Nothing Phone 4a Pro vs. Google Pixel 10a: A style-first phone vs a smarter one

Nothing’s best value

The Nothing Phone 4a Pro leans heavily into design and performance. It runs on a Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 chip and features a large 6.83-inch AMOLED display. You get a triple-camera setup, including a 3.5x optical zoom telephoto lens, along with a 5,080mAh battery and faster wired charging.

ProsUnique designLarge AMOLED display with 144Hz refresh rateMore versatile triple-camera systemFaster wired charging speedConsNo wireless charging supportFewer years of updates (3 years vs. 7 years)Large and heavier design

Simple and reliable

The Pixel 10a sticks to a familiar formula, focusing on simple design, clean software, and camera consistency. It runs on Google’s Tensor G4 chip and features a 6.3-inch OLED display. The camera module now sits nearly flush with the back, and you get a big 5,100 mAh battery inside.

ProsFlush camera design (no wobble)Compact and easier to handlePixel-exclusive AI and software featuresMore consistent camera performanceConsWeaker raw performance than Nothing Phone 4a ProSlower wired charging speedNo telephoto zoom lens

Flagship phones like the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra and the Google Pixel 10 Pro XL offer some of the best Android experiences you can get. However, not everyone wants to spend that much on a phone, and that’s where the best mid-range Android options come in.

While Nothing’s CEO Carl Pei has confirmed that no flagship phones are coming this year, the company has refreshed its mid-range lineup with the Phone 4a and the Phone 4a Pro. Out of the two, the Phone 4a Pro is the one making its way to the U.S.

Google has also recently launched the Pixel 10a, keeping a very familiar design from last year’s Pixel 9a and pricing it similarly to the Nothing Phone 4a Pro. With both phones sitting in the same bracket, which one actually makes more sense to buy? Let’s take a closer look and see how they compare.

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Nothing Phone 4a Pro vs. Google Pixel 10a: Pricing, colors, and availability

(Image credit: Sanuj Bhatia / Android Central)

Nothing debuted the Phone 4a Pro on March 5, 2026, with a starting price of $499 for the base model with 128GB storage and 8GB RAM. There’s also a $599 variant that bumps things up to 256GB storage and 12GB RAM. As for colors, the Nothing Phone 4a Pro is available in Black, Silver, and Pink.

The Google Pixel 10a was made official on February 18, 2026. Despite rising component costs, Google has kept pricing the same as last year at $499 for the 128GB base model. There’s also a 256GB variant priced at $599.

The Pixel 10a comes in four colors: Obsidian (black), Fog (pale green), Berry (red-pink), and Lavender (blue-purple).

Nothing Phone 4a Pro vs. Google Pixel 10a: Design and display

(Image credit: Nirave Gondhia)

Starting with the design, this is probably where the Nothing Phone 4a Pro and the Pixel 10a differ the most. While Google has kept a very similar design to the Pixel 9a, with a clean back, rounded corners, and flat edges, the Nothing Phone 4a Pro brings a more industrial and unique look.

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The Nothing Phone 4a Pro moves away from the company’s transparent back in favor of an aluminum unibody design with a large camera island at the top, which does feel a bit inspired by the iPhone 17 Pro‘s camera plateau. The module houses the cameras, flash, and, for the first time on the a-series, a Glyph Matrix.

While Nothing has used Glyph LEDs before, this is the first time it’s bringing the newer Glyph Matrix, first seen on the Nothing Phone 3, to this lineup. It includes 137 mini-LEDs that act like a secondary display, showing notifications and other information on the back.

(Image credit: Nirave Gondhia)

You can use it for things like tracking live activities such as food delivery or rides, assigning icons to contacts and apps, and even trying small interactive tools like a coin flip.

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In terms of build, the Nothing Phone 4a Pro feels more premium with its aluminum frame and back. The Pixel 10a also uses an aluminum frame but sticks with a plastic back.

That said, while the Nothing phone looks more striking, it comes with slightly lower water resistance. The Pixel 10a is rated IP68, while the Nothing Phone 4a Pro is IP65. The Nothing device is also heavier and larger compared to the Pixel 10a.

(Image credit: Brady Snyder / Android Central)

On the front, the Nothing Phone 4a Pro offers a larger 6.83-inch AMOLED display with a 144Hz refresh rate and up to 1,600 nits of peak brightness in high brightness mode.

The Pixel 10a, on the other hand, features a more compact 6.3-inch p-OLED panel with up to a 120Hz refresh rate, but it does go brighter, reaching up to 2,000 nits. Both phones use Gorilla Glass 7i for protection.

Nothing Phone 4a Pro vs. Google Pixel 10a: Hardware, specs, and software

(Image credit: Brady Snyder / Android Central)

Nothing continues to use mid-range Qualcomm chips for its A-series phones, and it’s the same case here. The Nothing Phone 4a Pro is powered by the Snapdragon 7 Gen 4, which is a step up from last year’s Snapdragon 7s Gen 3.

It’s built on a 4nm process and includes one Cortex-720 core clocked at 2.8GHz, four Cortex-720 cores at 2.4GHz, and three Cortex-520 cores at 1.8GHz.

Apart from that, the Nothing Phone 4a Pro comes with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage by default. You can upgrade to 12GB RAM and 256GB storage, but that’s the maximum configuration, and there’s no support for storage expansion.

(Image credit: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)

While we’ve come to expect Pixel A-series phones to offer flagship chipsets at a lower price, the Pixel 10a breaks that trend. It ships with the same Tensor G4 chip as last year’s Pixel 9a and doesn’t get upgraded to the Tensor G5 like the rest of the Pixel 10 lineup.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but if you were expecting a newer chip here, that’s not the case. That said, the Pixel 10a still brings some of the newer AI features from the Pixel 10 series, which we’ll get into below.

In terms of storage, it also comes in 128GB and 256GB variants, but both models stick with 8GB of RAM. There’s no support for expandable storage here either.

Swipe to scroll horizontallySpecifications

Category

Nothing Phone 4a Pro

Google Pixel 10a

Operating System

Nothing OS 4.1 (Android 16), 3 years OS updates

Android 16, 7 years OS updates

Display

6.83-inch AMOLED, 1260×2800, 144Hz, 1600 nits peak brightness, Gorilla Glass 7i

6.3-inch Actua P-OLED, 1080×2424, 120Hz, 3000 nits peak brightness, Gorilla Glass 7i

Processor

Snapdragon 7 Gen 4

Google Tensor G4

RAM

8GB, 12GB

8GB

Storage

128GB, 256GB

128GB, 256GB

Rear Cameras

50MP (wide) + 8MP (ultra-wide) + 50MP (periscope telephoto, 3.5× zoom)

48MP (wide) + 13MP (ultra-wide)

Front Camera

32MP

13MP

Battery

5,080mAh

5,100mAh

Charging

50W wired, no wireless charging

30W wired, 10W wireless charging

Build

Aluminum frame, aluminum back

Plastic frame, glass back

IP Rating

IP65

IP68

Weight

210g

183g

Dimensions

163.7 × 76.6 × 8 mm

153.9 × 73 × 9 mm

Colors

Black, Silver, Pink

Obsidian, Fog, Berry, Lavender

Battery life is another area where mid-range phones tend to do well, and that’s the case here too. Both the Pixel 10a and the Nothing Phone 4a Pro pack around 5,100mAh batteries.

However, Nothing takes the lead in charging speeds, with the Phone 4a Pro able to go from 0 to 100% in about an hour. The Pixel 10a supports up to 30W wired charging, which is faster than the Pixel 9a but still slower than Nothing’s offering.

If wireless charging matters to you, the Pixel 10a is the only one here that supports it. The Nothing Phone 4a Pro doesn’t offer wireless charging at all.

Nothing Phone 4a Pro vs. Google Pixel 10a: Software

(Image credit: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)

Both the Nothing Phone 4a Pro and the Google Pixel 10a run Android 16 out of the box. Both offer a clean Android experience, although Nothing adds its own tweaks here and there. It still feels very close to a Pixel-like experience compared to most other Android skins.

However, if you care about fast updates and long-term support, the Pixel 10a is hard to beat. Google promises up to seven years of OS updates, while the Nothing Phone 4a Pro is limited to three major Android upgrades. So if you’re looking forward to Android 17 and beyond, the Pixel 10a is the safer bet.

The Pixel 10a also brings down some features from the Pixel 10 series, including tools like Magic Cue and support for the Pixel Screenshot app. It also includes emergency satellite SOS, which is missing on the Nothing Phone 4a Pro.

On the other hand, the Nothing Phone 4a Pro comes with the company’s Essential AI suite, which serves as an AI-powered journal to help you store and recall information more easily. It also lets you build simple apps using text prompts, which is a nice addition.

Nothing Phone 4a Pro vs. Google Pixel 10a: Cameras

(Image credit: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)

The Nothing Phone 4a Pro takes a clear lead on paper with a triple-camera setup. It includes a 50MP primary sensor with dual-pixel PDAF and OIS, paired with an 8MP ultra-wide and a 50MP periscope telephoto lens with 3.5x optical zoom.

This is clearly more versatile than what the Pixel 10a offers, which includes a 48MP primary camera with dual-pixel PDAF and OIS, along with a 13MP ultra-wide sensor with a 120-degree field of view. There’s no telephoto lens here, so the Pixel 10a maxes out at 2x optical-quality zoom and8x digital zoom. If zoom matters to you, the Nothing Phone 4a Pro is the better choice.

That said, the Pixel 10a still has the edge when it comes to consistency across different lighting conditions. We haven’t fully tested the Nothing Phone 4a Pro yet, so it’s hard to say how it compares in real-world use, but Pixels have generally been more reliable in this area.

If video recording matters to you, the Pixel 10a also pulls ahead. It supports up to 4K at 30fps, while the Nothing Phone 4a Pro tops out at 1080p at 30fps. Another small advantage for the Pixel is its flush camera design, while the Nothing Phone 4a Pro has a noticeable camera bump, which might make a case more necessary.

Nothing Phone 4a Pro vs. Google Pixel 10a: Which should you buy?

(Image credit: Brady Snyder / Android Central)

Both the Nothing Phone 4a Pro and the Google Pixel 10a are among the best Android phones you can get around the $500 mark. It really comes down to your personal preferences and what you value more in a phone.

If you want better performance, a dedicated zoom sensor, faster wired charging, and a design that stands out, the Nothing Phone 4a Pro is the clear pick. You also get that Glyph Matrix on the back for notifications, along with a more premium build overall.

However, if you prefer a more compact phone that’s lighter to carry, want faster Android updates, and a cleaner UI, the Pixel 10a is still a great choice. It has a more subtle design that doesn’t wobble on a desk and includes useful features like emergency satellite SOS, which is missing on the Nothing Phone 4a Pro.

Flashy and capable

The Nothing Phone 4a Pro builds on the brand’s design-first approach, bringing a full aluminum unibody design for the first time. It features a large 6.8-inch AMOLED display, along with a triple-camera setup that includes a telephoto lens. You also get a big battery paired with fast wired charging.

Safe choice

The Pixel 10a keeps things familiar, focusing on a clean Android experience and camera consistency. It runs Android 16 and brings some of the Pixel 10 series AI features to a more affordable price point. The design is largely identical to the Pixel 9a, but this time, you get completely flush cameras on the back.