Nothing Phone (3a) series will offer disappointing software support

The Nothing Phone (3a) series will be unveiled in a few days, and there's little we don't already know. While both phones are bringing several new features and upgrades, it turns out that software support will be the bane of Nothing's new devices.

According to a now-deleted post on X by Ishan Agarwal, the Nothing Phone (3a) and Nothing Phone (3a) Pro will receive 3 OS upgrades and 6 years of security updates. This means the phones, which will ship with Android 15, will receive OS upgrades through to Android 18 and security updates through to 2031.

When compared to the Phone (2a) which launched with Android 14 and is billed to receive 3 years of software updates and 4 years of security updates, Nothing has only bumped up the duration of security updates but left the number of OS upgrades unchanged. Also, in comparison to rival devices, the Nothing Phone (3a) duo lags.

The new Redmi Note 14 4G gets 4 OS upgrades and 6 years of security updates, same as the OnePlus Nord 4. Samsung's upcoming Galaxy A26, Galaxy A36, and Galaxy A56 will also get 6 years of OS upgrades and security updates. Even budget models like the Galaxy A16 will receive the same duration of support as the Galaxy A56. Google's upcoming Pixel 9a should also receive 7 years of OS upgrades and 7 years of security updates like its predecessor, the Pixel 8a (curr. available on Amazon for $499).

Nothing can still make changes as the software support duration isn't set in stone. Last year, Google announced that the Pixel 6 and Pixel 7 will get an additional 2 years of Android updates.