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Intro
Carl Pei-led Nothing has been on a roll lately, and the latest fruit of the company's labors is the Nothing Phone (3). This new and intriguing device is the closest we've got to a proper flagship phone, but it has some big shoes to fill in. With a revised Glyph interface at the back and a one-of-a-kind design language, this one has the potential to steal more than a few stares.
But is design everything?
None other than Carl Pei's former company, OnePlus, has the OnePlus 13 on the shelves. This formidable Android device offers a steady opposition to just about any other Android rival and id not done taking names––the Nothing Phone (3) could very well be next in line to get dominated by the never-settling flagship.
So, how does the cool new Nothing Phone (3) stack up against the absolute powerhouse that the OnePlus 13 is?
Nothing Phone (3): pre-order at Amazon for $100 off
$100 off (11%)
Nothing's latest high-class phone is available at Amazon. Right now, the 16/512GB variant is up for pre-order, with shipping set to begin on July 15. The device boasts a unique design, 6.77-inch AMOLED display, and a Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 chip. Pre-order yours now and save $100!
Get the impressive OnePlus 13 for $100 off by trading in any device in any condition. There's an extra $100 discount on the 16/512GB variant with promo code "JULY25". You also get a free case worth up to $39.99
The Nothing Phone (3) comes with a pretty distinct design language that counts on transparency to make for a head-turning impression. It marries a matte aluminum frame with a clear Gorilla Glass backplate, with various hardware components of the phone hinted. And yes, because of the transparent glass, you can get smudgy fingerprints here. The corners are slightly rounded, just like on the latest Galaxies, and the cameras are scattered as if your grandma threw beans on the carpet.
New here is the removal of the Glyph interface of old and Nothing's decision to go with a round monochrome display in the top right at the rear of the phone. It can display different types of data, including your battery level and funny GIFs, and even alert you of incoming notifications. You can manually activate it by pressing a designated capacitive button on the rear of the phone when it's lying face down.
I can't really comprehend how we lost the glyph interface for that.
Meanwhile, the OnePlus 13 is a more traditional candybar phone, with an aluminum frame and standard glass back, although a faux leather version is also available. It doesn't have anything particular that could turn heads, but then again, it doesn't need to, as the OnePlus 13 is quietly brilliant in terms of its understated design.
Phone1
Phone2
Thickness 9 mm
Thickness 8.5 mm
Dimensions 160.6 x 75.6 mm
Dimensions 162.9 x 76.5 mm
Weight 218 grams
Weight 210 grams
A key difference between the two phones is the durability. While the Nothing Phone boasts the standard IP68 water and dust resistance, the OnePlus 13 improves on that with an IP69 rating, which ensures protection against water jets and longer submersion in freshwater.
There's an extra button here, called Essential Key, which is used to take a screenshot of your screen, record a voice note, or use AI to extract the key info and remind you about it in the future.
Meanwhile, the OnePlus 13 has the signature three-way ring switcher on the left-hand side of the phone, one of our favorite OnePlus features. Judging from what peer company Oppo is doing, we might see the end of this signature hardware feature in the near future, which would be a shame.
In terms of screens, we have a 6.7-inch screen on the Nothing Phone (3) and a slightly larger 6.8-inch display on the OnePlus 13. Both are OLED ones, so they deliver excellent contrast and lovely colors. Both also refresh at up to 120Hz for the smoothest experience.
However, as per our own in-house tests, the OnePlus 13 has a much better screen, with significantly higher peak brightness, better minimum brightness, and significantly better color accuracy.
The CIE 1931 xy color gamut chart represents the set(area)of colors that a display can reproduce,with the sRGB colorspace(the highlighted triangle)serving as reference.The chart also provides a visual representation of a display's color accuracy. The small squares across the boundaries of the triangle are the reference points for the various colors, while the small dots are the actual measurements. Ideally, each dot should be positioned on top of its respective square. The 'x:CIE31' and 'y:CIE31' values in the table below the chart indicate the position of each measurement on the chart. 'Y' shows the luminance (in nits) of each measured color, while 'Target Y' is the desired luminance level for that color. Finally, 'ΔE 2000' is the Delta E value of the measured color. Delta E values of below 2 are ideal.
The Color accuracy chart gives an idea of how close a display's measured colors are to their referential values. The first line holds the measured (actual) colors, while the second line holds the reference (target) colors. The closer the actual colors are to the target ones, the better.
The Grayscale accuracy chart shows whether a display has a correct white balance(balance between red,green and blue)across different levels of grey(from dark to bright).The closer the Actual colors are to the Target ones,the better.
In terms of biometrics, there's a significant difference between the two devices, with the Nothing Phone (3) scoring an optical and the OnePlus 13 boasting a ultrasonic one. Generally, we rate ultrasonic fingerprint scanners higher, so the OnePlus has the advantage here.
Performance and Software
Hard to beat the Elite
With the OnePlus 13, we get the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, the fastest one around available to Android phones. A proper powerhouse, this one is the best performer with the best efficiency around. Meanwhile, the Nothing Phone (3) relies on the 4nm Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 chip, which is a more affordable chipset that's a tier lower than proper flagship ones.
Nothing Phone (3)
OnePlus 13
Chip Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 4
Chip Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite
Process 4nm
Process 3nm
RAM, Storage 12/256GB 16/512GB
UFS 4.0 storage
RAM, Storage 12/256GB 16/512GB
UFS 4.0 storage
The Nothing Phone is available in two versions, an entry-level one with 12GB RAM and 256GB of storage and another more premium one with 16GB RAM and 512GB of storage. The same applies to the OnePlus 13, too.
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But what's the performance delta here, and is the Nothing Phone (3) too far behind? While in real life both feel very fast, synthetic benchmarks reveal a fuller picture.
Well, it appears that way. In our in-house Geekbench 6 benchmarks, the Nothing Phone (3) achieves significantly lower results than the OnePlus 13 in both the single- and multi-core tests, revealing its much humbler performance offering.
The same applies to the graphics-tasking 3DMark Extreme stress test, in which the OnePlus 13 sweeps the floor clean with its Nothing rival.
In terms of software support, things are more evened out. The OnePlus 13 gets four years of software support and six years of security updates, while the Nothing Phone (3) gets five years of major Android updates and seven years of security patches.
Camera
Even battle? Think again.
Both phones come with triple 50MP cameras at the rear, but this is where most similarities end. Spoiler alert, it's the OnePlus 13 that performs better in terms of image quality despite the slightly smaller main camera sensors.
PhoneArena Camera Score:
Photo
Video
Phone
Camera Score
Photo Score
Main (wide)
Ultra Wide
Selfie
Zoom
Nothing Phone (3)
135
147
79
20
25
24
OnePlus 13
145
149
75
21
25
28
Phone
Camera Score
Video Score
Main (wide)
Ultra Wide
Selfie
Zoom
Nothing Phone (3)
135
123
65
15
24
19
OnePlus 13
145
141
72
22
25
23
Find out more details about photo and video scores for all phones we have tested on our PhoneArena Camera Score page
In our dedicated camera test, the OnePlus trumps the Nothing Phone with a significantly higher result in both the still photo and video tests, with the advantage being all in the never-settling device's court.
Main Camera
< Nothing Phone 3OnePlus 13 >
< Nothing Phone 3OnePlus 13 >
< Nothing Phone 3OnePlus 13 >
With the OnePlus 13, we get cleaner details, better dynamics, and slightly more appealing colors with the main camera. The Nothing Phone (3) isn't too bad, but can't really hold a candle to the OnePlus 13.
Zoom Quality
< Nothing Phone 3 3X zoomOnePlus 13 3X zoom >
< Nothing Phone 3 5X zoomOnePlus 13 5X zoom >
< Nothing Phone 3 10X zoomOnePlus 13 10X zoom >
The same applies to zoom: the phone is just better in all zoom levels, delivering cleaner details and overall better photos.
< Nothing Phone 3 portraitOnePlus 13 portrait >
Even portraits are significantly better with the OnePlus 13.
Ultra-wide Camera
< Nothing Phone 3
< Nothing Phone 3
Ultrawide shots are slightly better on the OnePlus 13, but the Nothing Phone 3 isn't too far behind, it seems.
Selfies
< Nothing Phone 3OnePlus 13 >
The OnePlus 13 takes better selfies with livelier colors and more flattering facial features.
Video Quality
Videos are good on the Nothing Phone (3), but again, the OnePlus 13 beats it by a slight margin. For example, we see that dynamics are a little better on the OnePlus 13, and the colors are more balanced there as well.
Battery Life and Charging
Battle of the silicon-carbon batteries
Okay, so the Nothing Phone (3) has so far failed to offer a decent challenge to the OnePlus 13, maybe things could get intriguing in terms of battery life?
With a 5,150mAh battery, the new Nothing Phone has a hard task ahead of itself, as the OnePlus 13 packs a larger 6,000mAh unit, which ultimately helps it score a win.
It's our web browsing test that helps the OnePlus 13 achieve this windfall, with a result of 21 and a half hours, while the Nothing Phone disappoints with 14 and a half hours in the same test.
The latter, however, proves to be more efficient in our video streaming and 3D gaming tests, where it beats the OnePlus 13 by an hour in both tests. All of those were conducted with the screens set at 200 nits to ensure an equal playing field.
Overall, our battery life estimate for the OnePlus 13 is seven hours and a half, while the Nothing Phone (3) achieves just six hours and 45 minutes.
Charging is another win for the OnePlus 13, which comes with fast 100W wired and 50W wireless charging. It takes 43 minutes for a full charge, while the Nothing Phone (3) takes 61 minutes.
Audio Quality and Haptics
The Nothing Phone (3) fails to impress in terms of audio quality, too. While it does get loud, the mids are dominating here, making this one not particularly fit for enjoying music but talking heads videos, Instagram reels, and TikToks.
The OnePlus 13 isn't much better itself either, but at least the bass is slightly more pronounced there and the highs are slightly more enjoyable.
Still, neither would wow even the greenest of audiophiles.
Okay, the OnePlus 13 might be slightly pricier, but it's definitely a better phone in comparison with the Nothing Phone (3).
While the design language can be debatable, arguably a win could be given to the Nothing Phone (3) for the novelty of it, but in any other area it's the OnePlus 13 that dominates.
Display quality, performance, overall battery life, camera image quality, and charging speeds are all simply better on the OnePlus 13, so the $30 difference in price is absolutely worth it.
At the same time, the Nothing Phone (3) is not a bad phone; it's just not good enough to shift the paradigm right now.
Peter, an experienced tech enthusiast at PhoneArena, is captivated by all things mobile. His impartial reviews and proficiency in Android systems offer readers valuable insights. Off-duty, he delves into the latest cryptocurrency trends and enjoys sci-fi and video games.
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