The Nothing Phone (3a) Pro positions itself as an incredibly enticing “flagship killer” in the South African mid-to-high-end tier. Designed to bridge the gap between the budget-friendly 3a and the premium Phone (3), it serves up a sweet spot of raw performance upgrades, refined premium display tech, and Nothing’s legendary aesthetic flare without breaking the five-figure price barrier.
Here is a detailed look at its local pricing, wide-ranging retail footprint, and the high-tier features it brings to the table.
In the South African market, the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro marks its entry point at an aggressive starting price of approximately ZAR 10,000.
When looking to invest in this performance-oriented mid-ranger, consider these local purchasing factors:
Massive Headroom Configuration: The ZAR 10,000 base tier generally secures a hefty 256 GB of internal storage paired with 12 GB of RAM (often utilizing virtual RAM expansion). This gives you professional-level multitasking capabilities and ample space for heavy video files.
Regional Pricing & Stock Fluctuations: Because the “Pro” moniker carries high demand among local tech enthusiasts, shelf pricing may fluctuate by a few hundred Rands depending on stock availability, provincial courier logistics, and localized retail promotions.
Value-Focused Contracts: Major South African cellular networks heavily support this model on mid-tier 24-month or 36-month contracts. This is an excellent route if you prefer splitting the hardware cost into predictable monthly installments bundled with data and voice allocations.
Nothing has maximized its retail footprint across South Africa. Whether you want to buy it outright online or upgrade your contract at a physical storefront, the Phone (3a) Pro is widely available:
E-Commerce Platforms & Digital Outlets: Takealot, HiFi Corp, and Hi Online.
Cellular Networks & Franchise Stores: Available on upgrades and prepaid via MTN, Chatz Connect, Cellucity, and 4U.
Major Hypermarkets & Retail Chains: Makro, Game, and Foschini.
Everyday Value & Convenience Outlets: Mr Price, PEP, and Ackermans.
The Phone (3a) Pro steps up the game by adopting hardware traits typically reserved for devices twice its price.
Upgraded, Multi-Segmented Glyph Interface: Keeping the signature semi-transparent rear design alive, the 3a Pro features an expanded, highly interactive Glyph LED light arrangement. It goes beyond simple notifications, serving as a visual volume tracker, a glowing countdown timer for group photos, and a progress bar synced with local ride-hailing apps.
High-Tier MediaTek Dimensity Processing: Shifting into a higher gear than the standard 3a, the Pro model utilizes a heavily optimized, performance-tuned MediaTek Dimensity processor built on a power-efficient 4nm process. It handles heavy gaming sessions, multitasking, and on-device AI tasks with absolute ease.
Pro-Grade 50 MP Dual Camera with Advanced OIS: The rear camera array features dual 50 MP sensors (Main + Ultra-Wide). The primary sensor benefits from upgraded Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) and advanced night-mode algorithms, capturing vibrant, color-accurate images and buttery-smooth 4K video even in poorly lit local venues.
120 Hz LTPO AMOLED Display: The screen gets a massive upgrade with a 6.7-inch flexible LTPO AMOLED display. It features razor-thin, perfectly symmetrical bezels and can scale its refresh rate dynamically to save battery. With a high peak brightness, it combats harsh South African sunlight effortlessly.
Unstoppable 5000 mAh Battery & Blazing 50W Charging: Powering the device is a dense 5000 mAh battery that easily clearing a day and a half of heavy usage. When you need a top-up, it hooks up to 50W fast charging to get you back to full power in no time.
Note: Running on Nothing OS, based on a clean Android framework, the phone offers a deeply optimized user experience that is completely free of pre-installed bloatware or annoying duplicate software. It features full Google Mobile Services out of the box, ensuring complete compatibility with all major South African banking apps, food delivery systems, and social media networks.
| Brand | Nothing |
| Model | Nothing Phone 3a Pro |
| Announced | 04 March, 2025 |
| Released | 25 March, 2025 |
| Status | Available |
| Price | ZAR 10,000 |
| Type Design Type called form factor refers to a mobile phone's size, shape, and style as well as the layout and position of major components of phone. There are three major form factors seen in mobile phones => bar phones, folding phones and sliding phones. | Bar |
| Dimensions | 163.5 x 77.5 x 8.4 mm (6.44 x 3.05 x 0.33 in) |
| Weight | 211 g (7.44 oz) |
| Protection | IP64 dust tight and water resistant (water splashes) |
| Colors | Black, Gray |
| 2G Network | |
| 3G Network | |
| 4G Network | |
| 5G Network | |
| SIM SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) is a small card that contains mobile network subscriber's account information. This allows the phone using the card to attach to a mobile network. The SIM card is most commonly associated with GSM and UMTS mobile networks. Moving a SIM card from one phone to another allows a subscriber to switch mobile phones without having to contact their mobile network carrier. SIM cards can also be used by a phone to store limited amounts of data, such as phone numbers and text messages. | Nano-SIM + Nano-SIM + eSIM |
| Display Type Display Technology => A number of display technologies and types used in mobile phones => TFT (Thin Film Transistor), IPS (In-Place Switching), OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode), AMOLED (Active-Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode), Super AMOLED (an even advanced version of AMOLED), Resistive Touchscreen (Resistive touchscreens contain two layer of conductive material with a very small gap between them which acts as a resistance), Capacitive Touchsceen (Capacitive touchscreen technology consists of a layer of glass coated with a transparent conductor) | AMOLED, 1B colors, 120Hz, HDR10+, 800 nits (typ), 1300 nits (HBM), 3000 nits (peak) |
| Size | 6.77 inches, 111.5 cm2 (~88.0% screen-to-body ratio) |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2392 pixels (~387 ppi density) |
| Display Protection Display Protection => Gorilla Glass is a special alkali-aluminosilicate glass shield with exceptional damage resistance that helps protect mobile displays from scratches, drops, and bumps of everyday use, It is always better to go for a smartphone with Gorilla Glass for that added protection and peace of mind. | Panda Glass |
| Audio Playback | |
| Video Playback | |
| FM Radio | No |
| Ring Tones | |
| Loudspeaker |
| Main Camera Camera is able to capture photographs and usually videos, The most important characteristics of a camera are the resolution (measured in megapixels), lens focus type (fixed or automatic), higher megapixel cameras are known to capture higher quality photos, but not always a good measurement of the photos quality. |
50 MP, f/1.9, 24mm (wide), 1/1.56", 1.0µm, dual pixel PDAF, OIS 50 MP, f/2.6, 70mm (periscope telephoto) (15cm - ∞), 1/1.95", 0.8µm, PDAF, OIS, 3x optical zoom 8 MP, f/2.2, 15mm, 120˚ (ultrawide), 1/4.0", 1.12µm |
| Video | 4K@30fps, 1080p@30fps |
| Selfie Camera | 50 MP, f/2.2, 24mm (wide), 1/2.76" |
| Video | 4K@30fps, 1080p@30fps |
| Operating System OS => Every computer system run on a base software called Operating System (OS). Operating System controls all basic operations of the computer (such as smartphone, PDAs, tablet computers and other handheld devices). The Operating System allows the user to install and run third party applications (apps), apps are used to add new functionality to the device. | Android 15 |
| User Interface UI or user interface of a device is the look and feel of the on-screen menu system. How it works, its color scheme, how it responds to button presses, all of these things are part of the user interface. | Nothing OS 3.1 |
| Chipset Chipset is a group of integrated circuits designed to perform one or a more dedicated functions, often with real time computing constraints, Popular smartphones are equipped with more advanced embedded chipsets that can do many different tasks depending on their programming. | Qualcomm SM7635 Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 (4 nm) |
| CPU CPU (Central Processing Unit) mostly known as processors, CPU processes instructions in order to carry out certain functions that make your device operate properly. Processors are often described as the brain of computers, smartphones and tablets, Smartphones and tablets rely on processors to carry out their every task, Processors are an incredibly important factor in selecting any type of computing device, including your smartphone. | Octa-core (1x2.5 GHz Cortex-A720 & 3x2.4 GHz Cortex-A720 & 4x1.8 GHz Cortex-A520) |
| GPU GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) is a single-chip processor designed to rapidly manipulate and alter memory to accelerate the creation of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display, This includes things such as lighting effects, object transformations, and 3D motion. | Adreno 710 (940 MHz) |
| RAM (Memory) RAM (Random Access Memory) is a type of computer memory that can be accessed randomly, any byte of memory can be accessed without touching the preceding bytes that allows information to be stored and accessed quickly from random locations. RAM is the most common type of memory found in computer systems, smartphones, tablets and other electronic devices. | 8GB/12GB |
| Internal Storage Internal Storage is a data storage space (flash memory) mostly used in smartphones, tablets and other electronic devices where operating system, apps, music, photos, videos, files and other user data Is stored. | 128GB/256GB |
| Card Slot Memory Card Slot is a special slot for inserting a memory card. Memory cards allow you to expand the phone's built-in memory, A memory card (sometimes called a flash memory card or a storage card) is a small storage medium used to store data such as text, pictures, audio, and video, for use on small, portable or remote computing devices such as mobile phones, mp3 players, digital cameras. | No |
| Sensors Sensors are electronic components that detects and responds to some type of input from the physical environment. The specific input could be light, heat, motion, moisture, pressure and location, The output is generally a signal that is converted to use in computing systems, a location sensor, such as a GPS receiver is able to detect current location of your electronic device. |
Fingerprint (under display, optical), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass Circle to Search |
| Bluetooth Bluetooth is a wireless communications technology for exchanging data between mobile phones, headsets, computers and other network devices over short distances without wires, Bluetooth technology was primarily designed to support simple wireless networking of personal consumer devices. | 5.4, A2DP, LE |
| Wi-fi Wi-Fi is a popular wireless networking technology using radio waves to provide high-speed network connections that allows devices to communicate without cords or cables, Wi-Fi is increasingly becoming the preferred mode of internet connectivity all over the world. | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct |
| Wi-fi Hotspot | |
| USB | USB Type-C 2.0, OTG |
| Positioning GPS The Global Positioning System is a satellite-based radio navigation system, GPS permits users to determine their position, velocity and the time 24 hours a day, in all weather, anywhere in the world, In order to locate your position, your device or GPS receiver must have a clear view of the sky. | GPS, GALILEO, GLONASS, BDS, QZSS |
| NFC NFC (Near field communication) is a set of standards for smartphones and similar devices to establish peer-to-peer radio communications with each other by touching them together or bringing them into proximity, usually no more than a few inches. |
| Battery Type Battery Type => Cell phones run on various kinds of batteries depending on the manufacturer, phone size or shape and features. There are basically four types of cell phone batteries => Lithium Polymer, Lithium Ion, Nickel Metal Hydride and Nickel Cadmium. | 5000 mAh |
| Charging Wireless Charging (Inductive Charging) uses an electromagnetic field to transfer energy between two objects. This is usually done with a charging station. Energy is sent through an inductive coupling to an electrical device, which can then use that energy to charge batteries or run the device. | 50W wired, 50% in 19 min, 100% in 56 min |
The information contained in this post is for general information purposes only.