Nothing Doubles Down on Mid-Range Tech with New Phone (4a) Models and $200 Headphones

Nothing took the world by storm when it launched just four years ago. Since then, it’s seemed more committed to advancing the personal tech space than pretty much anyone else. Announcing it would not debut a 4th-gen of its standard Phone, the London-based company instead said it would focus on the mid-range Phone (a) lineup. We now get the fruits of that labor in two new models, along with an entry-level pair of headphones.

Light Bar Theory

The base Phone (4a) keeps the transparent back that Nothing loyalists expect, but the Glyph Interface of previous generations has been replaced with something new: the Glyph Bar. It’s a column of 63 mini-LEDs arranged in seven square zones along the upper rear panel, and it reads more cleanly than the older, busier light patterns. The Bar gives you your usual notification alerts but can also serve as a fill light during photo or video capture. The red recording indicator is baked right in too.

Under the hood, the (4a) runs on a Snapdragon 7s Gen 4, steps up to a 6.78-inch 1.5K AMOLED display hitting 4500 nits peak brightness, and carries a 5080mAh battery with 50W fast charging. The main shooter is a 50MP Samsung sensor paired with a 50MP periscope telephoto capable of 3.5x optical zoom and 70x digital, while a Sony ultra-wide and 32MP selfie camera round out the system. It ships with Nothing OS 4.1 on Android 16 and promises three years of OS updates alongside six years of security patches.

Spec Sheet

Going Metal

The (4a) Pro is the more surprising of the two phones. Nothing, a brand built on transparency, has gone almost entirely opaque here. The rear panel is aluminum, the body is a svelte 7.95mm, and the camera module is now the only place you’ll find the see-through design language the brand is known for. That module also houses a larger version of the Glyph Matrix introduced on last year’s Phone (3), an expanded 137 mini-LED dot display that gives you notification alerts, mini-apps, and even an always-on clock. It covers 57% more area than before and runs 100% brighter.

Photography is where the Pro earns its keep. Nothing has equipped it with a Sony LYT700C main sensor, a 50MP periscope telephoto with OIS at 3.5x optical and a class-leading 140x digital zoom, plus a Sony ultra-wide and 32MP front camera. TrueLens Engine 4 powers the computational side, including Ultra XDR photo and 4K Ultra XDR video modes. The Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 chip is a solid step up from the base model and puts the Pro’s performance in proximity to flagship-tier devices.

Spec Sheet

Cans for the Rest of Us

Last summer saw the debut of the brand’s first-ever over-ear monitors, the Headphone (1). They looked futuristic, sleek, and undeniably Nothing. Now we get a pair that appears of the same ilk, but will cost just under $200 and deliver something the (1) never could: up to 135 hours of continuous listening. That’s five full days from a single charge, the longest battery life of any Nothing product to date. Five minutes on the cable gets you another five hours!

The Headphone (a) carries the same tactile control scheme from the (1), with a Roller, Paddle, and Button integrated directly into the ear cups for volume, media navigation, and ANC mode cycling. The Button now does double duty with Channel Hop, letting you skip between apps and functions without touching your phone, and a Camera Shutter mode that turns it into a remote trigger. Audio runs through a 40mm titanium-coated dynamic driver with LDAC support and Hi-Res Audio Wireless certification. You also get adaptive ANC with three presets and an 8-band EQ through the Nothing X app. The one concession at this price is the hard carry case from the (1) is gone, swapped for a pouch.

Spec Sheet

Pricing & Availability

All three products are available to pre-order now at Nothing’s website. The Phone (4a) and Headphone (a) go on sale March 13, with the Phone (4a) starting at €349 (~$404) and the Headphone (a) priced at $199. The Phone (4a) Pro follows on March 27 starting at $499. One caveat for U.S. shoppers: only the Pro is available stateside. The Limited Edition Yellow Headphone (a) arrives a bit later, on April 6.

Recap

Nothing Phone (4a), (4a) Pro, & Headphone (a)

Nothing just dropped its biggest mid-range push yet with the Phone (4a), Phone (4a) Pro, and Headphone (a) — three new products that show the London brand is as serious about accessibility as it is about design. The Pro goes full metal for the first time, the base (4a) keeps the transparency fans love, and the Headphone (a) undercuts its own elder sibling by $100 while somehow lasting five days on a charge.

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