which is a better buy under Rs 30,000?

Nothing Phone (2a) Plus has officially launched in India and globally as a premium version of the Phone (2a), which debuted earlier this year. We get an almost identical design but a larger footprint. The handset is placed under the Rs 30,000 price segment where it will be taking on some popular phones. Among the competition, we compare the Nothing Phone (2a) Plus with the OnePlus Nord 4 to see which is a better value for your money and is a good buy.

Nothing Phone (2a) Plus vs OnePlus Nord 4: specs at a glance

Smartphones	Nothing Phone (2a) Plus	OnePlus Nord 4
Display	6.7-inch FHD+ AMOLED display, 120Hz refresh rate	6.74-inch 120Hz FHD+ OLED display, 120Hz refresh rate
Processor	MediaTek Dimensity 7350 Pro	Qualcomm Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3
Cameras	50MP primary and 50MP ultra-wide-sensor	50MP primary and an 8MP ultra-wide-angle lens
Front Camera	50MP front camera	16MP selfie camera
Battery	5,000mAh battery	5,500mAh battery
Charging	50W fast charging	100W fast charging
OS	Android 14	Android 14
Colours	Black and Grey colours.	Mercurial Silver, Obsidian Midnight and Oasis Green colours

Nothing Phone (2a) Plus vs OnePlus Nord 4: price in India

Nothing Phone (2a) Plus	OnePlus Nord 4
Rs 27,999 – 8GB + 256GB	Rs 29,999 – 8GB + 128GB
Rs 29,999 – 12GB + 256GB	Rs 32,999 – 8GB + 256GB
–	Rs 35,999 – 12GB + 256GB

Nothing Phone (2a) Plus vs OnePlus Nord 4: design

Nothing Phone (2a) Plus and OnePlus Nord 4 are poles apart with regards to design. The Nothing phone embraces the signature transparent design with a Glyph Light interface. These light up when you receive calls, messages, music visualisation, or when plugged in for charging and many other situations. This makes the phone stand out and you should have it on your wishlist if you want your phone to be a head-turner. 

The Nothing Phone (2a) Plus gets an IP53 rating for dust and splash resistance while the OnePlus phone has a better IP65 rating for water and dust resistance. We also get aqua touch, which makes the screen functional even with water sprinkles.

There is an advanced liquid cooling system, including a large 3,200 mm2 vapour chamber for faster heat dissipation and a 12,000 mm2 large cooling area on the Phone (2a) Plus. While the Nord 4 has a high-density graphite sheet, a steel vapour chamber and a micron-level copper foil. All these add up to 17,900 square millimetres to dissipate heat.

On the other hand, the OnePlus Nord 4 has a full-metal unibody design, which makes it strong and durable. 

Nothing Phone (2a) Plus vs OnePlus Nord 4: display

The OnePlus Nord 4 has a slightly taller 6.74-inch screen compared to the 6.7-inch screen on the Nothing Phone (2a) Plus. The Nothing phone gets Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection against drops/scratches to some extent whereas the Nord 4 only has a standard Panda Glass layer. The refresh rate is the same on both phones at 120Hz.

However, there is a variable refresh rate on the Nord 4 and this should preserve the battery to some extent. The OnePlus phone has ProXDR support, which offers an ultra-HDR experience in select apps. There’s Aqua Touch support that allows you to use the phone even with water.

The OnePlus Nord 4 also gets 2,150 nits peak brightness compared to up to 1,300 nits peak brightness on the Phone (2a) Plus. 

Nothing Phone (2a) Plus vs OnePlus Nord 4: performance

While the OnePlus gets the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 chipset, the newly launched Nothing Phone (2a) Plus gets the Dimensity 7350 Pro SoC. The Qualcomm SoC is fairly powerful in comparison and this is reflected in the benchmark results.

While the OnePlus Nord 4 scores a whopping 1,169,622 points in the AnTuTu benchmark, the newly launched Nothing Phone (2a) Plus could only settle 771,491 on the same platform. In terms of Geekbench too, the Nord 4 scores higher at 1744 and 4365 in the single and multi-core segments, while the Phone (2a) Plus settled for 1121 and 2203.

Adding to this, the OnePlus Nord 4 gets LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 3.1/UFS 4.0 combination compared to the LPDD4X RAM and UFS 2.2 combination on the Nothing Phone (2a) Plus. All these make a real-world difference in terms of performance, app opening/closing speeds, system animations and even gaming. 

Nothing Phone (2a) Plus vs OnePlus Nord 4: cameras

The Nothing Phone (2a) looks superior in terms of cameras, at least on paper. Though we get a 50MP primary camera on both phones, the Nord 4 has a Sony LYT-600 sensor with OIS, while the Phone (2a) Plus has a Samsung GN9 sensor with OIS and EIS. We should have more to comment about the results when we review the Phone (2a) Plus.

We get a 50MP ultra-wide camera on the Phone (2a) Plus compared to an 8MP shooter on the Nord 4. Similarly, the front camera is a large 50MP sensor on the Nothing phone compared to just a 16MP shooter on the Nord 4. This should result in sharper and crisp selfies.

Nothing Phone (2a) Plus vs OnePlus Nord 4: OS, battery

The Nothing Phone (2a) Plus gets a 5000mAh battery compared to a larger 5,500mAh cell on the Nord 4. We get 100W fast charging support on the Nord 4 compared to 50W on the Nothing Phone (2a) Plus. While the OnePlus phone took just 24 minutes to charge from 20-100 percent, the Phone (2a) Plus took around 51 minutes. There is no wireless charging on both phones.

The OnePlus Nord 4 and Nothing Phone (2a) boot Android 14 OS out of the box. While Nothing is promising 3 years of Android updates and 4 years of security patches. OnePlus takes a step forward with four years of Android OS updates and six years of security updates. 

Conclusion

Both the Nothing Phone (2a) Plus and the OnePlus Nord 4 start under Rs 30,000 in India. In this segment, the OnePlus Nord 4 takes a clear lead with a larger battery, faster charging speeds, longer software support and most importantly, the performance is flagship level. These make the OnePlus offering a tempting buy in the segment.

However, Nothing hits it back with a unique design, which makes the overall aesthetics quite eye-pleasing. If design is your key requirement and are fine with moderate performance, the Nothing offering can be your pick.