The Nothing Phone 3a could borrow the iPhone 16’s best feature – and I think it’s a great idea

• The Nothing Phone 3a may come with a camera button
• If implemented, it could become the cheapest shutter button-equipped phone on the market
• Nothing has reiterated an announcement date of March 4

Just last month, I wrote that I wanted to see shutter buttons become standard-issue on smartphones in 2025. Now, it seems that we could be getting the first-ever capture button-equipped budget phone.

Nothing has released a new teaser for its next budget handset, the upcoming Nothing Phone 3a, which strongly hints at the phone getting a new shutter button in the style of the iPhone 16’s Camera Control.

The teaser was shared to X (formerly Twitter) and contains a clear outline of the side of the phone, featuring a new button mounted underneath the power button.

Though Nothing hasn’t confirmed whether this is a shutter button, the post’s caption certainly suggests so; the post reads: “Your second memory, one click away. Power in perspective.” The post then reiterates the phone's previously announced reveal date of March 4.

Second memory? One click? Sounds like photography talk to me. If this does turn out to be a shutter button, the Nothing Phone 3a may launch as the cheapest phone of its kind on the market, as the feature has previously been reserved for specialist or flagship devices.

Currently-available phones that come with a shutter button include the iPhone 16 series, which starts at $799 / £799 / AU$1,399, and regionally available models like the Sony Xperia 1 VI and Oppo Find X8 Pro.

In comparison, the current-generation Nothing Phone 2a starts at $349 / £319 / AU$675. Even the higher-end Nothing Phone 2 costs less than the iPhone 16, at a starting price of $599 / £579 / AU$1,049.

Though pricing has yet to be announced, we expect that the Nothing Phone 3a will be considerably cheaper than the iPhone 16 at launch. As such, it’s unlikely that the shutter button found on the Phone 3a will be as powerful as the iPhone’s Camera Control, which offers control via pressure and touch sensitivity.

We’d realistically expect a shutter button on a $350 phone to do little more than take pictures and video, but that's nothing to complain about at such a cheap price point.

Still, a shutter button on the Nothing Phone 3a would be a welcome reflection of high-end smartphone trends, and if the phone does launch with a camera button, it’ll be getting my vote for a spot on our list of the best cheap phones.

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