why the Nothing Phone (4a) has stolen the iPhone 17e’s thunder again

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Tech fans who follow Google news closely will notice that it’s been an extremely busy week for new smartphones. We started with the annual smartphone conference MWC 2026 (here are my picks for the best smartphones of MWC 2026), and quickly followed up with the iPhone 17e. But they were all fooled because another phone was produced.

In any normal week, an iPhone launch would be big news, but not this week. Not long after the cheaper iPhone 17 models hit the market, we saw another phone that completely stole Apple’s thunder: the Nothing Phone (4a).

Not everyone has heard of Nothing, and that’s okay. It’s a fairly new company, founded by the co-founder of another phone brand, OnePlus, and it’s slowly making a name for itself by releasing affordable yet capable Android phones (and some great headphones, like the recent Nothing Headphone (a) ).

I’m sure the iPhone 17e will be popular with some users, especially Apple diehards on a budget. But I can’t help but recommend the Nothing Phone (4a) as a new budget drummer.

more and more expensive

Before we discuss why I prefer Nothing Phone (4a), let’s clarify a few things. First of all, this phone won’t be sold in the United States. It’s unclear why, but US buyers will have to opt for its Pro model.

Prices start at £349/AU$649 for the Nothing Phone (4a) and $499/£499/AU$949 for the Pro. As such, they’re all more affordable to varying degrees than the iPhone 17e’s $599 / £599 / AU$999 price tag.

To be more inclusive, I’ll spend the rest of this article discussing the Pro model, which is very similar to the “vanilla” model but has a slightly better chipset, misses out on one color model, has a slightly larger screen, and offers wireless charging. So far, we’ve only reviewed the base model of Nothing, and haven’t reviewed the Pro or iPhone 17a yet.

It’s all about the camera

The Nothing Phone is larger than the iPhone and has a more advanced display, while the iPhone 17e has a better chipset. Functionally, though, they’ll all feel very similar in most departments (except software, of course).

So, there’s nothing in most spec departments that would cause me to choose one phone over another.

However, that’s not the case in the camera department. Apple has long insisted on only offering a single rear camera on its budget phones, but both the Nothing (4a) and Pro come with three rear cameras: a 50MP main camera, a 50MP periscope with 3.5x zoom, and an 8MP ultra-wide-angle camera.

Not all mid-range or low-cost phones have telephoto cameras, but I think this is a necessary feature for a phone to be a good camera phone. It allows you to do optical zoom, which is great for long-distance photography as well as macro and portrait shots. Some Nothing (a) phones have such triple camera setups, so I think they are the best budget camera phone brands.

While the iPhone may have all of Apple’s fancy software and post-processing features, it only offers one camera, which means I wouldn’t use it to take photos. On paper, it looks like days and nights between the two.

Something new under the sun

There are several other reasons why I bought the Nothing Phone (4a) Pro instead of the iPhone 17e: It will undoubtedly last longer on a charge, it boots up faster, it has an interesting mini-LED array on the back, and in my opinion, it looks better. But I’m an Android user, so I’m biased.

Still, it’s hard to deny that the iPhone 17e has been flying under the radar. That’s partly because of the attention this week’s battle royale event has garnered among mobile fans, and partly because Apple itself seems to be merely using its announcement as a teaser for the MacBook Neo.

Apple’s new laptop costs the same as the iPhone 17e: a bargain for a MacBook. This is a completely new product for Apple, not “another mid-range iPhone,” so it’s natural that this new handheld device would be overlooked.

But this attention cannibalization had the opposite effect on Nothing Phone (4a). The company has announced that it won’t release a high-end phone this year, so affordable models are even more important for fans of the brand.

As an Android user, take this next statement with a grain of salt: I think Apple has dug itself into a hole. Neo notwithstanding, too many of its mobile devices over the past few years have felt like iterations, with new chips and not much else changing.

It’s as if the company feels the need to launch once a year, ditching the same products with tweaked specs and stopping new iPhones and iPads from feeling as special as they did a few years ago.

Compared to AirPods: Their slower release means the launch of a new model is a more significant event. The E-series iPhones, which are launched every few years, are even more interesting.

So it’s hard to say whether the iPhone 16e successor will have something exciting to announce on a given Sunday, but it certainly won’t be when the week starts with a high-end super camera, a foldable phone, and a concept phone and ends with a new, cheapest phone. But then again, Apple isn’t the only company boring us with iterative updates these days…