So at my workplace, a friend and I both bought new phones at the same time. I went with the Nothing Phone 3, and she picked up an iPhone 17. Naturally, everyone at the office, just like people here on the forum was immediately curious: “Okay, but which one takes better photos?”
To keep it fair, I took both phones outside and shot the exact same scenes with each device: same framing, same lighting, back to back. Then I put all the photos into a slideshow, hid which photo came from which phone, and turned it into a blind test. Everyone could vote purely based on which photo looked better to them, according to their own taste. Nothing won.
People were actually furious about the result and wanted to repeat the test, re‑check everything, argue about it, the whole thing. But for me, that was already more than enough. The fact that the Nothing Phone 3 can stand next to Apple’s latest “flagship” in a blind test, and even come out on top for most people in the room tells me everything I need to know about whether this is a real flagship or not. Performance‑wise, in daily use, there hasn’t been any meaningful difference between the two devices. Apps, games, camera, scrolling, multitasking… both feel fast and smooth. Whatever the benchmarks say, in real life use, this phone feels like a true flagship.
So to all the people trying so hard to trash this phone using benchmark numbers: nobody forced us to buy it. YouTube is full of reviews, camera comparisons, and performance charts. If you don’t like the numbers you’re seeing, then as always: just don’t buy it. But some of us are very happy with this “beautiful phone,” and real‑world experience matters more than synthetic scores.
