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- The OnePlus 15R started the Amazon Spring Sale at the discounted price of £569, but this second price cut brings it to a new low of £549
- Over the past 90 days, it has averaged £643 in price
- The Nothing Phone (3a) was first discounted down to £239, but this second discount drops it even further, to a record-low price of £229
- It has averaged £293 over the past 180 days
- In our reviews, we awarded the OnePlus 15R four stars and our Recommended award, while the Nothing Phone (3a) received five stars and our Best Buy award.
Compared to other deals events throughout the year, Amazon’s Spring Deal Days sale has thus far felt a little underwhelming. True blue bargains are thin on the ground, with only a select few being actually worth your time.
Interestingly, however, two such phone deals that are substantial enough for my standards have just been further sweetened by a second price drop. They were already tantalising offers to begin with, so this unexpected additional discount brings both down to bargain prices.
First up, we have the OnePlus 15R, a powerful sub-flagship phone that first dropped from an average price (calculated over the past 90 days) of £643 down to £569. This second drop snips a further £20 off the price tag, bringing it down to £549 – the cheapest it has ever been.
The Nothing Phone (3a), meanwhile, is a wonderfully stylish mid-range phone that had its price slashed firmly down into budget territory, dropping from an average price of £293 (calculated over the past 180 days) to just £239. The second discount only drops it by a further tenner, bringing it down to a record-low of £229, but that’s still an absolutely bargain price.
Why should I buy the OnePlus 15R?
The OnePlus 15R is exceptionally powerful for its price, running rings around rivals in our CPU testing and delivering smooth 60fps gameplay, even in the face of demanding graphics settings. In fact, it’s one of my top mid-range phones for gaming right now.
Battery life is outstanding, too; the OnePlus 15R is fitted with a high-capacity 7,400mAh battery and put it to very good use in our standard looping video battery testing, lasting for a brilliant 37hrs 9mins. That’s one of the best results I’ve seen from phones of any price, let alone mid-range money like this.
The 6.83in AMOLED display proved excellently bright and colour-accurate in my testing, and the 50-megapixel main camera delivered crisp, well-coloured shots in good lighting, as well as moody, natural-looking night shots. The 8-megapixel ultrawide isn’t quite as strong but still produces decent enough colouring and detail to be worth using.
The final thing to note is the Mind Space AI, which collects screenshots, notes and voice recordings and intelligently organises them into easily accessible folders. It’s one of the more useful and unobtrusive AI packages out there, and worked very well in testing.
Why should I buy the Nothing Phone (3a)?
Funnily enough, the Nothing Phone (3a) has another of the best AI packages on the market, and it’s very similar to the OnePlus’ offering. Essential Space does the same job of collating and intelligently organising your captures, with Google Gemini integration allowing for smart searching and recollection at a later date. It’s all the more impressive to find such a solid AI suite on a phone that’s this cheap.
Equally, you’ll be hard-pressed to find many phones that include a telephoto camera for this kind of money. The 2x lens on the Nothing Phone (3a) is a lovely little shooter that’s particularly well-suited to portrait shots. The main camera is great in good lighting, too, with natural colours and solid dynamic range – though the budget nature of this phone starts to show with night photography, where detail can be a little fuzzy.
Rounding out the package is a crisp AMOLED display that achieved impressive brightness and colour-accuracy in my testing, fantastic battery life that ran our looping video for more than 30 hours and a unique design with the fun and quirky Glyph rear lights.
What are the downsides?
Having just praised the Nothing for including a telephoto camera, I’m now going to remark on the OnePlus 15R’s lack thereof. Its predecessor, the OnePlus 13R, offered a telephoto camera, so the 15R dropping it is a real shame. I’d also have liked to see wireless charging for this kind of money: you get very fast 80W wired charging, but all of its key rivals include wireless charging.
There’s also the software support to consider. The OnePlus 15R offers up a solid four years of OS updates and six of security patches, which is fine enough but falls short of the best in this price range. The Google Pixel 10a, for instance, is set for a class-leading seven years of support.
Turning our attention to the Nothing Phone (3a), I have very few complaints, particularly when judged against this ridiculously low deal price. The Essential Key that activates the AI features is in an awkward position, lower down on the right side (see above), and software support only includes three years of OS updates. But these feel fairly lightweight compared to everything that this phone gets right.
Which one should I buy?
Aside from the obvious price differences – those on a strict budget will find the Nothing Phone (3a) far kinder to their wallet – there are a couple of areas in which each phone excels.
Choose the OnePlus 15R if you regularly engage in mobile gaming and want a phone that can keep up with you; I played Genshin: Impact on the highest graphic settings, and the OnePlus 15R kept framerates locked at a buttery smooth 60fps. Equally, the fantastic battery life means that you can while away a train journey slaying monsters and the like and still have stamina left for the rest of the day.
Go for the Nothing Phone (3a) if you want something that looks different from the sea of samey smartphones on the market – the exposed componentry aesthetic and rear Glyph lights are certainly eye-catching. Regular takers of portrait photos will appreciate the telephoto camera, too, and those who often stream on the go will benefit from the joint offering of a bright, punchy display and excellent battery life.
My whole team is hard at work finding every last deal in the Amazon Spring Sale that is worth your time. Head over to our central Spring Sale deals hub to check out our top picks on everything from TVs and laptops to coffee machines and vacuum cleaners.
