The Nothing Phone (3a) could be one of the best mid-range smartphones of 2025 when it launches next month, and it looks set to feature an iPhone 16-like camera button.
Nothing has taken to X (formerly Twitter) to post a tantalising teaser for its forthcoming mid-range smartphone, the Nothing Phone (3a) (and rumoured (3a) Pro), which will be unveiled on 4 March.
The attached image appears to show a grainy close-up (is that an X-Ray?) of some of the Nothing Phone (3a)’s physical controls, and there appears to be something just a little different about them…
Nothing
What the Nothing Phone (3a)’s mystery button could do
The Nothing Phone (2a) separated its volume buttons on the left edge from the power/wake button on the right edge. What we’re looking at here appears to be the Nothing Phone (3a)’s right hand edge, which means that there’s a brand new button alongside the power/wake control.
It seems akin to the Camera Control button found on the current iPhone 16 range, suggesting that the Nothing Phone (3a) is going to offer its own manual camera shutter button. Nothing also adds in the little descriptor, “Your second memory, one click away,” which certainly lends weight to such a theory.
Another possibility is that this is simply a bindable Action Button equivalent, though all that talk of a ‘second memory’ being ‘one click away’ screams photography to us.
Where have we seen such camera buttons before?
Of course, we’re likening this to the iPhone 16 as the most high-profile example of a smartphone with a physical camera shutter button, but Apple was far from the first to offer such a thing.
Sony has been consistently offering a two-stage camera shutter button on its Xperia I flagship smartphone range for many years now, most recently with the Sony Xperia 1 VI. Even more recently, the Nubia Z70 Ultra offered a similar provision.
In every case that we’ve used such a physical camera button, it serves a dual purpose. At a basic level, it lets you fire up the camera app before you’ve even brought the phone in front of your face, which can be vital for grabbing that impromptu shot.
Anyron Copeman / Foundry
More meaningfully, it lets you frame your shots a little more carefully, half-depressing the button to lock the focus before pressing all the way to capture. It brings the whole experience much closer to classic photography.
Where Apple has innovated with its own Camera Control in offering a swipe-sensitive element that lets you navigate through various camera sub-menus but it has been criticised for not only its awkward placement but fiddly controls.
Will Nothing bring something similarly complex to the Nothing Phone (3a), we wonder?
It seems somewhat doubtful that it will, given that we’re likely talking about a sub-£400 smartphone here. Even so, this would be a rare and welcome addition to the affordable smartphone category.
We’ll find out for sure when Nothing makes its announcement on 4 March at 10am GMT.
