At a time when many flagships are being launched in the Indian smartphone market from OnePlus 15 to iQOO 15, two companies are bringing their latest offerings in the mid-range space – Nothing and Lava. Lava recently launched its top-end offering Agni 4 of 2025 with aluminum build and MediaTek Dimensity 8350 SoC. Just days later, Nothing introduced the Phone 3A Lite, its most affordable Nothing-branded device to date.

Both devices are quite close in terms of price, but differ in some ways. If you’re in the market to buy a new smartphone under Rs 25,000, things might seem confusing. Here at India Today Tech, we have been using both the Nothing Phone 3A Lite and the Lava Agni 4 extensively. Let’s clarify some of the key differences between the two new mid-rangers.

Nothing Phone 3A Lite vs Lava Fire 4: Here are all the differences

1. Design

Nothing and Lava take completely different approaches to design. The Phone 3a Lite comes with the same transparent back design that we have seen on other Nothing devices with flat frames. You also get Glyph Lite for notifications as part of the Glyph interface.

Lava Fire 4 takes a more subtle approach. It gets a sleek aluminum frame as opposed to the plastic on the Nothing. The back is also made of glass, like the Phone 3A Lite, but it has a simple, minimalist design. The main attraction of the Agni 4 is the capsule-shaped camera module which gets prominent Agni branding.

If you want to stand out, the Nothing Phone 3A Lite’s design will get people talking. On the other hand, the Lava Fire 4 may seem like a more mature design choice. Note that the Phone 3A Lite gets an IP54 rating for dust and splash resistance compared to the IP64 rating on the Fire 4.

2. Display

Both the devices come with AMOLED displays. The Phone 3a Lite comes with a large 6.77-inch screen with a 120Hz refresh rate. The Lava Agni 4 sports a 6.67-inch AMOLED display with the same refresh rate. The screen of the Nothing Phone 3A Lite could be brighter with a peak brightness of 3,000 nits compared to 2,400 nits. However, the Agni 4 gets a faster 1.5K resolution. The bezels on the Lava are also thin.

3. Display

Performance-wise, the Lava Agni 4 comes with the MediaTek Dimensity 8350 5G chipset, which achieves an AnTuTu score of over 1.4 million and also features a VC liquid cooling system. The Nothing Phone 3A Lite is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Pro chip, which is a step down from the Agni 4. However, the Nothing device is cheaper.

The Lava Agni 4 also gets faster LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.0 storage, compared to the LPDDR4X RAM and UFS 2.2 storage in the Phone 3A Lite.

4. Cameras

Camera setups vary significantly. The Nothing Phone 3A Lite sports a triple rear camera: a 50-megapixel main camera with OIS, an 8-megapixel ultrawide and a 2-megapixel macro, as well as a 16-megapixel front camera. The Lava Agni 4 has a dual rear system: a 50-megapixel main camera with OIS, an 8-megapixel ultrawide, and a 50-megapixel front camera.

5. Battery

Both phones have a 5,000mAh battery. Lava Fire 4 supports 66W fast charging. The Nothing Phone 3A Lite, on the other hand, supports 33W charging but does not include a charger in the box.

6. Software

In terms of software, the Lava Fire 4 comes with Android 15 with a clean, bloatware-free UI. Nothing Phone 3A Lite runs on Nothing OS 3.5, also runs on Android 15. The Phone 3A Lite comes with more customization options than we’ve seen on other Nothing phones in the past.

7. Price

As for pricing, the Nothing Phone 3A Lite price starts at Rs 20,999 for 8GB/128GB and Rs 22,999 for 256GB. You can save Rs 1,000 on Phone 3A Lite with bank offer. Lava Agni 4 is priced at Rs 24,999 for the sole 8GB/256GB variant, with a bank offer of Rs 2,000 taking it to Rs 22,999.

The Lava Fire 4 is already on sale, while the Nothing Phone 3A Lite will be available from December 5th.