Nothing Phone 4a vs Motorola Edge 70 vs OnePlus Nord 5: India's Ultimate Mid-Range Showdown

Nothing recently launched its competitive Phone 4a series in India, both of which received major price hikes over their predecessor. However, in today's comparison we will focus on the more affordable of the two phones, the Nothing Phone 4a.

As for its competition, the Nothing Phone 4a finds itself against the Motorola Edge 70 and OnePlus Nord 5 5G. But before we dive into the full comparison, if you want to see how the Nothing Phone 4a Pro fared against its biggest rivals, head on over to the link.

Nothing Phone 4a vs Motorola Edge 70 vs OnePlus Nord 5: Comparison

Nothing Phone 4a vs Motorola Edge 70 vs OnePlus Nord 5: Design, Build, Display

When it comes to design, all three phones feature different blueprints. The Nothing Phone 4a retains the trademark Glyph Interface and transparent back design coupled with a box-shaped frame and rounded edges. Moreover, the interface has 63 mini-LEDs on the back.

The Motorola Edge 70 opts for a more polished look with its fabric back, curved screen, and super-sleek (6mm thick) body. Finally, the OnePlus Nord 5 has the same form factor as the Phone 4a but has a rather plain back panel with a single-tone standard matte glass finish.

In terms of build quality, the OnePlus Nord 5 has a slight edge over the competition with Gorilla Glass 7i protection on the front, a glass back, and a metal frame. While the Motorola Edge 70 also has a metal frame and similar Glass 7i protection on the front, it boasts a fabric back panel. Finally, the Nothing Phone 4a has the same glass protection on the front, a glass back, and a plastic frame.

The Motorola Edge 70 also has super dust and water resistance and is the only one of the three phones that can be submerged in fresh water.

All three phones in this comparison adopt a 1.5K OLED display, although the OnePlus Nord 5 has a slightly higher refresh rate, not that it makes a major difference in real-world scenarios. All three phones support HDR10+, while the Edge 70 and Phone 4a have slightly brighter screens.

Overall, the display experience across all three phones is largely similar, with the main distinction being whether you prefer a curved or flat screen.

Nothing Phone 4a vs Motorola Edge 70 vs OnePlus Nord 5: Performance, Software

The OnePlus Nord 5 pulls ahead in the performance department as its Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chip easily outclasses the competition. Based on our benchmarking results of past phones with similar chips, we found that the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 offers around 35% better CPU and 45% better GPU performance than the Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 chip (Moto Edge 70). And once you go down to the Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 SoC (Nothing Phone 4a), the gap only widens.

All three phones use LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 3.1 storage. Finally, apart from the significantly faster chip, the OnePlus Nord 5 has a superior 'Cryo-velocity VC' cooling system, making it the clear winner here.

The OnePlus Nord 5 also has a significantly larger battery than its competitors, although this isn't the case with the European version of the Nord 5 5G. Despite the ultra-slim form factor of the Edge 70, it fits a 5,000mAh silicon carbon battery,. Finally, the Nothing Phone 4a's battery is slightly larger than the Edge 70.

The OnePlus Nord 5 also supports the fastest charging of all three phones, while the Edge 70 is the only one to offer wireless fast charging. Finally, the Nothing Phone 4a has the slowest charging support and doesn't come with an adapter in the box. OnePlus secures as easy win in terms of battery life.

On the software side, all three phones run Android 16 with their custom skins on top. The Motorola Edge 70 offers the best software support with four years of Android OS updates and six years of security updates. While OnePlus offers the same update cycle, it was released on Android 15.

Nothing OS delivers a minimalist, near stock look with smooth animations and Glyph driven visuals, prioritizing aesthetics over deep customization. Motorola's Hello UI (stock ish Android skin) keeps things simple and lightweight, with a few Motorola specific tweaks but limited theming. OxygenOS sits closer to stock than Samsung's One UI yet adds richer features, dual apps, gaming oriented optimizations, Always on Display, and more extensive customization, making it the most feature packed of the three while staying relatively clean

Nothing Phone 4a vs Motorola Edge 70 vs OnePlus Nord 5: Cameras

The Nothing Phone 4a also has a stacked camera setup with a 50MP Samsung GN9 primary sensor (OIS, f/1.9 aperture), an 8MP Sony IMX355 ultrawide lens with a 120° FOV, and a 50MP Samsung JN5 3.5x periscope telephoto shooter with OIS and 3.5x optical zoom. Up front, the Phone (4a) opts for a 32MP (Samsung KD1) selfie camera with an f/2.2 aperture.

The OnePlus Nord 5 is equipped with a 50MP Sony LYT-700 primary sensor with OIS, accompanied by an 8MP ultra-wide lens. For selfies, it features a high-resolution 50MP Samsung ISOCELL JN5 front camera.

Finally, the Motorola Edge 70 features a 50MP Samsung GNJ primary sensor with an f/1.7 aperture and OIS and a 50MP Samsung JNS ultrawide lens with an f/2.0 aperture. Up front, the Edge 70 opts for a 50MP Samsung JNS selfie camera with an f/2.0 aperture.

Overall, the Nothing Phone 4a offers the most versatile camera setup among the three, thanks to its combination of a capable primary sensor, an ultrawide lens, and a dedicated 3.5x periscope telephoto camera.

This gives it greater flexibility for different shooting scenarios. That said, the Motorola Edge 70 stands out with the best ultrawide and front camera hardware in this comparison. Meanwhile, both the Motorola Edge 70 and the OnePlus Nord 5 feature slightly larger primary camera sensors than the Nothing Phone 4a, which could provide an advantage in certain lighting conditions.

Nothing Phone 4a vs Motorola Edge 70 vs OnePlus Nord 5: Conclusion

In the end, each phone in this comparison caters to a slightly different type of user. The OnePlus Nord 5 clearly leads in raw performance, battery capacity, and charging speeds, making it the best option for power users and gamers. The Motorola Edge 70, on the other hand, stands out with its ultra-slim design, strong build quality, wireless charging, and better ultrawide and selfie cameras. Meanwhile, the Nothing Phone 4a differentiates itself with its unique Glyph design, clean software experience, and the most versatile camera system thanks to its dedicated 3.5x periscope telephoto lens.

Ultimately, the right choice depends on whether you prioritize performance, design and durability, or camera versatility.