Nothing Phone (3a) specs leak just made things a bit more confusing

London-based Nothing has already confirmed it will be launching the Nothing Phone (3a) at an event on 4 March, which coincides with Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The confirmation of the 3a was a little surprising in itself as usually the company announces the flagship first – which would be the Nothing Phone (3) – followed by the more affordable "a" model later.

What's perhaps more surprising however, is that there looks like there will be two devices in the Nothing Phone (3a) series – the Nothing Phone (3a) and a Nothing Phone (3a) Pro.

The difference between them might be minimal, though. Apart from one main aspect.

A report on Smartprix claims both the devices will run on the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 (4nm) platform, they'll each sport a 6.72-inch AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, and the dimensions are claimed to be identical to the Nothing Phone (2a). The report even goes as far to suggest the two devices will have an IP64 water and dust rating, as well as a 5,000mAh battery. So why the "Pro"?

How will the Nothing Phone (3a) be different to the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro?

Where they are reportedly said to differ is in the camera stakes. Smartprix claims that the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro will come with a three camera unit on the rear, comprised of a 50-megapixel primary camera, 50-megapixel secondary sensor with 3x zoom, and an 8-megapixel ultra-wide sensor. That 3x zoom on that secondary lens will also allegedly allow for 60x hybrid zoom.

What confuses things is that, as shortly after the report landed, Nothing confirmed to T3 that the Phone (3a) series will "feature a pro-level camera system", including a "new periscope lens with AI clarity-enhancing algorithms".

Nothing revealed the 50-megapixel periscope lens will offer 3x optical zoom, 6x in-sensor zoom and 60x ultra zoom. To us, that sounds like the Nothing Phone (3a) will also get these capabilities too, not just the Pro model.

Nothing also said the 50-megapixel main sensor will capture 64% more light than the Nothing Phone (2a).

It would have made sense that the camera capabilities would be the differentiator between the Nothing Phone (3a) and the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro – many companies do this – but given the extra details from Nothing, is it possible perhaps the chipset will be the difference between the models?

We knew there would be a Snapdragon SoC running the show as Nothing has confirmed this for the Nothing Phone (3a).

But the firm hasn't confirmed what Snapdragon SoC, and with Qualcomm having recently announced the Snapdragon 6 Gen 4, and the Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 also being expected at some point, we wouldn't be too surprised if the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro opts for that platform instead.

For now, we only know for sure that the Nothing Phone (3a) is coming on 4 March, it will run Snapdragon hardware and there will be a better camera system than previously, so we will have to wait and see to find out the rest.