Nothing Phone (3a) VS Vivo iQOO Neo10 Pro Plus (China)

Both phones share a broadly similar footprint — nearly identical in height (163.5 mm vs 163.8 mm) and both classified as water resistant — but the differences lie in the finer physical details. The Nothing Phone (3a) is measurably wider (77.5 mm vs 76.6 mm) and slightly thicker (8.4 mm vs 8.2 mm), which translates into a larger overall volume (106.44 cm³ vs 102.89 cm³). In hand, the iQOO Neo10 Pro+ will feel marginally more compact and pocketable as a result.

The more consequential difference is weight and water protection. At 201 g, the Nothing Phone (3a) is 16 g lighter than the Neo10 Pro+ — a gap that is genuinely perceptible during extended one-handed use or long browsing sessions. However, the Neo10 Pro+ counters with a superior IP65 rating versus the Phone (3a)'s IP64. Both ratings guarantee full dust ingress protection, but IP65 adds resistance to low-pressure water jets from any direction, while IP64 only covers water splashes. In practical terms, the Neo10 Pro+ is better equipped to handle rain or accidental rinsing under a tap.

Overall, neither phone has a runaway advantage in design, but the edge goes to slightly different users. If comfort during long holds matters most, the Nothing Phone (3a) wins on weight. If durability and water resilience are the priority, the iQOO Neo10 Pro+ holds a clear, spec-backed advantage with its stronger IP rating.

Both phones use OLED/AMOLED panels, so the baseline experience — deep blacks, vivid colors, power-efficient dark mode — is shared. But the similarity ends there. The iQOO Neo10 Pro+ pulls significantly ahead on raw display quality: its 1440 x 3168 px resolution at 510 ppi versus the Nothing Phone (3a)'s 1080 x 2392 px at 387 ppi is a meaningful gap. At 510 ppi, individual pixels are essentially invisible to the naked eye even under close inspection, while 387 ppi is perfectly adequate for everyday use but noticeably softer when comparing screens side by side.

The brightness difference is where the Neo10 Pro+ really separates itself. A typical brightness of 1800 nits versus the Phone (3a)'s 800 nits means dramatically better legibility in direct sunlight — a real, daily-use advantage rather than a spec sheet footnote. The Neo10 Pro+ also edges ahead on responsiveness with a 144Hz refresh rate and 300Hz touch sampling, compared to 120Hz and 240Hz on the Phone (3a). The smoother refresh will be perceptible during fast scrolling and gaming, and the higher touch sampling reduces the latency between finger movement and on-screen response.

The Nothing Phone (3a) reclaims one exclusive feature: Always-On Display, which the Neo10 Pro+ lacks entirely. For users who rely on glanceable notifications without waking the screen, this is a genuine convenience trade-off to consider. Overall though, the display category belongs decisively to the iQOO Neo10 Pro+, which leads on every objective visual metric — resolution, pixel density, brightness, refresh rate, and touch sampling — giving it a clear and well-rounded advantage.

The chipset divide here is not a close contest. The Nothing Phone (3a) runs on a Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 — a capable mid-range chip built on a 4 nm process — while the iQOO Neo10 Pro+ is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite, Qualcomm's flagship platform on a 3 nm node. The benchmark numbers make the gap concrete: the Neo10 Pro+ scores approximately 2,950,000 on AnTuTu versus the Phone (3a)'s 816,384 — a roughly 3.6x difference. Geekbench 6 tells the same story, with the Neo10 Pro+ delivering a single-core score of 3234 and multi-core of 10059, compared to 1162 and 3239 respectively on the Phone (3a). In practice, this means the Neo10 Pro+ handles demanding tasks — heavy multitasking, AAA gaming, AI-driven workloads — in a completely different league.

The GPU gap is equally stark. The Adreno 830 in the Neo10 Pro+ has 1536 shading units versus just 128 in the Phone (3a)'s Adreno 710, and its memory bandwidth reaches 85.1 GB/s compared to 25.6 GB/s. For gaming specifically, this translates to far higher sustained frame rates, better graphical fidelity at maximum settings, and significantly less throttling under load. The Neo10 Pro+ also ships with up to 16 GB of RAM at 5300 MHz and 1 TB of storage, versus 12 GB at 3200 MHz and 256 GB on the Phone (3a) — an advantage that benefits users who keep many apps open simultaneously or store large media libraries on device.

The performance category is a decisive win for the iQOO Neo10 Pro+ across every measurable dimension — CPU throughput, GPU capability, memory bandwidth, and storage capacity. The Nothing Phone (3a)'s Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 is a solid mid-range performer for everyday tasks, but it simply does not compete at the level the Snapdragon 8 Elite operates on.

Camera versatility tilts noticeably in favor of the Nothing Phone (3a). It fields a triple rear camera system — 50 MP main, 50 MP secondary, and 8 MP — compared to the Neo10 Pro+'s dual rear setup of 50 MP and 8 MP. More importantly, the Phone (3a) includes 2x optical zoom, while the Neo10 Pro+ lists 0x optical zoom, meaning it relies entirely on digital cropping for any zoom shot. Optical zoom preserves detail in a way digital zoom cannot, so for users who frequently photograph subjects at a distance — portraits, events, travel — the Phone (3a) holds a concrete, real-world shooting advantage.

On the selfie side, the gap widens further. The Nothing Phone (3a)'s 32 MP front camera with an f/2.2 aperture significantly outspecifies the Neo10 Pro+'s 16 MP shooter at the narrower f/2.5. More megapixels allow for greater detail and more flexible cropping, while the wider aperture lets in more light — both factors that benefit low-light selfies and video calls. The Neo10 Pro+ does counter with a 3-LED flash versus the Phone (3a)'s single LED, which can improve flash-lit photography in dark environments, but this is a narrower advantage than the resolution and zoom differences working against it.

Across the camera group, the Nothing Phone (3a) holds a clear edge — it offers more lenses, true optical zoom, and a substantially higher-resolution front camera. The shared features (OIS, PDAF, HDR mode, manual controls) provide a level playing field for standard shooting, but the Phone (3a)'s additional hardware gives it meaningfully more flexibility across a wider range of shooting scenarios.

This is a rare case of a complete spec-for-spec tie. Both phones launch on Android 15 and share an identical feature set across every data point in this group — from privacy controls (location, camera/microphone permissions, app tracking blockers) to usability features like split-screen multitasking, Picture-in-Picture, dynamic theming, and offline voice recognition. Neither receives direct OS updates, and neither supports Wi-Fi password sharing or focus modes. There is simply no differentiator to be found in the provided data.

The practical takeaway is that a user choosing between these two phones will land in the same software environment in terms of core OS capabilities. Features like on-device machine learning, customizable notifications, battery health checks, and multi-user support are present on both — meaning day-to-day Android usability is equally equipped on either device based strictly on what the specs report.

The operating system category is a dead tie. Every listed feature is shared, and neither phone holds any advantage over the other on this dimension alone.

Battery is another category where the iQOO Neo10 Pro+ establishes a commanding lead. Its 6800 mAh cell is 36% larger than the Nothing Phone (3a)'s 5000 mAh — a difference substantial enough to translate into several additional hours of screen-on time under typical usage. While a 5000 mAh battery is a perfectly respectable capacity for a mid-range device, 6800 mAh pushes into heavy-user and power-user territory, making it a strong choice for those who struggle to reach a charger by end of day.

The charging speed gap is equally significant. At 120W, the Neo10 Pro+ can refill its larger battery in a fraction of the time it takes the Phone (3a)'s 50W charging to top up its smaller one. In practical terms, a 10–15 minute charge on the Neo10 Pro+ can deliver enough power for several hours of use — a meaningful advantage for busy users. The Neo10 Pro+ also includes a charger in the box, while the Nothing Phone (3a) does not, which is a tangible out-of-the-box convenience difference that adds to the cost of ownership for Phone (3a) buyers who need one.

Neither phone supports wireless charging, so that shared omission is a non-factor. Overall, the iQOO Neo10 Pro+ wins the battery category decisively — it carries more capacity, replenishes it far faster, and ships with the necessary hardware to do so included.

For speaker-based listening, both phones are evenly matched — stereo speakers on each, with no 3.5 mm headphone jack on either. But the meaningful separation in this category comes down to wireless audio codec support. The Nothing Phone (3a) has none of the high-quality Bluetooth audio codecs listed, while the iQOO Neo10 Pro+ supports aptX, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive, and aptX Lossless — a full suite of Qualcomm's wireless audio stack.

For users who listen through compatible wireless headphones or earbuds, this matters considerably. Standard Bluetooth audio (SBC/AAC) compresses audio in ways that reduce dynamic range and detail. aptX HD transmits at higher bitrates for noticeably improved fidelity, aptX Adaptive dynamically adjusts bitrate to maintain quality while reducing latency — making it well-suited for video and gaming — and aptX Lossless allows for CD-quality wireless transmission when paired with a compatible device. The Phone (3a)'s absence of any of these codecs means it is limited to standard compressed Bluetooth audio regardless of how premium the headphones are.

The audio category goes clearly to the iQOO Neo10 Pro+. The shared stereo speaker setup keeps speaker listening on equal footing, but the Neo10 Pro+'s comprehensive aptX codec support gives it a decisive advantage for anyone invested in high-fidelity wireless audio through headphones.

Much of the connectivity foundation is shared: both phones support 5G, dual SIM, Bluetooth 5.4, NFC, USB Type-C (USB 2.0), and Wi-Fi up to Wi-Fi 6. For most users, this common ground covers everyday needs comfortably. However, two differences stand out. The iQOO Neo10 Pro+ adds Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) support, the latest generation of wireless networking. Where a compatible router is available, Wi-Fi 7 delivers substantially lower latency and higher throughput — most tangibly felt during 4K streaming, large file transfers, or cloud gaming.

The cellular download speed gap reinforces the Neo10 Pro+'s networking advantage: it supports up to 10,000 Mbits/s versus the Nothing Phone (3a)'s 2,900 Mbits/s. While real-world 5G speeds rarely approach either ceiling today, the higher ceiling indicates a more advanced modem that is better positioned to take advantage of evolving 5G infrastructure. The Neo10 Pro+ also includes an infrared sensor, which the Phone (3a) lacks — a small but practical addition that lets the device function as a universal remote for TVs and other IR-controlled appliances.

The sensor and tracking suite — gyroscope, accelerometer, compass, GPS, and Galileo support — is identical on both. Overall, the connectivity edge belongs to the iQOO Neo10 Pro+, thanks to its Wi-Fi 7 support, significantly higher peak download speeds, and the added utility of an infrared sensor. None of these gaps are dealbreakers for average users, but they add up to a more future-ready and feature-complete connectivity package.

The miscellaneous category offers no differentiating information between these two phones. Both include a video light, and both omit sapphire glass, a curved display, and an e-paper display — resulting in a complete tie across every data point in this group.

This is a dead tie with no advantage to either device. Any decision between the Nothing Phone (3a) and the iQOO Neo10 Pro+ should rest entirely on the other specification groups covered in this comparison.