Phone 3a, Nothing’s next affordable mid-ranger, could have its own iPhone 16-like camera control feature. The London upstart has started teasing the Phone 3a series and one of the teasers gives us a first look at a new button, with a disclaimer, “Your second memory, one click away.” It presumably sits right below the power button.
We don’t know what this button is or what it does yet, but the teaser hints that it could be a camera shutter and help zoom in and out of scenes, given that the Phone 3a has a dedicated telephoto, a first for any Nothing smartphone. If it is something like an alert slider, then, the choice of hardware is curious.
Curious because Carl Pei, the company’s CEO had recently written on X (previously Twitter) that “most people never use” the alert slider. Pei was reacting to an X user’s suggestion to add an alert slider to Nothing smartphones in 2025.
“The vast majority of people who have access to it never use it,” Pei said citing “data” in response to a follow-up comment.
The alert slider, a physical switch allowing users to quickly toggle between silent, vibrate, and ring modes, has been a staple of OnePlus phones since the OnePlus 2. Clearly, someone asked for it, but it would be interesting to see if Nothing puts one the Phone 3a. Either way, Pei is cooking up something even as the fans and enthusiasts eagerly await the Phone 3.
The Phone 3a series is officially launching globally including India on March 4, 2025, with signature Nothing glyph lights and a triple camera setup. Now that Nothing has started to share more details, it is only about time we get to hear more substantial news on what the phone(s) pack inside and out. Stay tuned for more updates.
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