Samsung Galaxy S25 vs Nothing Phone (3a)
80
out of 100
VS
66
out of 100
Here we compared two smartphones: the 6.2-inch Samsung Galaxy S25 (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite) that was released on January 22, 2025, against the Nothing Phone (3a), which is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 and came out 1 month after. 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
Key differences
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S25
- 2.8x better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (2920K versus 1050K)
- Has 50% more RAM: 12GB versus 8GB
- Handles wireless charging up to 15W
- The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
- Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
- Compatible with Wi-Fi 7 wireless networks
- Delivers 10% higher peak brightness (1393 against 1261 nits)
- More recent OS version: Android 17 versus 16
- The front-facing camera can record video at 4K
Reasons to consider the Nothing Phone (3a)
- Has a 0.57 inch larger screen size
- Comes with 1000 mAh larger battery capacity: 5000 vs 4000 mAh
- Supports higher wattage charging (50W versus 25W)
- Has 2 SIM card slots
Review
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.
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate DeviceFacts Score
Value for money (Beta)
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | Dynamic AMOLED | AMOLED |
| Size | 6.2 inches | 6.77 inches |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2340 pixels | 1080 x 2392 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 19.5:9 | 19.9:9 |
| PPI | 416 ppi | 387 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 120 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | Yes (1-120 Hz) | Yes (60-120 Hz) |
| Max rated brightness | 2600 nits | 1300 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | - | 3000 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | Yes, HDR10+ |
| Touch sampling rate | 240 Hz | - |
| Screen protection | Gorilla Glass Victus 2 | Panda Glass |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 91.1% | 87.7% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
- DCI-P3 - Always-On Display - DC Dimming |
| RGB color space | 97.4% | 99.8% |
| PWM | 240 Hz | 90 Hz |
| Response time | 2 ms | 1 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | ∞ Infinity |
Screen space comparison
Phone (3a)
6.77″ (19.9:9 ratio) = 17.2 in2
Galaxy S25
6.2″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 14.6 in2
~17% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 146.9 mm (5.78 inches) | 163.52 mm (6.44 inches) |
| Width | 70.5 mm (2.78 inches) | 77.5 mm (3.05 inches) |
| Thickness | 7.2 mm (0.28 inches) | 8.35 mm (0.33 inches) |
| Weight | 162 g (5.71 oz) | 201 g (7.09 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | IP64 |
| Advanced cooling | Vapor chamber | Vapor chamber |
| Rear material | Glass | Glass |
| Frame material | Metal | Plastic |
| Colors | Black, Silver, Gray, Blue, Green, Pink | White, Black, Blue |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | Yes, in-display |
| Repairability | Good (3.23/5) | Average (2.84/5) |
| Drop resistance | Excellent (A) · 270 drops | Good (C) · 90 drops |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite | Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 |
| Max clock | 4470 MHz | 2500 MHz |
| CPU cores | 8 (2 + 6) | 8 (1 + 3 + 4) |
| Architecture | - 6 cores at 3.53 GHz: Oryon (Phoenix M) - 2 cores at 4.32 GHz: Oryon (Phoenix L) |
- 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) |
| L3 cache | 8 MB | - |
| Manufacturing | TSMC | TSMC |
| Lithography process | 3 nanometers | 4 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Hexagon | Yes |
| Graphics | Adreno 830 | Adreno 810 |
| GPU shading units | 1536 | 256 |
| GPU clock | 1100 MHz | 1050 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~3379.2 GFLOPS | ~537.6 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 19829 | 4435 |
| Single-core score | 3012 | 1158 |
| Multi-core score | 9766 | 3276 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 899843 | 402549 |
| GPU | 1139434 | 179108 |
| Memory | 330975 | 194640 |
| UX | 549780 | 274304 |
| Total score | 2920032 | 1050601 |
| Samples | [44 tests] | [38 tests] |
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Stability | 59% | 98% |
| Graphics test | 16 FPS | 3 FPS |
| Graphics score | 2216 | 379 |
3DMark Solar Bay
| Graphics test | 38 FPS | - |
| Section 1 | 48 FPS | - |
| Section 2 | 37 FPS | - |
| Section 3 | 29 FPS | - |
| Graphics score | 10045 | - |
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
| Stability | 51% | - |
| Graphics test | 33 FPS | - |
| Graphics score | 5664 | - |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 21815 | 11533 |
| Video editing | 8619 | 6290 |
| Photo editing | 34466 | 20294 |
| Data manipulation | 17708 | 10511 |
| Writing score | 27109 | 16899 |
AnTuTu 11 Ranking List (#126th place)
Recent User Tests
Samsung Galaxy S25
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-10-12 (Niki) | AnTuTu 12 | 3324487 |
| 📘 2026-09-24 (Icecream) | AnTuTu 12 | 3297029 |
| 📘 2026-09-18 (S25 owner) | AnTuTu 12 | 3476989 |
| 📘 2026-08-23 (S25 owner) | AnTuTu 11 | 3149606 |
| 📘 2026-08-14 (Atharva0999) | AnTuTu 11 | 3027002 |
Nothing Phone (3a)
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-07-10 -> ratulislam-55 | CPU Throttle | 82% |
| 📘 2026-07-10 -> ratulislam-55 | Geekbench 6 GPU | 3328 |
| 📘 2026-07-10 -> ratulislam-55 | Geekbench 6 CPU | 1158 / 3276 |
| 📘 2026-06-07 (Aames Ng) | AnTuTu 11 | 1069149 |
| 📘 2026-06-03 (xperz3650) | AnTuTu 11 | 1065584 |
Memory
| RAM size | 12 GB | 8 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5X | LPDDR4X |
| Memory clock | 5300 MHz | 2133 MHz |
| Channels | 4 | 2 |
| Storage size | 128 GB | 128 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 4.0 | UFS 2.2 |
| Memory card | No | No |
Software
| Operating system | Android 15 (Can be upgraded to Android 17) | Android 15 (Can be upgraded to Android 16) |
| ROM | One UI 9.0 | Nothing OS 4.0 |
| OS size | 30.1 GB | - |
| OS updates | 7 years | 3 years |
| Security updates | 7 years | 4 years |
Battery
| Capacity | 4000 mAh | 5000 mAh |
| Max charge power | 25 W | 50 W |
| Battery type | Li-Ion | Li-Po |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | Yes (15 W) | No |
| Reverse charging | Yes, (wireless) | No |
| Bypass charging | Yes | No |
| Fast charging | Yes (56% in 30 min) | Yes (61% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:17 hr | 1:06 hr |
| Battery cycles | 2000 cycles | 1400 cycles |
| Web browsing | 09:09 hr | 08:06 hr |
| Watching video | 17:15 hr | 16:25 hr |
| Gaming | 05:32 hr | 05:49 hr |
| Standby | 108 hr | 131 hr |
General battery life
Main camera
| Matrix | 50 megapixels | 50 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 8160 x 6120 | 8192 x 6144 |
| Zoom | Optical, 3x | Optical, 2x |
| Flash | LED | LED |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| 8K video recording | Up to 30FPS | No |
| 4K video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 30FPS |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| Slow motion | 240 FPS (1080p) | 240 FPS (720p) |
| Angle of widest lens | 120° | 120° |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 50 MP 2) Telephoto: 10 MP 3) Ultrawide: 12 MP |
1) Standard: 50 MP 2) Telephoto: 50 MP 3) Ultrawide: 8 MP |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode |
| Image resolution | 50 MP | 50 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.8 | f/1.9 |
| Focal length | 24 mm | 24 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung ISOCELL S5KGN3 | Samsung ISOCELL S5KGN9 |
| Sensor size | 1/1.56" (≈ 0.64 inch) | 1/1.57" (≈ 0.64 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1 micron | 1 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) | Phase autofocus |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | 10 MP | 50 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.4 | f/2.6 |
| Focal length | 67 mm | 50 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung ISOCELL S5K3K1 | Samsung ISOCELL |
| Sensor size | 1/3.94" (≈ 0.25 inch) | 1/2.74" (≈ 0.36 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1 micron | 0.64 micron |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | 12 MP | 8 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 13 mm | 15 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX564 | Sony IMX355 |
| Sensor size | 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) | 1/4.0" (≈ 0.25 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.4 micron | 1.12 micron |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 12 megapixels | 32 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4000 x 3000 | 6560 x 4928 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | 22 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung S5K3LU | Samsung ISOCELL |
| Sensor size | 1/3.2" (≈ 0.31 inch) | 1/3.44" (≈ 0.29 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.12 micron | - |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus | No |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| Video resolution | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS | 1080p (Full HD) at 60 FPS |
| Depth sensor (TOF 3D) | No | No |
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be) | Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) |
| 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 | 5.4 |
| Bluetooth features | LE | LE |
| USB type | USB Type-C | USB Type-C |
| USB version | 3.2 | 2 |
| USB features | - Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
- Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
| DisplayPort | Yes, DP 1.2 | No |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS | GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| Number of SIM* | 1 | 2 |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | Nano |
| Multi SIM mode | Standby | Standby |
| eSIM support* | Yes | No |
| Hybrid slot | No | No |
| 5G support | Yes | Yes |
Sound
| Speakers | Stereo | Stereo |
| Headphone audio jack | No | No |
| FM radio | No | No |
| Dolby Atmos | Yes | No |
Speakers test
Max loudness
Other
| Category | Flagship | Mid-range |
| Announced | January 2025 | March 2025 |
| Release date | February 2025 | March 2025 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $799 | $329 |
| Successor | - Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus (Snapdragon) | - Nothing Phone (4a) |
| SAR (head) | 1.29 W/kg | - |
| SAR (body) | 1.36 W/kg | - |
| Sensors | - Hall-effect sensor - Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
- Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
| Bundled charger | Not included | Not included |
Further details
Notes on Galaxy S25:
- Supports up to 2 eSIMs. The international model has 2 physical SIM slots, while the U.S. model has 1.
*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 Samsung Galaxy S25 is definitely a better buy.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 6