Home > Smartphone comparison > Phone (3a) vs Pixel 9 – which one to choose?

Nothing Phone (3a) vs Google Pixel 9

66 out of 100
Nothing Phone (3a)
VS
73 out of 100
Google Pixel 9
Nothing Phone (3a)
Google Pixel 9

Here we compared two smartphones: the 6.77-inch Nothing Phone (3a) (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3) that was released on March 4, 2025, against the Google Pixel 9, which is powered by Google Tensor G4 and came out 6 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Memory
  1. Differences
  2. Review
  3. Specs
  4. Benchmarks
  5. Battery life
  6. Camera
  7. Comments

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Nothing Phone (3a)
  • The rear camera has a 2x optical zoom
  • Shows 12% longer battery life (25:03 vs 22:26 hours)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.4)
  • Has a 0.47 inch larger screen size
  • Supports higher wattage charging (50W versus 27W)
  • Has 2 SIM card slots
  • The phone is 6 months newer
Reasons to consider the Google Pixel 9
  • Delivers 76% higher peak brightness (2220 against 1261 nits)
  • 49% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1561K versus 1050K)
  • Has 50% more RAM: 12GB versus 8GB
  • Handles wireless charging up to 12W
  • Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
  • Compatible with Wi-Fi 7 wireless networks
  • More recent OS version: Android 17 versus 16
  • The front-facing camera can record video at 4K
  • Ready for eSIM technology

Review

Evaluation of Nothing Phone (3a) and Google Pixel 9 crucial features
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
Scores with a red asterisk (*) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
DeviceFacts Score
Final comparison evaluation
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate DeviceFacts Score
📱 Primary usage:

Value for money (Beta)

To get an accurate value-for-money index, update the default prices with actual prices from your country’s retailers (for the selected memory configs) and press the "Calculate" button.
Currency
8 / 128 GB
VS
12 / 128 GB
72.8
(Good)
Value Index
136.1
(Excellent)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests
Phone:
Phone (3a)
vs
Pixel 9

Display

Type AMOLED OLED
Size 6.77 inches 6.3 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2392 pixels 1080 x 2424 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.9:9 20:9
PPI 387 ppi 422 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (60-120 Hz) Yes (60-120 Hz)
Max rated brightness 1300 nits 2700 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 3000 nits 1800 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10+
Screen protection Panda Glass Gorilla Glass Victus 2
Screen-to-body ratio 87.7% 87.1%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DC Dimming		 - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 99.8% 99%
PWM 90 Hz 120 Hz
Response time 1 ms 1 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Screen space comparison
Phone (3a)
6.77″ (19.9:9 ratio) = 17.2 in2
Pixel 9
6.3″ (20:9 ratio) = 14.9 in2
~15% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Phone (3a)
1261 nits
Pixel 9 +76%
2220 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 163.52 mm (6.44 inches) 152.8 mm (6.02 inches)
Width 77.5 mm (3.05 inches) 72 mm (2.83 inches)
Thickness 8.35 mm (0.33 inches) 8.5 mm (0.33 inches)
Weight 201 g (7.09 oz) 198 g (6.98 oz)
Waterproof IP64 IP68
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber -
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Plastic Metal
Colors White, Black, Blue White, Black, Green, Pink
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Repairability Average (2.84/5) Good (3.5/5)
Drop resistance Good (C) · 90 drops Excellent (A) · 270 drops
Screen-to-body ratio
Phone (3a) +1%
87.7%
Pixel 9
87.1%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Nothing Phone (3a) and Google Pixel 9
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 Google Tensor G4
Max clock 2500 MHz 3100 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 3 + 4) 8 (1 + 3 + 4)
Architecture - 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Kryo Silver (Cortex-A520)
- 3 cores at 2.4 GHz: Kryo Gold (Cortex-A720)
- 1 core at 2.5 GHz: Kryo Prime (Cortex-A720)		 - 4 cores at 1.92 GHz: Cortex-A520
- 3 cores at 2.6 GHz: Cortex-A720
- 1 core at 3.1 GHz: Cortex-X4
Manufacturing TSMC Samsung
Lithography process 4 nanometers 4 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Yes Yes
GPU
Graphics Adreno 810 Mali-G715 MC7
GPU shading units 256 896
GPU clock 1050 MHz 940 MHz
FLOPS ~537.6 GFLOPS ~1684.4 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Nothing Phone (3a) and Google Pixel 9
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Phone (3a)
1158
Pixel 9 +47%
1707
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Phone (3a)
3276
Pixel 9 +35%
4431
Compute Score (GPU)
Phone (3a)
4435
Pixel 9 +70%
7536
Compute Score (GPU) 4435 7536
Single-core score 1158 1707
Multi-core score 3276 4431
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
Phone (3a)
1050601
Pixel 9 +49%
1561427
CPU 402549 576617
GPU 179108 410060
Memory 194640 210177
UX 274304 364573
Total score 1050601 1561427
Samples [38 tests] [4 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Phone (3a)
379
Pixel 9 +176%
1047
Stability 98% 74%
Graphics test 3 FPS 8 FPS
Graphics score 379 1047
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
Phone (3a)
12382
Pixel 9 +3%
12789
Web score 11533 10043
Video editing 6290 7463
Photo editing 20294 21077
Data manipulation 10511 13349
Writing score 16899 15810
Submit your benchmark results

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Nothing Phone (3a)
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-07-10 -> ratulislam-55CPU Throttle82%
📘 2026-07-10 -> ratulislam-55Geekbench 6 GPU3328
📘 2026-07-10 -> ratulislam-55Geekbench 6 CPU1158 / 3276
📘 2026-06-07 (Aames Ng)AnTuTu 111069149
📘 2026-06-03 (xperz3650)AnTuTu 111065584
Add View all (41)
Google Pixel 9
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-18 -> Oleg 16 cmAnTuTu 111423579
📘 2026-06-13 (Plotwa)CPU Throttle82%
📘 2026-04-14 (LymXT)AnTuTu 111577137
📘 2025-12-09 (enigma)AnTuTu 111519937
📘 2025-11-28 (W1TRAY)AnTuTu 111561427
Add View all (8)

Memory

RAM
RAM size 8 GB 12 GB
Memory type LPDDR4X LPDDR5X
Memory clock 2133 MHz 4200 MHz
Channels 2 4
Storage
Storage size 128 GB 128 GB
Storage type UFS 2.2 UFS 3.1
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 15 (Can be upgraded to Android 16) Android 14 (Can be upgraded to Android 17)
ROM Nothing OS 4.0 Stock Android
OS size - 19 GB
OS updates 3 years 7 years
Security updates 4 years 7 years

Battery

Capacity 5000 mAh 4700 mAh
Max charge power 50 W 27 W
Battery type Li-Po Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging No Yes (12 W)
Reverse charging No Yes, (wireless)
Bypass charging No No
Fast charging Yes (61% in 30 min) Yes (55% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:06 hr 1:25 hr
Battery cycles 1400 cycles 1000 cycles
Battery life tests
Web browsing 08:06 hr 10:01 hr
Watching video 16:25 hr 13:38 hr
Gaming 05:49 hr 05:41 hr
Standby 131 hr 98 hr
General battery life
Phone (3a) +12%
25:03 hr
Pixel 9
22:26 hr
Add your battery life

Main camera

Matrix 50 megapixels 50 megapixels
Image resolution 8192 x 6144 8160 x 6144
Zoom Optical, 2x Digital
Flash LED LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording No No
4K video recording Up to 30FPS Up to 60FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 240 FPS (720p) 240 FPS (1080p)
Angle of widest lens 120° 123°
Lenses 1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Telephoto: 50 MP
3) Ultrawide: 8 MP
1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Ultrawide: 48 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode		 - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Standard lens
Image resolution 50 MP 50 MP
Aperture f/1.9 f/1.7
Focal length 24 mm 24 mm
Sensor Samsung ISOCELL S5KGN9 Samsung GNK
Sensor size 1/1.57" (≈ 0.64 inch) 1/1.31" (≈ 0.76 inch)
Pixel size 1 micron 1.2 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus Laser autofocus
Stabilization Optical Optical
Telephoto lens
Image resolution 50 MP -
Aperture f/2.6 -
Focal length 50 mm -
Sensor Samsung ISOCELL -
Sensor size 1/2.74" (≈ 0.36 inch) -
Pixel size 0.64 micron -
Stabilization Optical -
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 8 MP 48 MP
Aperture f/2.2 f/1.7
Focal length 15 mm -
Sensor Sony IMX355 -
Sensor size 1/4.0" (≈ 0.25 inch) 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch)
Pixel size 1.12 micron -
Stabilization Digital Digital

DxOMark main camera tests

Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
Bokeh - 75
Preview - 83
Zoom - 132
Samples - Photo samples of Google Pixel 9 from DxOMark

Selfie camera

Megapixels 32 megapixels 10.5 megapixels
Image resolution 6560 x 4928 3648 x 2736
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 22 mm 20 mm
Sensor Samsung ISOCELL CMOS
Sensor size 1/3.44" (≈ 0.29 inch) 1/3.1" (≈ 0.32 inch)
Pixel size - 1.22 micron
Autofocus No Phase autofocus
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 1080p (Full HD) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No No

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display		 - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 5.4 5.3
Bluetooth features LE LE
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 2 3.2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG		 - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
DisplayPort No Yes
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS GPS, GLONASS, Galileo
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* 2 1
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode Standby -
eSIM support* No Yes
Hybrid slot No No
5G support Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos No No
Speakers test
Max loudness
Phone (3a) +3%
90.5 dB
Pixel 9
87.7 dB

Other

Category Mid-range Flagship
Announced March 2025 August 2024
Release date March 2025 August 2024
Launch price (MSRP) $329 $799
Successor - Nothing Phone (4a) - Google Pixel 10
SAR (head) - 0.99 W/kg
SAR (body) - 1.4 W/kg
Sensors - Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint		 - Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
Bundled charger Not included Not included
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

After analyzing all the data, we think that the Google Pixel 9 is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
5 (31.3%)
11 (68.8%)
Total votes: 16

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