Home Phone comparison Nothing Phone (3a) and Apple iPhone 8 Plus - Which is better?

Nothing Phone (3a) vs Apple iPhone 8 Plus

69 out 100
Nothing Phone (3a)
VS
47 out 100
Apple iPhone 8 Plus
Nothing Phone (3a)
Apple iPhone 8 Plus

Compared 2 smartphones : Nothing Phone (3a) Manufactured in March, 2025, with display 6.77 with chipsetQualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3, vs Apple iPhone 8 Plus, Manufactured in September, 2017with chipsetApple A11 Bionic. 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)
  • Larger display: 6.77in
  • Higher refresh rate: 120Hz
  • Lighter design: 201g vs 202g
  • Higher battery capacity: 5000mAh vs 2691mAh
  • Newer Bluetooth version: 5.4 vs 5
Reasons to choose Apple iPhone 8 Plus
  • Higher pixel density: 401ppi
  • Supports Dolby Atmos

Versions

Available versions and configurations
Memory Options - 8/128 GB
- 8/256 GB
- 12/256 GB		 - 3/64 GB
- 3/128 GB
- 3/256 GB

Review

Key Specs Nothing Phone (3a) and Apple iPhone 8 Plus
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)
vs
Apple iPhone 8 Plus

Display

Display quality comparison
Type AMOLED IPS LCD
Size 6.77 in 5.5 in
Resolution 1080x2392 pixels 1080x1920 pixels
Aspect ratio n/a 16:9
Pixel density 387 ppi 401 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (60-120 Hz) No
Max brightness 1300 nits 625 nits
HDR support Yes HDR10+ No
Screen-to-body ratio 88 % 67.4 %
Features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DC dimming		 n/a
Display test
Peak brightness (auto)
Nothing Phone (3a)
1272 nits
Apple iPhone 8 Plus
615 nits
sRGB gamutn/a99.9 %
Response timen/a32 ms
Contrastn/a1471:1
Sources: NotebookCheck [Apple iPhone 8 Plus]

Design & Build

Design and ergonomics comparison
Height 163.52 mm (6.44 in) 158.4 mm (6.24 in)
Width 77.5 mm (3.05 in) 78.1 mm (3.07 in)
Thickness 8.35 mm (0.33 in) 7.5 mm (0.3 in)
Weight 201 g (7.09 oz) 202 g (7.13 oz)
Water resistance IP64 IP67
Cooling system Vapor chamber n/a
Back panel n/a Glass
Frame n/a Metal
Colors - White
- Black
- Blue		 - Silver
- Gold
- Gray
Fingerprint sensor Yes In-Display Yes In-Button
Screen-to-body ratio
Nothing Phone (3a)
88 %
Apple iPhone 8 Plus
67.4 %

Performance

Testing Nothing Phone (3a) and Apple iPhone 8 Plus In benchmarks
Processor
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 Apple A11 Bionic
Max Frequency 2500 MHz 2390 MHz
CPU Cores 8 (1 + 3 + 4) 6 (2 + 4)
Architecture - 4/1.8 (Kryo Silver (Cortex-A520))
- 3/2.4 (Kryo Gold (Cortex-A720))
- 1/2.5 (Kryo Prime (Cortex-A720))		 - 4/1.42 (Mistral)
- 2/2.39 (Monsoon)
Process TSMC TSMC
Transistor Size 4 nm 10 nm
Neural Processor Yes Apple Neural Engine
Graphics Adreno 810 Apple A11 GPU
GPU Cores 256 192
GPU Frequency 1050 MHz 1066 MHz
FLOPS 537.6 GFLOPS 409.3 GFLOPS
GeekBench v6
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Nothing Phone (3a)
1178
Apple iPhone 8 Plus
1092
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Nothing Phone (3a)
3214
Apple iPhone 8 Plus
2921
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)11781092
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)32142921
Geekbench Compute (GPU)4435n/a
Sources: Geekbench v6 [Nothing Phone (3a)]
AnTuTu 10
AnTuTu 10
Nothing Phone (3a)
708353
Apple iPhone 8 Plus
459620
CPU21562194584
GPU197715151697
Memory14564987118
UX149368116221
NanoReview Score708353459620
3DMark Wild Life
3DMark Wild Life
Nothing Phone (3a)
n/a
Apple iPhone 8 Plus
3432
Max Surface Temp.n/a42.6 °C
Stabilityn/a71 %
Graphics Testn/a20 fps
Graphics Scoren/a3432
Sources: 3DMark [Apple iPhone 8 Plus]

Memory

RAM
RAM Size - 8 GB
- 12 GB		 3 GB
Memory Type LPDDR4X LPDDR4
Memory Frequency 2133 MHz n/a
Channels 4 2
Storage
Storage Capacity- 128 GB
- 256 GB		- 64 GB
- 256 GB
Storage TypeUFS 2.2NVMe
Memory CardNoNo

Software

OS Android 15 iOS 11 (Upgradeable to iOS 16.5)
OS Size n/a 6 GB
UI Skin Nothing OS 3.1 n/a

Battery

Volume 5000 mAh 2691 mAh
Max Charging Power 50 W 15 W
Battery Type Li-Po Li-ion
Removable No No
Wireless Charging No Yes Qi (7.5 W)
Reverse Charging No No
Fast Charging Yes (61% in 30 min) Yes (50% in 30 min)
Full Charge Time 1:06 h 1:25 h
Battery Life Test
Battery Life
Nothing Phone (3a)
25:03
Apple iPhone 8 Plus
18:45
Web Browsing08:06 h06:52 h
Video Playback16:25 h10:47 h
Games05:49 h04:11 h
Standby Mode131 h99 h

Main camera

Matrix 50 MP 12 MP
Photo resolution 8192x6144 pixels 4032x3024 pixels
Zoom Optical, 2x Optical, 2x
Flash LED Quad LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K Recording No No
4K Recording Yes (Up to 30 fps) Yes (Up to 60 fps)
1080p Recording Yes (Up to 60 fps) Yes (Up to 60 fps)
Slow Motion 240 fps (720p) 240 fps (1080p)
Wide-angle lens 120 ° n/a
Lenses count Standard: 50 MP
Telephoto: 50 MP
Ultra-wide: 8 MP		 Standard: 12 MP
Telephoto: 12 MP
Features - Bokeh effect
- Pro mode		 - Bokeh effect
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Main lens
Matrix50 MP12 MP
Aperturef/1.9f/1.8
Focal length24 mm28 mm
SensorSony LYT-600Apple iSight Duo Camera
Sensor size1/1.561/3
Pixel size1 μm1.22 μm
AutofocusPhase autofocusPhase autofocus
StabilizationOpticalOptical
Telephoto
Matrix50 MP12 MP
Aperturef/2.6f/2.8
Focal length50 mm57 mm
Sensor size1/2.74n/a
Pixel size0.64 μmn/a
StabilizationOpticalDigital
Ultra-wide lens
Matrix8 MPn/a
Aperturef/2.2n/a
Focal length15 mmn/a
SensorSony IMX355n/a
Sensor size1/4.0n/a
Pixel size1.12 μmn/a
StabilizationDigitaln/a
Main camera DxOMark results
Photo quality
Nothing Phone (3a)
n/a
Apple iPhone 8 Plus
94
Video quality
Nothing Phone (3a)
n/a
Apple iPhone 8 Plus
89
Overall camera score
Nothing Phone (3a)
n/a
Apple iPhone 8 Plus
96
Sources: DxOMark [Apple iPhone 8 Plus]

Front camera

Matrix 32 MP 7 MP
Photo resolution n/a 3088x2320 pixels
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 22 mm 32 mm
Sensor CMOS BSI CMOS
Sensor size 1/3.44 n/a
Pixel size n/a 1 μm
Autofocus No Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 1080p (Full HD) at 30 fps 1080p (Full HD) 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 5 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display		 - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
Bluetooth version 5.4 5
Bluetooth features LE LE, A2DP
USB type USB Type-C No
USB version 2 2
USB features - Charging
- USB Storage Mode
- OTG		 - Charging
- USB Storage Mode
DisplayPort No n/a
GPS - GPS
- GLONASS
- Galileo
- QZSS		 - GPS
- GLONASS
- Beidou
- Galileo
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared Port No No
Connectivity
SIM Count*21
SIM TypeNanoNano
SIM ModeDual SIM StandbyDual SIM Standby
eSIM Support *NoNo
Hybrid SlotNoNo
2G BandsGSM 850/900/1800/1900GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G BandsUMTS 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 19HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700(AWS) / 1900 / 2100
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(1700/B5/B7/B8/B12/B13/B17/B18/B19/B20/B25/B26/B28/B29/B30/B34/B38/B39/B40/B41/B66(1700/B2100))
LTE categoryn/a16
5G SupportYesNo

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
3.5 mm Jack No No
FM Radio No No
Dolby Atmos n/a Yes
Speaker Test
Max Volume
Nothing Phone (3a)
n/a
Apple iPhone 8 Plus
80.1 dB

Other

Class Mid-range Flagship
Announced March, 2025 yr September, 2017 yr
Release Date March, 2025 yr September, 2017 yr
Launch Price ($) 329 799
Sensors - Proximity Sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient Light Sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint sensor		 - Barometer
- Proximity Sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient Light Sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint sensor
Charger Included No n/a
* Attention! Config, frequencies, NFC, and other specs may vary by region.

Results

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

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