Nothing recently launched the Nothing Phone 3a series, which includes Nothing Phone 3a and Nothing Phone 3a Pro. The Nothing Phone 3a Pro checks almost all the right boxes – an excellent camera, a powerful Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 chip, and a sleek design. At a starting price of Rs. 29,999, Nothing Phone 3a Pro seems an impressive smartphone, but there’s one major flaw that holds it back – UFS 2.2 storage.
In 2025, where most mid-range and premium phones have UFS 3.1 or even UFS 4.0, Nothing’s decision to stick with UFS 2.2 feels outdated and disappointing. OnePlus Nord 4 5G comes with UFS 3.1 storage and POCO X7 Pro has UFS 4.0. The Motorola Edge 50 Pro, for instance, boasts impressive features but it was also criticised for its UFS 2.2 storage. This is the reason why most consumers are finding UFS 2.2 problematic.
Universal Flash Storage (UFS) determines how fast your phone reads and writes data. A slower storage type means longer app load times, slower file transfers, and weaker multitasking performance. Here’s how UFS 2.2 compares to UFS 3.1.
UFS 2.2 vs UFS 3.1 – Speed Comparison
| Feature | UFS 2.2 | UFS 3.1 |
|---|---|---|
| Sequential Read Speed | ~500 MB/s | ~2000 MB/s |
| Sequential Write Speed | ~250 MB/s | ~1200 MB/s |
| Random Read Speed | ~20K-30K IOPS | ~150K-250K IOPS |
| Random Write Speed | ~20K-30K IOPS | ~100K-150K IOPS |
| Full Duplex Data Transfer | No | Yes |
| Power Efficiency | Lower | Higher |
As you can see, UFS 3.1 is up to 4 times faster than UFS 2.2. That’s a huge difference. If your device has UFS 2.1 storage, apps take longer to open, switching between apps feels slower, Games that load large textures will load slower, and copying files or installing large apps takes more time.
Nothing Phone 3a Pro has a great camera, but UFS 2.2 can slow down burst mode and 4K video recording. With UFS 3.1, videos save faster, and you won’t see delays when clicking back-to-back photos.
Now the primary question is why Nothing decided to select UFS 2.2? The Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 supports UFS 3.1, so the chipset isn’t the issue. Most likely, Nothing made this choice to cut costs and keep the phone affordable. But at this price point, users expect faster storage.
The Nothing Phone 3a Pro could have been an almost perfect phone in its category. It has a great design, strong cameras, and a powerful chip. But the slow storage takes away from the premium experience.
What do you think about it? Let me know in the comments.
