We ’ve been spoiled with two exciting smartphone launching in the past calendar month , include the long - expect iPhone 16e and the Nothing Phone 3a .

Although we have n’t critique either handset yet , both promise to offer features ordinarily hold for bounty phones but with a more small-scale price tag .

Whether you ’re torn between the two or just curious to see what ’s the dispute , keep reading our Nothing Phone 3a vs iPhone 16e to learn more about the 2025 phone and ascertain whether either will bring in a space on ourbest smartphonesorbest mid - range smartphoneslist .

Free £89 Ear(a) earbuds with Nothing Phone (3a) pre-orders

Pricing and Availability

launch atMWC 2025 , theNothing Phone 3ais the cheaper of the two and has a starting RRP of £ 329 .

The iPhone 16e is Apple ’s late iPhone , having establish at the end of February 2025 . Available in just two color , White or Black , it has a starting RRP of a high-priced £ 599/$599 .

Nothing Phone 3a has three rear cameras

In price of quantity , the Nothing Phone 3a trump the iPhone 16e ’s camera as it sports three rearward lens while the latter only has one . However , Apple explain the rummy camera of the iPhone 16e is actually a two - in - one 48MP fusion lens , which enables a 12MP 2x telephoto and up to 10x digital zoom .

Otherwise , the Phone 3a is made up of a 50MP main , 50MP telephotograph and an 8MP ultrawide . Nothing excuse the television camera apparatus is agree with TrueLens Engine 3 which combines computer hardware with “ advanced computational algorithms , AI processing and multi - frame technology ” , delivering “ professional - grade , true - to - lifespan photography . ”

We ’ll have to wait and see how the two competing camera organisation compare .

Free £89 Ear(a) earbuds with Nothing Phone (3a) pre-orders

Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 vs A18 Bionic

Aside from the fact the Nothing Phone 3a is an Android - powered smartphone while the iPhone 16e runs on iOS , the main difference between the handsets is their processor . The Nothing Phone 3a does n’t endure on Qualcomm ’s latest and most top - endSnapdragon 8 Elitechipset , but alternatively opts for the 2024 Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 chipset .

Although we have n’t reviewed the Phone 3a yet , we have review theNothing Phone 3a Prowhich take to the woods on the same chipset . While in general enjoyment , we found the earpiece to be smooth and able to run games like Genshin Impact fairly well ( although not flawlessly ) , it did n’t grade peculiarly highly in our benchmarking tests . In fact , we find it actually strike down brusque of its cheaper predecessor , Nothing Phone 2a .

likewise , although we have n’t reviewed the iPhone 16e yet , we have spent time with theiPhone 16which runs on the same A18 Bionic chip . We were really impressed with the A18 splintering and find it does n’t rank too far behind theiPhone 16 Pro Max ’s A18 Pro micro chip either . With this in judgement , we can perhaps bear the iPhone 16e to be more powerful than the Nothing Phone 3a , however we ca n’t confirm this yet .

Free £89 Ear(a) earbuds with Nothing Phone (3a) pre-orders

Nothing Phone 3a has a larger display

At 6.77 - inches , the Nothing Phone 3a is not only well larger than the 6.1 - inch iPhone 16e but it ’s also 0.07 column inch bigger than theiPhone 16 Plus . The show itself is AMOLED , with a 120Hz refresh pace and 3000 nits peak brightness too .

On the other hand , the iPhone 16e has aSuper Retina XDRdisplay with a much miserable peak smartness of 1200 nits . Plus , the iPhone 16 does n’t have Apple’sProMotiontechnology which mean its refresh pace caps out at a lowly 60Hz .

iPhone 16e supports Apple Intelligence

TheApple Intelligencetoolkit can be recover across the entire iPhone 16 series and , impressively , this includes the tawdry iPhone 16e . Apple Intelligence includes legion feature article including Genmoji , Image Playground and an update Siri which understand lifelike language prompts .

While it may not be as panoptic , the Nothing Phone 3a offer early access to Nothing ’s own AI hub . Coined Essential Space , the toolkit is similar to Google’sPixel Screenshots , and acts as a storehouse arena for your notes and ideas .

Nothing ’s Essential Space can be access via the brand new Essential Key push button which is find out on the correct hand side of both the Phone 3a and Phone 3a Pro . Much like theAction Buttonon the iPhone 16e , the Key works as a utile shortcut to certain job .

Free £89 Ear(a) earbuds with Nothing Phone (3a) pre-orders

iPhone 16e has an IP68 rating

Like most of the good smartphones , the iPhone 16e has anIP68rating which means the phone is dust - pissed and protected against the force of uninterrupted immersion in water .

The Nothing Phone 3a has a surprisingly low rating in comparison with IP64 . This paygrade , which is usually found in earbuds and speakers , think although the phone is rubble - taut , it can only hold splashes of water in all directions .

Early Verdict

While the Nothing Phone 3a has three rearward lenses and boasts a larger screen with a good refresh rate , the iPhone 16e runs on a powerful processor and has a high IP rating too .

We ’ll have to wait until we test both handset to make a conclusive decision about which one come out on top as both French telephone undoubtedly frisk pros and cons .

Free £89 Ear(a) earbuds with Nothing Phone (3a) pre-orders

Free £89 Ear(a) earbuds with Nothing Phone (3a) pre-orders

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iPhone 16e back

iPhone 16e back

iPhone 16e back

Nothing Phone 3a front

Nothing Phone 3a front

Nothing Phone 3a front

iPhone 16e displaying Image Playground

iPhone 16e displaying Image Playground

iPhone 16e displaying Image Playground

Free £89 Ear(a) earbuds with Nothing Phone (3a) pre-orders

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Nothing Phone 3a front

Nothing Phone 3a front

iPhone 16e displaying Image Playground

iPhone 16e displaying Image Playground