What you need to know
- Nothing teased its Phone 4a officially on social media, giving users their clearest look at its refined design.
- The device remains close to what was given with the Phone 3a; however, we also see the Glyph Bar nestled to the right of the lenses.
- The Nothing Phone 4a series will launch on March 5.
Everybody loves a good product teaser, and Nothing’s not slowing down when it comes to its Phone 4a series.
Early this morning (Feb 23), Nothing posted a short but sweet teaser for its base Phone 4a model a week before launch. We usually expect a couple of colorways from Nothing, and its latest teaser shows the device in white. While the brand keeps its aesthetic, the Phone 4a features a horizontal camera array inside a pill-shaped housing.
This design is pretty familiar, especially if you remember what the Phone 3a looked like (peep the hero image at the top of this article). Rounded corners for its main body design remain pretty much the same; however, the biggest change comes with its Glyph Lighting.
The previous series features three LED strips scattered around its camera array. What Nothing teases now is a Glyph Bar vertically to the right of its lenses. The teaser shows the LEDs in a gradient, flowing from gray to white and into a singular red square at the bottom. Nothing pretty much changed how its Glyph lights worked in the past, pushing them even more toward a notification focus. There’s a strong chance that’s what these LEDs will do, too; it’s just how they do it that’s still up in the air.
Once again, Nothing teases that the Phone 4a series will launch on March 5.
The “overhauls” are elsewhere
“Controllable mini LEDs,” is how Nothing described the Phone 4a’s new take on its Glyph lighting last week: the Glyph Bar. Unfortunately for those of us wanting to know the details, nothing else was said, other than that the bar will include nine LEDs. Its post also teased that the lights are 40% brighter than what consumers were given previously with older a-series phones.
This brings us to the Phone 4a’s design, which looks pretty close to the Phone 3a. Others in the comments on X have pointed this out, too. Last month, Nothing’s CEO Carl Pei stated that the Phone 4a series would undergo an “overhaul,” but it seems that wasn’t intended for its design (at least, not the base model). Pei stated that the series was receiving upgrades to its camera, display, and performance. Hopefully, we see more noteworthy changes under-the-hood since the design might stay in the same ballpark.
Android Central’s Take
It’s hard to say I’m surprised by what the Phone 4a looks like. This feels like Nothing. It feels like what it’s done in the past, and I didn’t really mind the way the previous iteration looked. The main changes here, for its back panel, its around its camera. The larger, circular design for its horizontal camera array is changed, as it shifts into a Glyph Bar. It’s a little cleaner and a little more refined. The bar on the side for the LEDs might be a neat way of displaying notifications and order progress, too. I’d imagine these LEDs would light up like a runway for notifications and potentially one at a time, before hitting the red, for orders.
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