I tried Nothing Phone (4a) Pro – where did all the transparency go? [Gallery]

Ben Schoon | Mar 5 2026 - 5:45 am PT

The Nothing Phone (4a) Pro has arrived and, while it looks like a really solid upgrade on paper, the new device largely ditches the transparent design elements that has made Nothing stand out for the past few years.

Nothing’s launch event earlier today was an interview-style presentation which included a chat early on with CEO Carl Pei. Part of that conversation was talking about how “transparency”, both in practices and in design, has been a key part of the company.

Yet, the Nothing Phone (4a) Pro largely does away with those infamous transparent elements.

The first thing you’ll notice about the Phone (4a) Pro is that the back of the phone has a standard metal backplate, with the only transparent elements found inside of the camera bar that, frankly, looks a lot like it was inspired by the iPhone 17 series.

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The new look isn’t bad, but it’s certainly a drastic change from prior Nothing hardware aesthetics. During the presentation, Nothing said that this design “advances” the transparent look but, really, it just largely gets rid of it, and the marketing spin doesn’t really do much about that.

I was able to briefly try out Nothing Phone (4a) Pro following the company’s launch event in London, and I picked up a few things in my first impressions.

First and foremost, I’m not sure how I feel about Nothing ditching the transparency to this degree. This brand’s entire foundation is on design and, with Phone (4a) Pro, that identity is largely gone. Outside of a quirky camera bump, this is a very generic looking phone, and one that looks and feels like an iPhone more than ever before. Nothing calls it “The Window.”

While the base Phone (4a) feeling more “Nothing” than ever before with its fun color additions, the Pro looks sort of like a cheap knock-off at first glance. Sure, it feels good in the hand – better, even, thanks to the matte finish – but it’s very much a case of lost identity.

On the hardware side of things, the Pro’s colors are a bit of mixed bag. The silver is nice, but the black is an instant fingerprint magnet. The pink, meanwhile, is a really nice color that’s also very subtle. I don’t particularly mind, though, but I do wish it came in blue like the base Phone (4a) does.

The display also looked very nice, and immediately brighter compared to what I remember from Phone (3a) Pro last year. Nothing says the Pro’s display can hit up to 5,000 nits in HDR.

I think the best overall software change is the movement of the Essential Key. Nothing has switched up the button placement on Phone (4a) series to put the volume keys and power button on the same side, with the Essential Key now offloaded to the opposite side. Putting the Essential Key under the power button was a huge complaint I had with Phone (3) and the Phone (3a) series, so I’m really glad to see this fixed.

Meanwhile, the updated Glyph Matrix is a nice change. Phone (3) launched the feature, but it always felt too small to be useful. Phone (4a) Pro’s verison is physically much larger, so it can more easily show things like text. It’s lower-resolution, though, which does have its limits. The array of 137 LEDs is, for example, very bad at showing a camera preview through the “Glyph Mirror.” But it’s fine for other things like showing the time.

The biggest difference, though, is in interacting with the Matrix. Since Nothing has removed the “button” used to activate and interact with Glyph Toys, the only way to activate the feature is to flip the phone on its face (now using more durable Gorilla Glass 7i). You can select an always-on toy, or let it activate for things such as Live Updates from the likes of Uber and Google Calendar. You can also use Essential Notifications from select apps or show caller ID.

I think that interactions with the Glyph Matrix feel inherently more clunky as a result of the lost button, but I never really found myself using that on the Phone (3) either.

At Nothing’s event, I also got to check out the base Phone (4a), which looks great in its blue and pink colors, as well as the new $199 Headphone (a), which feel super plasticky in person.

Nothing Phone (4a) Pro goes up for pre-order on March 13 and starts shipping later this month. Nothing Headphone (a) is available for pre-order on Amazon now.