phone to add the next Knicks game to a calendar just works.
• Samsung's AI-powered eraser tool is excellent at removing power lines and telegraph poles, and the filter system carries edits across photos.
• Seven years of major Android upgrades and security patches match the industry's best long-term support window.