- Snappy performance
- Solid battery life
- Too expensive
- Small camera sensor size
There’s a weirdness to reviewing phones in 2026. Generative AI companies have inflated the price of key components to the point where all consumer tech is getting more expensive, which in turn leads to phones like the Nothing Phone 4b.
The Phone 4b is arguably a spiritual successor to last year’s Nothing Phone 3a Lite, but in some ways, is less competent. It’s also priced at $629 rather than $439, making it just $20 cheaper than the standard Nothing Phone 4a. While it’s possible the Phone 3a Lite will get harder to find, and there’s every chance the Phone 4a could get more expensive, both are still readily available at time of writing.
Steep price rises for phones may be the new normal, but ongoing availability of older models certainly colours the judgement of new devices released under these adverse conditions. The situation could change in a few months, but for now, it’s easy to get a better value device than the Nothing Phone 4b.
None of the above is to say the Phone 4b is a bad device. It’s got a snappy chipset that will even handle some light gaming, paired with a battery that should give you between six and seven hours of screen time. That’s enough for a full day of moderate usage with a very comfortable buffer.
The primary camera is alright, but we’ve seen Nothing do better on cheaper phones. The sensor size is smaller than what we’ve seen in past budget Nothing devices, which means results from low-light photos especially can be inconsistent. I lucked into some alright photos at Ninajirachi the other night, but most of the shots don’t have enough detail to be usable. Even dim lighting is enough to result in noticeable camera noise.
One silver lining is the Phone 4b can do a surprisingly good job of capturing moving subjects, which isn’t always a given on cheaper handsets. Photos of my dog turned out better than expected.
Nothing Phone 4b camera samples
Check out these camera samples taken on the Nothing Phone 4b. Click or tap on any photo to see a larger version.
While the Phone 4b attempts to keep some of Nothing’s visual identity with a “see-through” plateau surrounding the camera, the overall design is much more pedestrian when compared to the company’s past phones. One might go as far as to call it normal. The build is largely plastic - which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, given it’s harder to break than glass - but the back on my black model gets very smudgy.
Nothing also made some trade-offs with the display. When compared to the cheaper Phone 3a Lite, the Phone 4b’s bezels are larger (and no longer symmetrical) and the panel is dimmer. I had to disable adaptive brightness and keep the setting maxed out for the best experience. Otherwise, the Phone 4b’s display was simply too dim, even for indoor use.
Nothing says the Phone 4b will get three years of major operating system upgrades and six years of security updates. Even at $629, that’s solid for the asking price. Conversely, the Phone 4b only has 128GB of storage out of the box. Many rival budget phones now start with 256GB, although I guess we’ll see how long that lasts.
Nothing Phone 4b - Final Thoughts
The Nothing Phone 4b is a solid budget phone hurt by an inflated asking price. Even if it were priced at $399, I’d still recommend getting the Phone 3a Lite over it. At $629, there’s no reason not to spend $20 more and buy the Phone 4a instead. You’ll get so much more phone for your money.
It’s entirely possible we’ll need to recalibrate our expectations of a $400 phone, a $600 phone, an $800 phone, and so forth, as the year goes on. The component crisis doesn’t show any signs of letting up, after all. But for the time being, eschewing new phones in favour of older devices sure seems like the right call.
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Alex Choros
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