Nothing Phone (3) vs Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus: Which one is better?
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Intro
Nothing is entering the flagship phone space. Kind of. Its latest Nothing Phone (3) does not quite cost as much as your Pro Max and Ultra flagships, but at $800, it is the most expensive phone Nothing has made so far.
So naturally, it has plenty of competition, and chief among the rivals is Samsung's Galaxy S25 Plus. The Galaxy is a bit more expensive at $1,000, but it is often discounted, so many people would end up buying it for much less.
So... which one should you go for? Both phones come with big screens and big batteries, but the Galaxy is notably thinner and lighter, while packing a more powerful processor. The Nothing Phone has its quirky design and an all-new camera. Let's see who wins this battle.
Nothing Phone (3) vs Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus differences explained:
| Nothing Phone (3) | Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus |
|---|---|
| Transparent back, design unlike any other | Clean and minimalist design |
| Quirky, but not very useful Glyph Matrix | - |
| Relatively thick phone at 9mm | Much slimmer phone at 7.3mm |
| On the heavier side at 218 grams | Much lighter at just 190 grams |
| Slower Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 chip | Faster Snapdragon 8 Elite |
| 256GB of UFS 4.0 storage in the base model | Same generous 256GB base storage |
| 5,150 mAh battery | Slightly smaller 4,900 mAh battery |
| Faster 65W wired charging | 45W wired charging speed |
| Essential Key for AI features | - |
Table of Contents:
Design and Display Quality
Quirky vs normal
Both the Nothing Phone (3) and Galaxy S25 Plus are big phones, but once you actually get to hold them, you instantly notice the difference.
The Galaxy is much thinner and weighs less, so it almost feels like carrying a much smaller phone.
The Nothing Phone (3) on the other hand is big, chunky and you can kind of feel that extra heft when you have it in your pocket.
| Nothing Phone (3) | Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus |
|---|---|
| Thickness 9 mm | Thickness 7.3 mm |
| Dimensions 160.6 x 75.6 | Dimensions 158.4 x 75.7 |
| Weight 218 grams | Weight 190 grams |
Of course, Nothing beings its quirky self, you know you will see some unique visual elements that make it stand out. The transparent back is something we have come to expect of Nothing, but not these shockingly misaligned cameras. Well, we guess Nothing wanted to stand out and they did, but while we loved the quirky style of previous Nothing phones, we are not enamored with this one.
There is also a tiny dot-matrix display on the rear of the device (the "Glyph Matrix"). You can play spin the bottle on it by long pressing a capacitive button located on the back of the phone. Uhm... okay? Or you can see a timer on the back of your phone for some reason. The most useful of these seems to be a pixelized preview of your camera, but why not just include a slightly bigger regular screen then?
The Essential key is also back, after first appearing a few months ago on the Nothing A series phones. Press once to capture your screen, long-press to record voice memos, and double-press to go to the Essential Space where all of that is aggregated. We are not huge fans of the idea, but we do like having one extra physical button on board, and Samsung should take notice.
As far as display quality goes, the Galaxy has the upper hand.
Display Measurements:
As you can see from our in-house lab tests, the Galaxy gets much brighter outdoors hitting nearly 2,400 nits of brightness compared to just 1,500 nits on the Nothing Phone (3).
The Galaxy also does a better job at night when it can drop to under 1 nit, much easier on the eyes than the 2-nit minimum value of the Nothing.
As for biometrics, the Galaxy has an ultrasonic fingerprint reader compared to an optical one on the Nothing, which can again be a bit annoying at night when it lights up. The one on the Galaxy feels just a bit more responsive, too.
Performance and Software
A win for the Galaxy
Nothing calls the (3) a flagship phone, but the traditional definition of a flagship usually centers around the latest processor and that is not the case for the Phone (3).
It uses the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 instead, a chip comparable to last year's best, but it is definitely slower than the Snapdragon 8 Elite that you can find on the Galaxy S25 Ultra.
In either case, the performance difference can be seen only in intense tasks in gaming, while in daily use both phones feel equally snappy.
| Nothing Phone (3) | Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus |
|---|---|
| Chip 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 12/512GB UFS 4.0 storage |
In either case, the performance difference can be seen only in intense tasks in gaming, while in daily use both phones feel equally snappy.
CPU Performance Benchmarks:
There is a big gap between the two phones when it comes to CPU performance, and it's not in Nothing's favor.
Interestingly, the Galaxy beats the Nothing in gaming BUT only for the first few runs. After a few minutes of graphics-heavy gaming, the Galaxy throttles and the performance drop below that of the Nothing Phone. Apparently, the Nothing does a much better job with cooling.
We are also happy to see 256GB of fast, UFS 4.0 storage on both phones as the base model. You can also upgrade to a 512GB version, which also comes with more RAM on the Nothing - 16GB of it, while all the Galaxy storage tiers have 12GB RAM.
Camera
Can Nothing make a good camera?
Both Nothing and Samsung meet the standard for a flagship camera system: three fully functional rear cameras, an ultra-wide, main one and a telephoto one.
There are some slight differences in sensor sizes, with the biggest news being the Phone (3) upgrading to a 1/1.3-inch main camera sensor. A bigger sensor is a trademark of flagships, and actually the S25 Plus has a smaller sensor than the Nothing (the Galaxy uses a 1/1.56-inch main camera sensor).
PhoneArena Camera Score:
On our in-house PhoneArena Camera testing protocol, the Galaxy S25 Plus gets a much higher score than the Nothing Phone (3). A lot of that is due to a much better video recording quality, with big advantages in levels of resolve detail and artifacts on the Samsung phone.
However, when it comes to pure photography prowess, the Nothing holds its ground quite well, with a score very close to that of the S25 Plus.
Main Camera
Against the direct sun, the Galaxy is having a harder time coping with the bright light and the Nothing captures the prettier photo.
Indoors, we also prefer the Nothing camera quality. The picture has more contrast and does not look washed out like on the Galaxy.
Zoom Quality
Zoom quality is comparable across the two phones.
Ultra-wide Camera
Notice the flaring occurring on this ultra-wide photo, that's a common issue that you have to avoid and the Galaxy does a better job here.
Selfies
More Camera Samples
Video Quality
We test both phones in 4K quality and the Galaxy has the upper hand for video recording.
Battery Life and Charging
Surprising results
We have seen the Galaxy S25 Plus score quite a few wins, but what about the battery?
The Galaxy comes with a 4,900mAh capacity, while the Nothing Phone (3) features an even bigger, 5,150mAh battery.
Still, on our in-house battery tests, the Galaxy manages to get a higher score.
PhoneArena Battery and Charging Test Results:
Still, on our in-house battery tests, the Galaxy manages to get a higher score.
The Phone (3) disappoints with just 14 hours and a half on our browsing test, while the Galaxy finishes the same test with over 19 hours.
Then the roles revers for YouTube video streaming, the Phone (3) scoring an hour and a half more.
But overall, we estimate you can expect around 6 hours and 45 minutes of screen time on the Phone (3) and 7 hours and 36 minutes on the Galaxy.
Then, on the charging front, the Nothing Phone (3) takes the lead with 65W maximum wired charging speed compared to 45W on the Samsung.
In real-life, the difference is not huge, but it's there. A full charge takes an hour on the Nothing and 10 minutes longer on the Galaxy.
Both also support 15W wireless charging, but no magnets.
Audio Quality and Haptics
These two are not the greatest when it comes to loudspeaker quality, but they are not bad either.
The Nothing Phone (3) speakers in particular did not wow us. They get quite boomy and have a roomy projection. There is not a lot of thumpy bass, but they don’t sound thin either. The mids are pronounced, while the upper midrange is a bit "shouty." Overall, not the best phone for music, just as the Galaxy.
Haptics are actually fine on both models, but not remarkable or special. Well, at least you won't miss an incoming call (like you could on the OnePlus 13 with its weaker haptics).
Specs Comparison
We have the full Nothing Phone (3) vs Galaxy S25 Plus specs comparison page, but below you can find the highlights:
| Nothing Phone (3) | Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus |
|---|---|
| Size and Weight 160.6 x 75.6 x 9 mm 218 g | Size and Weight 158.4 x 75.7 x 7.3 mm 190 g |
| Display 6.7-inch OLED 120Hz | Display 6.7-inch OLED 120Hz |
| Processor Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 | Processor Snapdragon 8 Elite |
| Versions 12/256GB for $800 | Versions 12/256GB for $1,000 |
| Cameras 50MP main, f/1.7 50MP ultra-wide, f/2.2 50MP 3X telephoto, f/2.7 50MP front | Cameras 50MP main, f/1.6 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.2 10MP 3X tele, f/2.4 12MP front |
| Battery 5,150 mAh | Battery 4,900 mAh |
| Charging 65W wired 15W wireless | Charging 45W wired 15W wireless |
Which one should you buy?
The Nothing Phone (3) is the one with the striking looks, gimmicks like the Glyph Matrix and Essential Key, and it's got a clean and likable user interface.
But the Galaxy S25 Plus clearly offers more, from the faster processor to the more capable camera, especially for video. We also like that you get very good battery life on the Galaxy, with the phone being much lighter and thinner than the Phone (3).
With so many deals on the Galaxy, these two end up in the same price ballpark. There seem to be a few more objective reasons to go Galaxy, but let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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