Carl Pei and Nothing are taking a breath. Instead of a Phone (4) this year, the company appears to be doubling down on the midrange: regulatory filings and a recent video from Pei make it clear the Phone 3 will remain the brand’s flagship for 2026, while the Phone (4a) family — and especially the 4a Pro — is being primed as the meaningful update.
What leaked and why it matters
A listing in the European Product Registry for Energy Labelling (EPREL) and other certification appearances have pulled back the curtain on two of the clearest hardware changes: a slightly larger battery and better water resistance. The Phone (4a) Pro shows a rated capacity of 5,080 mAh (up from the previous 5,000 mAh nominal pack), and the entry also calls out improvements that translate to longer real-world endurance in the EU label — numbers that jump well past the Phone (3a) Pro’s figures.
That 5,080 mAh figure is a rated capacity; manufacturers typically quote a rounded nominal number. For context, the Phone (3a) carried a nominal 5,000 mAh pack but a lower “rated” figure on paperwork. So expect usable totals in the same general neighborhood — but tweaked a bit to squeeze more screen‑on time from today’s efficient midrange chips.
Durability, charging, and other practical upgrades
The EPREL entry (and corroborating certification trails) also list an IP65 ingress-protection rating for the Pro — a tangible upgrade from the prior IP64-class protection. IP65 means the phone is dust-tight and can survive low-pressure water jets, which helps for rain, splashes or an accidental kitchen spill (but it’s not a submersion-proof flagship like IP67/IP68 devices).
Wired charging appears to remain at 50W for the Pro, a sensible midrange sweet spot that balances speed and thermal/battery longevity. Reports circulating alongside the EPREL entry add claims about stronger battery longevity commitments — numbers suggesting the pack should retain a healthy percentage of capacity across many charge cycles.
Performance, memory and the split strategy
Leaks point to a clear internal split: the regular Phone (4a) is expected to run a Snapdragon 7s-series chip, while the 4a Pro could jump to a Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 class SoC — a step up in sustained performance and GPU chops. Storage will reportedly move to UFS 3.1 (a speed bump over older UFS variants) and RAM configurations could reach up to 12 GB on higher-end trims.
Those choices help explain why Nothing is calling this series an “evolution” rather than a minor refresh: better storage, stronger silicon in the Pro, and even practical upgrades like eSIM support in certain models have been floated in leaks.
Timing, price and positioning
Certification trails in the UAE, India and the EU make a Q1 launch plausible; last year’s 4a-series debuted in March, and the same window seems likely again. Pricing chatter points to modest increases versus the 2025 “a” phones — driven in part by higher memory costs and component pressure across the industry — with some leaks suggesting the 4a could land noticeably above last year’s base price.
Why would Nothing raise prices while skipping a flagship? Carl Pei’s on-record message hints at strategy: don’t churn flagships for the sake of it. Instead, push a single generation of midrange phones toward a “near-flagship” experience through targeted upgrades. That’s a risk, but also a way to keep the brand’s identity — design-first, experimental colorways and ecosystem play — without the heavy lift of competing directly with flagship juggernauts this year.
How the 4a Pro stacks up in the crowded midrange
An IP65 rating and a slightly larger battery aren’t headline-grabbing like triple-200MP cameras or 240W charging, but they hit frequent pain points: durability and day-to-day endurance. Those pragmatic improvements could make the Phone (4a) Pro a more convincing daily driver against rivals that emphasize camera specs or raw charging wattage.
If you’re weighing midrange choices, look at how peers balance battery and durability — the industry has examples of thin phones that still manage long runtimes, and that trade-off is becoming a selling point again. See how other recent releases handle that balance in this Motorola Edge 70 write-up, and how flagship moves continue to shape expectations in the premium tier with previews like the Galaxy S26 coverage.
Certifications and leaks aren’t confirmations, but they’re coming from multiple regulatory databases and regional bodies — the kind of trail that usually tightens into an official announcement within weeks. Expect Nothing to stick to its flair for colorful marketing while quietly shifting the conversation from “flagship every year” to “meaningful midrange upgrades.”
Whether consumers buy that argument will depend on price, camera results and how close that Snapdragon 7 Gen 4-equipped Pro feels to older flagships in daily use. For now, the part of the Nothing roadmap we can see is practical: a bigger battery, tougher protection and a clearer midrange identities — and that’s a story worth watching as the formal reveals roll in.