Nothing Phone 3a Community Edition lands in India with user-designed features and limited 1,000-unit drop
A new community-built version of the Phone 3a adds custom design and software touches, but it will only be available for one day.
If you’ve been waiting for the Community Edition of the Nothing Phone 3, the company is finally opening up its next experiment in community-built hardware. The Nothing Phone 3a Community Edition is here, shaped by contributions across design, software, accessories, and marketing from the brand’s creator community.
Like last year’s Phone 2a Community Edition, the base hardware remains the same as the standard Phone 3a, but the new version adds user-selected design elements, interface touches, and curated additions that make it feel distinct from the regular model. Instead of community feedback staying optional or decorative, Nothing built this edition through a structured co-creation process meant to influence the final product.
One of the most noticeable changes is the translucent backplate, which leans into late-90s and early-2000s gadget design. It gives the phone a recognizable identity without altering the overall form factor or adding cost.
On the front, the device uses a 6.77-inch AMOLED display with a 120 Hz adaptive refresh rate and around 3,000 nits of peak brightness, which helps with outdoor visibility. The chipset gets a bump as well: the Community Edition runs on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 instead of the MediaTek Dimensity 7350 Pro in the previous model, resulting in faster app launches and smoother multitasking.
The triple rear camera setup includes a 50 MP main, a 50 MP telephoto with 2× optical zoom, and an 8 MP ultrawide, supported by a 32 MP front camera. The configuration covers most everyday shooting needs without leaning into experimental features. The phone ships with 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage in a single variant, plus a 5,000 mAh battery with 50 W wired charging.
Meanwhile, on the software side, Nothing added custom UI touches chosen from community submissions, including a new lock-screen clock face and exclusive wallpapers. These aren’t major functional changes, but they create a different visual and interaction profile from the standard model.
The catch, though, is that the Nothing Phone 3a Community Edition will be available for one day only, on December 13 at a special drop event in Bengaluru, India, and only 1,000 units will be produced globally. That means if you snooze on it, you lose on it.
Pricewise, the Nothing Phone 3a Community Edition is available in the single 12 GB / 256 GB variant and is priced at Rs 28,999, a price that aims to give you near-premium looks and features without a flagship tag.
For what it's worth, the Phone 3a Community Edition is proof that doing it together isn’t just a concept to be taken lightly. If you value collectability or want a visibly different midrange phone, this limited run creates real urgency; you might want to keep a close watch.
Louis Eriakha
