Nothing Phone (3a) VS Samsung Galaxy A56 5G

On paper, these two phones share the same 77.5 mm width and nearly identical heights, making them virtually twins in the hand from a footprint perspective. The real separation in design comes down to thickness and water protection. The Galaxy A56 is a notably slimmer device at 7.4 mm versus the Nothing Phone (3a)'s 8.4 mm — a full millimeter thinner, which translates to a more premium, pocketable feel and contributes to its meaningfully smaller overall volume (93.0 cm³ vs 106.4 cm³). The weight difference of 3 grams is essentially imperceptible in daily use.

Where the gap becomes practically significant is water protection. The Nothing Phone (3a) carries an IP64 rating, meaning it can handle dust and splashing water from any direction — fine for rain or accidental spills, but not submersion. The Galaxy A56 steps up to IP67, which adds full immersion protection up to 1 meter for 30 minutes. In real-world terms, this means the A56 can survive a drop in a sink, puddle, or toilet, while the Phone (3a) cannot. For most users this distinction is infrequent but high-stakes when it matters.

The Samsung Galaxy A56 holds a clear edge in this category. Its slimmer, more compact build and superior IP67 waterproofing give it a tangible advantage over the Nothing Phone (3a) on both everyday aesthetics and durability, without any meaningful trade-off in size or weight.

Both phones deliver an OLED/AMOLED panel at nearly identical sizes — 6.77″ on the Nothing Phone (3a) versus 6.7″ on the Galaxy A56 — with matching 120Hz refresh rates and virtually indistinguishable pixel densities around 385–387 ppi. At this density, individual pixels are invisible to the naked eye on both devices, so sharpness is a non-issue for either.

The standout differentiator is brightness. The Galaxy A56 delivers 1200 nits of typical brightness compared to 800 nits on the Nothing Phone (3a) — a 50% advantage that has real consequences in direct sunlight. Outdoor readability is one of the most practical day-to-day display qualities, and the A56's higher output means noticeably easier viewing on bright days. The A56 also includes branded damage-resistant glass, providing an added layer of protection against scratches and drops that the Phone (3a) lacks — a meaningful long-term durability consideration.

Both screens support HDR10+ and Always-On Display, so neither trails in content compatibility or ambient functionality. However, the brightness gap and the presence of protective glass give the Samsung Galaxy A56 a clear and practical edge in this category, particularly for users who spend significant time outdoors or prioritize screen longevity.

Matching each other on storage (256GB), RAM (12GB), process node (4nm), and RAM speed, these two phones look evenly resourced on the surface. Dig into the silicon, however, and the Galaxy A56's Exynos 1580 consistently pulls ahead of the Nothing Phone (3a)'s Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 across every benchmark measured. The A56 leads in AnTuTu by roughly 14% (932,578 vs 816,384), and the Geekbench 6 single-core advantage (1360 vs 1162) points to snappier moment-to-moment responsiveness — faster app launches, quicker UI interactions, and lower latency in everyday tasks.

The GPU gap is arguably more striking. The A56's Xclipse 530 features 256 shading units — double the Phone (3a)'s 128 — and a higher GPU clock of 1300 MHz vs 1050 MHz. Most telling is the memory bandwidth: 51.2 GB/s on the A56 versus 25.6 GB/s on the Phone (3a), again a 2x difference. This translates directly into smoother frame rates in graphically demanding games and faster processing of complex visual workloads. The 3DMark Wild Life score confirms it: 4836 vs 4186.

One footnote in the Phone (3a)'s favor: it supports a maximum of 16GB of RAM versus the A56's cap of 12GB, which could matter for future configurations. At the current 12GB pairing, though, this advantage is theoretical. Overall, the Samsung Galaxy A56 holds a clear and well-rounded performance edge, particularly for GPU-intensive use cases.

The primary 50MP shooters on both phones are closely matched, though the Galaxy A56 edges ahead with a slightly wider f/1.8 aperture versus the Nothing Phone (3a)'s f/1.9 — a small but real advantage in low-light capture, as a wider aperture admits more light per frame. Where the systems genuinely diverge is in the secondary lenses. The Nothing Phone (3a) pairs its main sensor with a second 50MP lens dedicated to telephoto duties, enabling true 2x optical zoom. The Galaxy A56, by contrast, relies on a 12MP ultrawide and a 5MP depth sensor, with no optical zoom at all. Optical zoom preserves detail when shooting distant subjects in a way that digital crop cannot — a meaningful practical gap for anyone who regularly photographs subjects at a distance.

The selfie camera tells a similar story in the Phone (3a)'s favor. Its 32MP front sensor captures significantly more detail than the A56's 12MP front camera, which matters for users who prioritize portrait sharpness, cropping flexibility, or video calls in high resolution. Both phones share an otherwise identical feature set — OIS, phase-detection autofocus, 4K/30fps video, slow motion, and the same manual controls — so the differentiation is squarely in the hardware configuration.

The Nothing Phone (3a) holds the edge in this category. Its 2x optical zoom and considerably higher-resolution front camera give it a more versatile and capable camera system overall, outweighing the A56's marginal aperture advantage on the primary lens.

This is a rare instance of a perfect tie. Every single feature in this specification group is identical between the Nothing Phone (3a) and the Samsung Galaxy A56 5G — both ship with Android 15, and both carry the exact same set of OS capabilities, from privacy controls and dynamic theming to split-screen multitasking, Picture-in-Picture, offline voice recognition, and on-device machine learning.

Notably, neither phone receives direct OS updates — meaning updates are routed through the manufacturer rather than pushed straight from Google. This is a shared limitation worth awareness for users who prioritize receiving security patches and version upgrades as quickly as possible. Beyond that, the privacy feature parity is strong on both sides, with camera and microphone controls, location privacy options, and app tracking blockers all present on each device.

Based strictly on the provided data, this category is a dead heat. There is no differentiating factor between the two phones here, and the choice between them on software grounds alone cannot be made from these specs.

Capacity-wise, these two phones are inseparable — both pack a 5000 mAh battery, a size that comfortably supports full-day use for most users. Neither offers wireless charging or a removable battery, and neither ships with a charger in the box, so buyers should factor in a separate purchase regardless of which device they choose.

The only measurable difference in this category is wired charging speed. The Nothing Phone (3a) supports 50W fast charging versus 45W on the Galaxy A56. In practice, this gap is modest — the real-world difference in time to reach a full charge amounts to a matter of minutes rather than a significant convenience advantage. Still, it is the sole differentiator here, and it does favor the Phone (3a).

As a whole, this category is effectively a near-tie. The Nothing Phone (3a) holds a marginal edge through its slightly faster charging, but with identical battery capacity and an otherwise identical feature set, neither phone meaningfully outclasses the other on battery grounds alone.

Audio hardware is lean on both devices, and largely matched. Neither phone includes a 3.5mm headphone jack, so wired listening requires an adapter or Bluetooth headphones on both. Stereo speakers are present on each, and neither supports high-fidelity wireless codecs like LDAC or aptX Lossless — meaning wireless audio quality is capped at the same level regardless of which device you pick.

The one concrete differentiator is microphone count. The Nothing Phone (3a) features 3 microphones versus 2 on the Galaxy A56. An additional microphone generally improves noise cancellation and spatial audio capture during calls, voice recordings, and video — the system has more reference points to isolate the speaker's voice from ambient sound. For users who frequently take calls in noisy environments or shoot a lot of video with in-phone audio, this is a tangible, if modest, advantage.

This category is close, but the Nothing Phone (3a) earns a narrow edge purely through its extra microphone. Everything else — speaker configuration, wireless codec support, jack absence — is identical between the two.

The connectivity foundations are well-matched: both phones support 5G, Wi-Fi 6, NFC, USB Type-C, dual SIM, and an identical sensor suite covering GPS, gyroscope, accelerometer, and compass. For the vast majority of daily use cases — mobile payments, navigation, wireless networking — neither phone leaves the other behind. The Bluetooth versions are close too, with the Nothing Phone (3a) on 5.4 versus the A56's 5.3, a difference too minor to have any practical consequence.

Two specs stand out as genuine differentiators. The Galaxy A56 supports 2 eSIMs in addition to 2 physical SIM slots — a meaningful flexibility advantage for frequent travelers or users who want to maintain separate personal and work lines without carrying a second physical card. The A56 also advertises a significantly higher peak download speed of 5100 Mbps versus 2900 Mbps on the Nothing Phone (3a). While real-world 5G speeds are constrained by network conditions, this gap suggests the A56 has more capable modem hardware that can better exploit fast mmWave or mid-band 5G infrastructure where available.

The Samsung Galaxy A56 takes a clear edge in this category. The combination of superior download throughput and eSIM support gives it a more future-proof and flexible connectivity profile, even if the two phones are otherwise indistinguishable across the rest of the feature set.

With only four data points in this group and every single one matching across both devices, there is nothing to separate the Nothing Phone (3a) and the Samsung Galaxy A56 5G here. Both include a video light, and neither features a sapphire glass display, curved screen, or e-paper panel — premium or niche traits that remain absent on both.

This is a complete tie. The provided specifications offer no differentiating factor between the two phones in this category, and no conclusion favoring either device can be drawn from this data alone.