Nothing's next phone might be affordable, but you'll get at least one big iPhone feature

Nothing is preparing to launch the Nothing Phone (3a) on 4 March. And now that the company has (thankfully) confirmed its plans, we’re starting to get more precise teases, guiding us towards actual features of the new device.

The Nothing Phone (3a) will be a mid-range device, with the brand leaving its flagship phone, the Nothing Phone (3), for a later date. In this latest tease, it has shown a section of the forthcoming phone's side, where there’s something new to get excited about.

Taking a leaf out of Apple’s book, it looks like the Nothing Phone (3a) will carry an additional button. This is shown sitting under the power button on the right-hand side of the device. The tease on X carries the words “your second memory, one click away”.

Naturally, the tease is cryptic because this is Nothing we’re talking about. There’s plenty of speculation that this a camera button on the side of the phone, hence the reference to “second memory”. Use of the word “memory” suggests photos.

However, there’s every chance it could be an Action Button like the one offered by the iPhone. It could be used to trigger Gemini – or Nothing AI – although I can’t help feeling that “memory” doesn’t really fit with AI.

Does a camera button makes sense on Nothing Phone (3a)?

Camera buttons are nothing new on Android phones. Ten years ago, many phones offered a camera button, but it only really survived on Xperia handsets, where Sony was keen on pushing the camera-like experience as far as possible.

One of the reasons it was deemed unnecessary on many devices was because the power button can launch the camera with a double press. Tapping the screen to capture doesn’t then pose much of a problem, and if it does, the volume can be used as a shutter instead.

When Apple added Camera Control to the new iPhone, it wasn’t just a camera button – it offered control over camera features too. Arguably, it’s still a little unnecessary in a world where most camera users just point and shoot and leave the phone to figure out what it should look like.

So if Nothing is adding a camera button, it would be a slightly odd move, because it’s mostly unnecessary. That would suggest to me that it’s either not just a camera button, or it does a little bit more than just launch the camera and take the picture.

We'll undoubtedly find out more in the build up to launch.