5 Android Phones You Should Buy Instead of the Nothing Phone 4A

My colleague Adamya recently shared her first experience about the Nothing Phone 4A and spoiler alert, it is a really good phone. With its unique design, simple (but useful) glyph bar, and decent overall specifications, it’s a very attractive package for £349 – or a little over $470 in USD.

There’s just one problem with the Nothing Phone 4a: It’s not available in the US. Although you may have to go through the hassle of importing it, I wouldn’t recommend it. Not only because of the headaches that come with international phones, but also because there are plenty of other excellent Android phones to choose from around the same price.

So, before you get too upset about not being able to buy the Nothing Phone 4A – or get too carried away with wanting to buy the UK model – here are five other Android phones you should buy instead.

The absence of the Nothing Phone 4A in the US may be disappointing, but the good news is that its more powerful sibling – the Nothing Phone 4A Pro – is available in the country. The strategy of not releasing anything here is a bit strange, but that’s okay, because the Pro is an excellent alternative to the base model.

The most obvious difference between the two phones is their design. The Pro has eschewed the completely transparent in favor of a transparent camera island and nothing but a glyph matrix secondary screen (which you can use to view the time, set timers, and more). The Nothing Phone 4A Pro has a more capable Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 chip (compared to the Snapdragon 7S Gen 4 in the regular Nothing Phone 4A), a brighter display with a faster 144 Hz refresh rate, and a slightly more durable IP65 rating instead of IP64.

Are these dramatic, game-changing upgrades? not necessarily. But if you were hoping to get the Nothing Phone 4A, the Pro gives you basically the same experience and then some. Combine that with reasonable US availability and a $499 price, and this is as good an alternative to the Nothing Phone 4A as you’ll find.

That said, if I had about $500 to spend on a new Android phone, the Nothing Phone 4A Pro would not be my personal choice. Instead, I’d choose the Google Pixel 10a. While not as flashy or unique as the Nothing Phone 4a, the Pixel 10a still gets a lot of things right, and it makes a lot of sense for what I value in a phone.

One of them is ergonomics. Compared to the Nothing Phone 4a’s 6.78-inch display, the Pixel 10a’s 6.3-inch panel is much smaller and easier to use with one hand. The Pixel is also lighter, weighing 20 grams lighter than Nothing’s smartphone. And, the best part is that it’s one of the only modern Android phones without a camera bump. It is a beautiful scene.

You don’t get a telephoto camera on the Pixel 10a like you do on the Nothing Phone 4a, but the primary and ultrawide sensors on Google’s phone are so reliable that I don’t really care. I also like the Pixel 10a’s software experience, longer update support, and wireless charging — a feature the Nothing Phone 4a doesn’t have.

Is the Pixel 10a a little boring? Sure. Is it barely an upgrade over the Pixel 9a? without a doubt. But it’s also an Android phone that I look forward to using every time I pick it up, and I think that says a lot — especially for a phone that costs $499.

If the Nothing Phone 4A is one of the most visually striking Android phones on the market today, you could easily argue that the Samsung Galaxy S25 FE is one of the most boring. It feels like every Galaxy S phone released over the past several years, and there’s certainly no distraction from its design. However, if you can look beyond that, this Nothing Phone 4A is a very solid option to spend your money on.

how come? It’s all about the specifications. The S25 FE’s Exynos 2400 chipset offers better CPU and GPU performance than the Nothing Phone 4a’s Qualcomm chip. Samsung’s phone supports wireless charging, has a more complete software interface in One UI, and will receive seven years of updates instead of just three. It also has very strong water resistance with an IP68 rating, faster storage, and better video recording capabilities.

Surely all of these will cost a lot more than the Nothing Phone 4A, right? Technically, yes; The Galaxy S25 FE is priced at $650. However, given the age of the phone, it is almost always on sale. For example, at the time of writing, you can buy it for just $500. At that price, I think it’s an easier option than the Nothing Phone 4A.

All three of my recommendations so far come at the same $500 asking price as the Nothing Phone 4A, if you import it to the US. If you’re curious what you can potentially buy for a much lower price, consider the Moto G Power (2026). This is one of the newest additions to the Moto G family and for the price it’s a pretty solid option.

What’s good about Motorola phones? It has IP68 And IP69 rating, a larger battery (5,200mAh compared to the Nothing’s 5,080mAh cell), expandable storage via microSD, and – yes – a 3.5mm headphone jack. Getting all this in a beautiful faux leather back with Pantone colors isn’t a bad setup at all.

what’s the catch? The Moto G’s MediaTek processor isn’t as powerful as the Nothing Phone 4A. Motorola phones also suffer from slow storage, slow charging and a less-than-attractive camera setup. These are big things to think about.

The Moto G Power (2026) is far from a perfect phone, but at a starting price of just $300, it’s very easy to compromise with. It costs significantly less than you’d pay to get the Nothing Phone 4A in the US, and it’s an overall solid Android handset to boot.

Last but certainly not least, we have the OnePlus 13R. This is a phone I still recommend more than a year after its release, and that’s because it’s just that good. It’s also a bit of a contrast compared to the Nothing Phone 4A. Where that phone prioritizes an attractive design and pairs it with mid-tier specs, the OnePlus 13R settles for a pretty design in favor of a spec sheet that blows the Nothing Smartphone out of the water.

Thanks to its Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, the OnePlus 13R offers significantly better CPU, GPU, and storage performance than the Nothing Phone 4A. The OnePlus 13R also has a much larger 6,000mAh battery and very fast 80W wired charging. If performance, battery life, and fast charging are your top three priorities, the OnePlus 13R is an easy choice.

The biggest downside of the OnePlus 13R? Availability. OnePlus stopped selling the phone months ago, and availability at Amazon and Best Buy is hit-or-miss. However, if you can find the phone available for purchase – at its $599 retail price or possibly less at this point – it’s still worth buying.