TL;DR
- In a recent YouTube video, Nothing compared the camera stabilization of the unreleased Phone 3a to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, with the Phone 3a appearing to outperform the iPhone until viewers pointed out a big mistake in the comparison.
- Nothing later admitted the error, apologizing for the mistake and promising more careful scrutiny in future comparisons.
Nothing prides itself on being an industry disruptor, releasing smartphones that match the efficiency of flagship devices while costing significantly less. The company frequently takes jabs at other smartphone brands, calling their devices boring and nothing more than empty product iterations, all while claiming its mission is to make tech fun again. Well, fun it did have at the expense of Apple’s reigning flagship — the iPhone 16 Pro Max. Unfortunately, this time, Nothing’s attempt to take down the Cupertino giant missed the mark.
In a recent YouTube video, Nothing compared the camera capabilities of the unreleased Phone 3a with Apple’s Pro flagship. The clip (see video above) featured several shooting scenarios, including a comparison of video stabilization between the two phones. To many viewers’ surprise, the Nothing Phone 3a seemed to outperform the iPhone 16 Pro Max in terms of video stabilization. However, it didn’t take long for viewers to spot the reason behind this discrepancy.
Commenters on Nothing’s YouTube video pointed out that in the comparison, the iPhone was using the ultrawide lens rather than the main camera, which explained why its video stabilization appeared inferior to that of the Phone 3a.
Nothing later admitted to the mistake by pinning the following comment under its video:
Hey everyone, we shot across all lenses throughout the day (sometimes cycling one-handed on a bumpy road), and in editing, a clip shot using the iPhone 16 Pro Max’s ultrawide lens was mistakenly used in the video stabilisation comparison instead of one shot using its standard lens. There was no intent to mislead, and we’ll be more careful to ensure even greater scrutiny in future comparisons. Appreciate you all keeping us accountable!
What’s more embarrassing is that the company recently mocked the 2-in-1 camera on Apple’s new iPhone 16e, only to now find itself in this situation.
