I've been testing the Nothing Phone 3 since it was unveiled at an event in London last week. I still like the quirky design, with its transparent back and the Glyph Matrix rear display. It's too early for a full verdict on its processor performance or battery life, but there is one stand-out feature I've noticed that I particularly wanted to highlight. The camera's macro mode.
Putting the Nothing Phone 3's macro mode to work. Andrew Lanxon/CNET
It's a niche feature to focus on, especially as Nothing calls this phone its "first true flagship" thanks to its overall more elite spec list. That spec list also means this phone starts at $799 (£799), putting it squarely in line with higher-end phones like the Pixel 9 and painfully close to the iPhone 16. So it certainly needs an ace card to catch the eye and for me so far, it's the macro mode. Let me explain why.
Enlarge Image This macro photo from the Nothing Phone 3 is exactly as shot. I'm impressed. Click the image to see the full version and marvel at those details. Andrew Lanxon/CNET
Here's a shot I took of a bee enjoying a flower on a sunny day in Edinburgh. The phone has achieved a superb close focus here, but it's also maintained pin-sharp details on the insect's head and the pollen clinging to its legs with a natural fall-off in focus towards the background. The colors are vibrant, yet natural in their tone and the exposure is evenly balanced, with even the sun-drenched yellow petals retaining highlight detail.
I've been a professional photographer for many years and also maintain a photography YouTube channel where I frequently shoot macro photography using thousands of dollars of specialist photographic equipment. I'd be happy to have taken this image from any of my usual kit and yet I snagged this using just the Nothing Phone 3's standard camera in its macro mode -- no extra lens attachments or lights needed.
It's not the only phone to have a macro function, though. Most phones do -- including the iPhone 16 Pro, which uses its ultrawide lens to achieve close focus.
The iPhone 16 Pro's macro attempt, taken in HEIF and converted to JPEG. Andrew Lanxon/CNET
But here's the same scene, shot with the iPhone. It's close, sure, with the wide-angle lens giving a different sense of scale to the bee and the flower, but it's much more what I've come to expect from phone macro modes. I don't like the crunchy, over-sharpened details or how it's tried -- and failed -- to achieve background blur. I shot this using the "natural" look in the Photographic Styles but the colors look anything but natural, with desaturated greens and muted yellows.
An iPhone 16 Pro macro shot taken in ProRaw and slightly adjusted in Lightroom. It looks more natural, but still much less impressive than the Nothing Phone 3. Andrew Lanxon/CNET
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