This could be one of the ugliest Android phones I have ever seen

Android phones are no stranger to bizarre design. Whether it’s the LG wing, the Yotafon or the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom, we’ve seen some really weird Android handle over the years. And I love it! That variation is a big part of what makes to cover Android so funny, and creativity from smartphone brands is never a bad thing.

Nothing Phone 3A series is set to be launched on March 4, but in advance we got more in-depth Design leaks for both nothing phone 3a and nothing phone 3a pro. The former looks like a standard upgrade to Nothing Phone 2A, with a slightly longer camera cabin to meet a third camera sensor. Nothing phone 3A Pro has, meanwhile, a design I simply can’t pack my head around.

Let’s start with the elephant in the room: the camera.

The last few years have given us a number of smartphone cameras design. Some have been wonderful, others not so much, and some have been bad. Nothing Phone 3A Pro can be the ugliest I have ever seen.

It all starts with a gigantic circle – one that seems to take up a very large part of the back of the phone. At the top of the circle is an LED flash. Below is an 8MP Ultrawide camera, and 50MP primary camera is just below. So to the right of it’s a 50MP Periscope Tele camera. On paper there is nothing out of the ordinary here. But that’s how everything is arranged that makes it so abominable.

Ultrawide and primary cameras are symmetrical, but the LED flash sits on a strange diagonal from them. The telephonic camera breaks the shape of circular sensors for the other cameras with an oval shape, not to mention the random rectangle protruding from the right.

There is also all this wasted space in the lower one -third of the camera circle. The Periscope Tele camera requires more physical space, it is true, but one of the leaked (and seemingly official) teasen sizes shows the components hidden inside the damaging rectangle. So why is the camera bump so big? I am fine with a larger camera design if camera technology requires it, but it is quite clear not the case for Nothing Phone 3A Pro.

Maybe I’ll get used to this camera set up after a few more days. Maybe I change my mind when I see it personally. But where I sit right now, I find it hard to believe it. I rarely look at a phone and think it is really ugly, but that’s the reaction I have with The Nothing Phone 3A Pro.

Then it’s the rest of the phone. Although a transparent design is nothing new for nothing, something about the approach for Nothing Phone 3a Pro feels … Off.

The Nothing phone 2The back was mainly taken up by its wireless charging coil, which was smartly outlined with the glysis. It added a nice focal point to the phone and was complemented by the other visible components above and below it. The Nothing phone 2a Turned a nice balance too. There was a busy design between the small and cute camera hump, the swirling coil and the little red square, but it felt intentionally and completely.

Nothing phone 3A Pro seems to be the opposite of it. Beyond the camera shaping, the rest of the phone’s back looks like a pile of parts thrown together without any clear significance. Last nothing phones felt intentional in their transparent cover, but it doesn’t come through with nothing phone 3A Pro – at least not for me.

There is a big difference between bold, meaningful design and throwing everything on the wall to see what is sticking. I think all nothing phones until this point have hit the first balance very well, but nothing phone 3A Pro goes ten steps too far and I’m not a fan.

Smartphone design – and design in general – is very subjective. What looks good to you can look awful to me. The nice thing about Android is that we have so much to choose from. Whether you like the famous aesthetics of Samsung Galaxy S25the blue vegan leather in OnePlus 13Or nothing phone 3A Pros messy industrial design, there is a phone out there for all of us. And if you just chuck your phone in a case and never look at it again, then none of this means anything.

I hope nothing phone 3A Pro is a success. I hope there is a challenger for one of Best budget phones of the year. But if these leaked renders turn out to be true, it must notice every box that is possible for me to get over the look.