Home Phone comparison Nothing Phone (3a) Pro and Huawei Nova 9 - Which is better?

Nothing Phone (3a) Pro vs Huawei Nova 9

70 out 100
Nothing Phone (3a) Pro
VS
55 out 100
Huawei Nova 9
Nothing Phone (3a) Pro
Huawei Nova 9

Compared 2 smartphones : Nothing Phone (3a) Pro Manufactured in March, 2025, with display 6.77 with chipsetQualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3, vs Huawei Nova 9, Manufactured in September, 2021 with chipsetQualcomm Snapdragon 778G. Below are specs, tests, pros and cons for each device

  1. Differences
  2. Review
  3. Specs
  4. Benchmarks
  5. Battery Life
  6. Cameras
  7. Comments (0)

Key Differences

Device key advantages
Reasons to choose Nothing Phone (3a) Pro
  • Larger display: 6.77in
  • Higher battery capacity: 5000mAh vs 4300mAh
  • Newer Bluetooth version: 5.4 vs 5.2
  • Built-in eSIM
Reasons to choose Huawei Nova 9
  • Higher pixel density: 392ppi
  • Lighter design: 175g vs 211g
  • Includes charger

Versions

Available versions and configurations
Memory Options - 8/128 GB
- 8/256 GB
- 12/256 GB		 - 8/128 GB
- 8/256 GB

Review

Key Specs Nothing Phone (3a) Pro and Huawei Nova 9
Display
Color accuracy, sharpness & brightness
Camera
Main & front camera tests
Performance
App & system performance
Games
3D gaming performance
Battery
Battery life, charging speed & type
Connectivity
Connectivity features
NanoReview Score
Overall score by NanoReview
Adjust each parameter’s importance to find the best match for you.
Customize your score
Function
Importance (Weight)
Display:
Camera:
Performance:
Gaming:
Battery:
Connectivity:
Higher weight means greater impact on NanoReview score.

Tests & specs

Specs & test comparison
Smartphones:
Nothing Phone (3a) Pro
vs
Huawei Nova 9

Display

Display quality comparison
Type AMOLED OLED
Size 6.77 in 6.57 in
Resolution 1080x2392 pixels 1080x2340 pixels
Aspect ratio n/a 19.5:9
Pixel density 387 ppi 392 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (60-120 Hz) No
Max brightness 1300 nits 430 nits
HDR support Yes HDR10+ Yes HDR10
Touch Sampling Rate n/a 300 Hz
Screen-to-body ratio 88 % 89.8 %
Features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DC dimming		 - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DC dimming
Display test
Peak brightness (auto)
Nothing Phone (3a) Pro
1300 nits
Huawei Nova 9
603 nits
sRGB gamutn/a100 %
PWM (Flicker)n/a500 Hz
Response timen/a2.8 ms
Contrastn/a∞ Infinite
Sources: NotebookCheck [Huawei Nova 9]

Design & Build

Design and ergonomics comparison
Height 163.52 mm (6.44 in) 160 mm (6.3 in)
Width 77.5 mm (3.05 in) 73.7 mm (2.9 in)
Thickness 8.39 mm (0.33 in) 7.77 mm (0.31 in)
Weight 211 g (7.44 oz) 175 g (6.17 oz)
Water resistance IP64 No
Cooling system Vapor chamber n/a
Back panel n/a Glass
Frame n/a Plastic
Colors - Black
- Gray		 - Black
- Blue
- Green
- Purple
Fingerprint sensor Yes In-Display Yes In-Display
Screen-to-body ratio
Nothing Phone (3a) Pro
88 %
Huawei Nova 9
89.8 %

Performance

Testing Nothing Phone (3a) Pro and Huawei Nova 9 In benchmarks
Processor
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G
Max Frequency 2500 MHz 2400 MHz
CPU Cores 8 (1 + 3 + 4) 8 (1 + 3 + 4)
Architecture - 4/1.8 (Kryo Silver (Cortex-A520))
- 3/2.4 (Kryo Gold (Cortex-A720))
- 1/2.5 (Kryo Prime (Cortex-A720))		 - 4/1.8 (Kryo 670 Silver (Cortex-A55))
- 3/2.4 (Kryo 670 Gold (Cortex-A78))
- 1/2.4 (Kryo 670 Prime (Cortex-A78))
Process TSMC TSMC
Transistor Size 4 nm 6 nm
Neural Processor Yes Hexagon 770
Graphics Adreno 810 Adreno 642
GPU Cores 256 512
GPU Frequency 1050 MHz 550 MHz
FLOPS 537.6 GFLOPS 844 GFLOPS
GeekBench v6
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Nothing Phone (3a) Pro
1182
Huawei Nova 9
1070
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Nothing Phone (3a) Pro
3357
Huawei Nova 9
2996
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)11821070
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)33572996
Geekbench Compute (GPU)4459n/a
Sources: Geekbench v6 [Nothing Phone (3a) Pro]
AnTuTu 10
AnTuTu 10
Nothing Phone (3a) Pro
750673
Huawei Nova 9
589912
CPU273000216757
GPU192089138994
Memory135075116607
UX150509117554
NanoReview Score750673589912
3DMark Wild Life
3DMark Wild Life
Nothing Phone (3a) Pro
n/a
Huawei Nova 9
2490
Max Surface Temp.n/a37.4 °C
Stabilityn/a98 %
Graphics Testn/a14 fps
Graphics Scoren/a2490
Sources: 3DMark [Huawei Nova 9]
PCMark 3.0
PCMark 3.0
Nothing Phone (3a) Pro
n/a
Huawei Nova 9
9635
Writing scoren/a12816
Web scoren/a6595
Video editingn/a5939
Data manipulationn/a8261
NanoReview Scoren/a9635

Memory

RAM
RAM Size - 8 GB
- 12 GB		 8 GB
Memory Type LPDDR5 LPDDR4X
Memory Frequency 3200 MHz 2133 MHz
Channels 4 2
Storage
Storage Capacity- 128 GB
- 256 GB		- 128 GB
- 256 GB
Storage Typen/aUFS 2.1
Memory CardNoNo

Software

OS Android 15 Android 11 (Upgradeable to Android 12)
OS Size n/a 10.5 GB
UI Skin Nothing OS 3.1 EMUI 13

Battery

Volume 5000 mAh 4300 mAh
Max Charging Power 50 W 66 W
Battery Type Li-Po Li-Po
Removable No No
Wireless Charging No No
Reverse Charging No Yes
Fast Charging Yes (60% in 15 min) Yes (61% in 30 min)
Full Charge Time 1:05 h 0:54 h
Battery Life Test
Battery Life
Nothing Phone (3a) Pro
24:09
Huawei Nova 9
18:10
Web Browsing08:09 h06:40 h
Video Playback16:21 h10:30 h
Games05:48 h04:36 h
Standby Mode120 h94 h

Main camera

Matrix 50 MP 50 MP
Photo resolution 8192x6144 pixels 8192x6144 pixels
Zoom Optical, 3x Digital
Flash LED LED
Stabilization Optical Digital
8K Recording No No
4K Recording Yes (Up to 30 fps) Yes (Up to 30 fps)
1080p Recording Yes (Up to 60 fps) Yes (Up to 60 fps)
Slow Motion 240 fps (720p) 960 fps (720p)
Wide-angle lens 120 ° n/a
Lenses count Standard: 50 MP
Telephoto: 50 MP
Ultra-wide: 8 MP		 Standard: 50 MP
Ultra-wide: 8 MP
Macro: 2 MP
Depth: 2 MP
Features - Bokeh effect
- Pro mode		 - Bokeh effect
- Pro mode
Main lens
Matrix50 MP50 MP
Aperturef/1.9f/1.9
Focal length24 mm23 mm
SensorSony LYT-600Sony IMX766
Sensor size1/1.561/1.56
Pixel size1 μm1 μm
AutofocusPhase autofocus (Dual Pixel)Phase autofocus
StabilizationOpticalDigital
Telephoto
Matrix50 MPn/a
Aperturef/2.6n/a
Focal length70 mmn/a
Sensor size1/1.95n/a
Pixel size0.8 μmn/a
StabilizationOpticaln/a
Ultra-wide lens
Matrix8 MP8 MP
Aperturef/2.2f/2.2
Focal length15 mmn/a
SensorSony IMX355n/a
Sensor size1/4.0n/a
Pixel size1.12 μmn/a
StabilizationDigitalDigital

Front camera

Matrix 50 MP 32 MP
Photo resolution 8192x6144 pixels 6528x4896 pixels
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.0
Focal length 24 mm n/a
Sensor n/a CMOS
Sensor size 1/2.76 n/a
Autofocus n/a No
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 30 fps 2160p (4K) at 30 fps
TOF 3D sensor No No

Connectivity

Wi-Fi version Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) 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 5.2
Bluetooth features LE LE, A2DP
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 2 2
USB features - Charging
- USB Storage Mode
- OTG		 - Charging
- USB Storage Mode
- OTG
DisplayPort No n/a
GPS - GPS
- GLONASS
- Galileo
- QZSS		 - GPS
- GLONASS
- Beidou
- Galileo
- QZSS
- NAVIC
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared Port No No
Connectivity
SIM Count*22
SIM TypeNanoNano
SIM ModeDual SIM StandbyDual SIM Standby
eSIM Support *YesNo
Hybrid SlotNoNo
2G BandsGSM 850/900/1800/1900GSM 2/3/5/8 (850/900/1800/1900 MHz
3G BandsUMTS 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 19HSDPA 1/2/4/5/6/8/19
LTE Bands*LTE (B1/B2/B3/B4/B5/B7/B8/B12/B17/B18/B19/B20/B26/B28/B38/B40/B41/B42/B48/B66)LTE (B1/B2/B3/B4/B5/B7/B8/B12/B17/B18/B19/B20/B26/B28/B34/B38/B39/B40/B41/B66)
LTE categoryn/a18
5G SupportYesNo

Sound

Speakers Stereo Mono
3.5 mm Jack No No
FM Radio No No
Dolby Atmos n/a No
Speaker Test
Max Volume
Nothing Phone (3a) Pro
n/a
Huawei Nova 9
90.5 dB

Other

Class Mid-range Mid-range
Announced March, 2025 yr September, 2021 yr
Release Date March, 2025 yr September, 2021 yr
Launch Price ($) 459 500
Sensors - Proximity Sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient Light Sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint sensor		 - Proximity Sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient Light Sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint sensor
Charger Included No Yes 66 W
* Attention! Config, frequencies, NFC, and other specs may vary by region.

Results

After analyzing the data, we consider Nothing Phone (3a) Pro the clear winner in this comparison.

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