Nothing Phone (4a) vs Samsung Galaxy S26+

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 S26+

Reviewers universally rate the S26+ display as elite — sharp QHD+, fast adaptive 120Hz LTPO, excellent HDR, more-than-enough outdoor brightness — but note Samsung carried the panel forward from the S25+ with effectively zero changes. The Ultra now has the differentiating Privacy Display; the Plus does not.

• 6.7-inch LTPO AMOLED at 3120×1440 (516 ppi) is the sharpest in the lineup — even sharper than the larger Ultra panel on a per-inch basis
• Peak HDR brightness measured at 2,596 nits in a 10% window (1,498 nits at 75% fill) — bright enough for clear outdoor use and great HDR streaming on Netflix and YouTube
• Phone Arena's CalMAN suite measured 2,377 nits high-APL, 0.9 nit minimum, and gave the Plus an 8/10 display score — slightly behind the Ultra and iPhone 17 Pro on absolute brightness but ahead on viewing-angle consistency
• ProScaler (image sharpening) and mDNIe (gradient smoothing) add subtle but appreciable improvements to lower-resolution content and gradients
• PWM dimming is only 240–480 Hz — users sensitive to screen flicker (eye strain, headaches) may find Samsung less comfortable than rivals like Honor at ~4,000 Hz
• No Privacy Display — Samsung reserved its standout new screen tech for the Ultra, leaving the Plus with an excellent but otherwise unchanged panel
• Display is essentially the same panel as the S25+ and S24+ — Samsung is iterating on processing rather than the underlying hardware

Nothing Phone (4a)

A standout 3.5x periscope telephoto at this price and a solid main camera, undercut by an under-optimised zoom and a basic ultrawide.

• A triple setup — 50MP main, a 50MP periscope telephoto and an 8MP ultrawide — undoubtedly one of the best experiences at this level.
• The telephoto has been tweaked to a much better 3.5x (80mm) zoom factor.
• A telephoto with optical zoom at this price is great, but this is the worst optimisation I've seen on a 3.5x camera — expect disappointment if you buy for the zoom.
• The 3.5x optical-zoom telephoto is one of the biggest highlights, adding much more flexibility than most competitors in this price range, and the cameras are surprisingly capable.
• Each camera here feels better than what you'd get on Samsung at the price, and the main is solid with nice detail.

Samsung Galaxy S26+

The most-criticised aspect of the phone. The S26+ uses the same 50 MP main + 12 MP ultrawide + 10 MP 3x telephoto array Samsung has shipped since the S22+ — fine for landscapes and well-lit shots, mediocre in low light, and frustrating for moving subjects. Software adds Horizontal Lock video and natural-language Photo Assist edits, but the hardware ceiling is showing.

• Same sensors as the S25+, S24+, S23+, and S22+ — Samsung has reused this camera array for five consecutive generations, relying on image-processing improvements for inter-generational gains
• Daylight stills look balanced and natural — colours lean accurate rather than Samsung's old over-saturated style, skies stay realistic, and dynamic range is decent
• PhoneArena's standardised camera test scored the S26+ at 149/158 combined — slightly above the S25+ thanks to processing upgrades, but well behind the Ultra and Chinese rivals
• Low-light performance shows visible colour noise, occasionally blown highlights, and smudgy halos around bright sources — usable but no longer competitive
• Motion blur on moving subjects (kids, pets) is the recurring deal-breaker — Samsung favours a low shutter speed for light gathering, ruining roughly half of action shots

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 S26+

Both chip variants — Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 (US/China) and Exynos 2600 (rest of world) — deliver flagship-grade benchmarks and smooth real-world performance. The Exynos throttles harder under sustained load and consumes a touch more battery than the Snapdragon, but day-to-day use is indistinguishable.

• Geekbench 6: 3,028–3,149 single-core and 10,086–10,877 multi-core on the Exynos 2600 — outperforms the Pixel 10 Pro and trades blows with iPhone 17 Pro in multi-core
• 3DMark Wild Life Extreme: 6,958 points peak — flagship-tier GPU performance, beats iPhone 17 Pro outright, lags only the Snapdragon S26 Ultra
• Exynos 2600 Wild Life sustained-performance score is 52.8% — significant thermal throttling drops the chip to roughly half peak performance after 20 minutes under load
• BGMI holds 118–120 fps consistently for extended sessions with no jitter; Zenless Zone Zero stays locked at 60 fps with high settings — gaming is genuinely smooth in real workloads
• Exynos 2600 power consumption is ~10–15% higher than the Snapdragon S25+ for the same workloads, contributing to slightly shorter battery life under load
• 12 GB LPDDR5X RAM + UFS 4.0 storage feels uniformly snappy — multitasking is jitter-free across 10+ apps with no reloads
• Some games (e.g. Zenless Zone Zero) are locked to 30 fps on the Exynos variant — a regional optimisation gap relative to the Snapdragon S26 Ultra

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 S26+

The flashpoint of every review. The 4,900 mAh cell is unchanged from the S25+ and lab tests put the S26+ comfortably in 'reliable all-day' territory — but Chinese rivals with silicon-carbon batteries (OnePlus 15, Oppo Find X9 Pro) now run 50–70% longer in the same tests. 45W wired and 20W wireless charging are competitive within Samsung's lineup but slow versus the OnePlus 15's 100W.

• GSMArena Active Use Score: 16h 25min — a 2-hour improvement over the S25+ thanks to chipset efficiency, putting the S26+ on par with the S26 Ultra
• PhoneArena measured 18h 23min web browsing, 9h 48min video, and 10h 18min 3D gaming — comfortably all-day for typical users with some buffer
• Notebookcheck's 150-nit Wi-Fi browsing test ran 17h 45min — solid in isolation, but ~2 hours behind the Snapdragon-powered S25+ in the same test
• OnePlus 15 (7,300 mAh silicon-carbon) lasts 30h 7min on the same GSMArena test vs the S26+'s 18 hours — Samsung's refusal to adopt silicon-carbon chemistry is now a real disadvantage
• 45W wired charging takes ~51–63 minutes for a full 0–100% — 67% in 30 minutes, fine but unremarkable compared to OnePlus 15's 100W (45min full)
• New 20W Qi 2.2 wireless charging (up from 15W on S25+) is a modest but welcome bump — still no built-in magnets, so MagSafe-style use requires a third-party case
• Samsung-community Exynos owners report 5–6 hours screen-on-time in week one, with the phone needing a 2–6 week 'learning phase' before settling near full-day or beyond
• No charger in the box — factor in ~$30–50 for a 45W brick if you don't already own one

Nothing Phone (4a)

Aggressively priced below the Pixel 10a with a more distinctive design and a real telephoto — the standout budget pick for buyers who want personality.

• It's a good chunk of change cheaper than the $500 Pixel 10a.
• It fits the perfect budget for buyers who can't afford the ~$1,000 needed for an entry-level iPhone 17, with good hardware and excellent battery.
• A very strong mid-range smartphone that stands out with unique design, great display, solid performance and surprisingly capable cameras — definitely worth a closer look.
• Nothing stands out among the crowd with a brand identity strong enough to turn consumers into fans.

Samsung Galaxy S26+

Starting at $1,099 / £1,099 with 256 GB (no 128 GB option), the S26+ has the hardest pitch in Samsung's lineup. The base Galaxy S26 saves $200 and gives up only the bigger screen and 4,900 mAh battery; the Ultra adds dramatically better cameras, Privacy Display, S Pen, and 60W charging for $200 more. Outside Samsung, the OnePlus 15 and Google Pixel 10 each undercut the Plus on the things it doesn't excel at.

• $1,099 / £1,099 starting price for 256 GB is $100 / £100 more than the S25+ at launch — the worst price-to-upgrade ratio in the lineup
• Only $200 separates the Plus from the Ultra, which adds the 200 MP main + 50 MP 5x telephoto cameras, Privacy Display, S Pen, 60W wired charging, 5,000 mAh battery, and Snapdragon-only chipset globally
• OnePlus 15 starts at $899 with a 7,300 mAh battery, faster 100W charging, and broadly competitive cameras — a stronger raw-spec value at the same price tier
• Google Pixel 10 is $100 cheaper at $999 and includes integrated Qi2 magnets, plus arguably better cameras for skin tones and moving subjects — though only 128 GB base
• Last-year's S25+ remains widely discounted and is almost identical hardware — Android Authority and reviewers across r/Samsung suggest waiting for clearance pricing
• Best fit for users upgrading from an S22+ or earlier who want a big-screen Samsung without the Ultra's price, weight, or S Pen complication