I’m less excited for the Galaxy S26 than I am for the two phones launching after it

It’s fair to say that the eyes of phone fans are on Samsung right now.

We’re hearing Galaxy S26 camera teases or seeing Galaxy S26 Ultra feature leaks almost every day, and fans are expecting a full reveal at the end of February.

My eyes are further afield, though: I’m excited about a March release. March 5 is, according to rumors, the date when the Nothing Phone (4a) and (4a) Pro will be unveiled.

These anticipated follow-ups to 2025’s (3a) and Nothing Phone (3a) Pro aren’t expected to match Samsung’s flagships in power, photography potential, or display clarity.

But I’m still more interested in Nothing, and myriad teases from the brand aren’t doing anything to help. If you’re a fan of phones, the Nothing Phone (4a) and (4a) Pro are where you need to be looking.

What we know about the Nothing Phone (4a)

What to get ready for

Nothing hasn’t been secretive about the Nothing Phone (4a). The brand has confirmed that the Nothing Phone 3 won’t see a successor this year, so the a-model is taking the podium as its most intriguing upcoming release.

We’ve even seen an entire video from the company, which you can see above, featuring an interview with the company’s CEO as he looks at upcoming products and the state of the industry.

The March 5 unveiling date is only a rumor for now. It’s a likely one: the date lines up with the Mobile World Conference, hosted annually in Barcelona, but let’s be safe and take the rumors with a pinch of salt.

There’s a good chance we’ll see a new pair of headphones, called the Nothing Headphone (a), at the same time.

Thanks to social media hints and interviews, we know that the Phone (4a) will see spec increases across the board, as well as some new color models and a refined design, and it’s going to have faster storage at UFS 3.1.

Nothing’s CEO has also implied that the Nothing Phone (4a) will cost more than its predecessor, an expected though still unfortunate byproduct of the memory shortage.

Why the Nothing Phone (4a) piques my interest

And how Nothing is dealing with the memory crisis

Rumors point to the Samsung Galaxy S26 units being modest upgrades on their Galaxy S25 counterparts, perhaps with slightly upgraded internals and, in the case of the Ultra, a privacy screen to stop people looking at your screen over your shoulder.

Solid devices for sure, but nothing to spark passion.

The lack of major changes is, apparently, for good reason. It’ll hopefully offset the ongoing memory crisis, which is pushing the price of internal memory — and thus the phones themselves — sky-high.

By all accounts, the S26 family won’t be any more expensive than the S25s were.

A lack of a price hike is a good thing. But this news, if true, also strips much of the Samsung Galaxy’s mystique. We basically already know what the models will be like.

Given that the Galaxy mobiles are the biggest new handsets at the start of each year, it takes some of the excitement from the proceedings.

Not the Nothing, though. The (3a) models remain some of the best cheap Android phones money can buy, offering telephoto zoom lenses at a rate no one’s currently matching.

If I were looking to buy a phone right now, Nothing’s a-series phones would be near the top of the wish-list.

Unlike Samsung, Nothing isn’t content with feature stagnation.

As you can see from the above section, one of the first things we learned about the (4a) and (4a) Pro is that they’ll offer spec increases over the last-gen models.

But we don’t know what, and that mystery helps build excitement.

King of the budget phones

It’s the year of Nothing

I’ve always preferred budget mobiles to premium ones.

I won’t get deep into the weeds on why top-end powerhouses often fail to grab my attention, but I’ve always found it fascinating how mid-range and low-cost handsets find ways to offer great phones at competitive price points.

The only phone I’ve bought since becoming a tech journalist seven years ago cost around $270.

With this in mind, I’m naturally drawn to the Nothing Phone (a) series.

That they offer Zoom cameras at a low price is only part of the fun. Their chipsets and displays are also great for the cost, and since testing the Phone (3), I’m becoming a Nothing OS convert.

I want to see where the brand goes for its new handsets. What new hardware or software can it bring to build on a rock-solid foundation? Only time will tell.

The storage crisis isn’t confined to just Samsung and Nothing, and it sounds like most phone makers are grappling with rising component costs.

I imagine 2026 will see brands either hike prices or keep their upgrades modest to handle it in their own way.

Phones offering good specs at an affordable price will be even more important than in past years. More so than the Galaxy S26 series, Nothing’s opening volley promises to define the year in phones.

So I’m interested to see what it spins up, and then how names like Motorola, Google with its Pixel a, Poco, and Samsung’s Galaxy A respond.

After all, in many ways, handsets like the Nothing Phone (3) can do what Samsung can’t in creating niche wonder-bars.