The Nothing Phone 1 made its debut in July 2022, and it had a reasonable amount of hype behind it due to the involvement of Carl Pei, a co-founder of OnePlus. It was a quirky phone due to the unique light show on the back that makes it stand out from the competition, but on the software front, it’s very similar to other Android phones out there. It received mixed reviews, though the consensus leaned more toward the positive side.
This year, we’re expecting the Nothing Phone 2, as confirmed by Pei in January during Mobile World Congress 2023. Here’s everything we know so far about the Nothing Phone 2!
Nothing Phone 2: design
As far as official images of the Nothing Phone 2 go, so far we’ve only seen a small glimpse of the phone in a recent teaser image shared by Nothing. In typical Nothing fashion, the teaser doesn’t give us much to go on. While the teaser itself doesn’t show much, some leaked renders of the Nothing Phone 2 have told us just about everything we need to know about the phone’s design.
At first glance, the leaked renders for the Phone 2 might be confused with the Nothing Phone 1. The two look strikingly similar, which is a little disappointing when considering Nothing’s reputation for wanting to shake things up with each of its hardware releases. But there are some slight changes to the design that will likely be felt a lot more clearly once we finally get the phone in our hands.
The biggest change is that the edges are now rounded, similar to the Samsung Galaxy S23, to provide a much more comfortable grip. The Nothing Phone 1 had a sharp edge that was akin to that found on all iPhone models and could dig into a user’s hands when holding on to it for prolonged periods of time.
The transparent design of the back of the Nothing Phone 2 is just like the one found on the Nothing Phone 1. However, there have been some small changes to the LEDs that surround the wireless charging coil and the dual camera setup. Now, instead of being one continuous LED strip, both lights are broken up into several smaller LEDs. It’s unclear exactly what sort of impact this will have when actually using the phone, but it certainly distinguishes the Nothing Phone 2 from its predecessor.
Nothing Phone 2: specs
The original Nothing Phone 1 used a Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G+ processor, which is a premium mid-range chip. But with the Nothing Phone 2, Pei revealed that it will be using a flagship Qualcomm chip, which would be in the Snapdragon 8 series. More specifically, Pei fully confirmed in May that it’ll be the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 inside of the Nothing Phone 2.
The Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 was Qualcomm’s flagship chipset for 2022 and was succeeded earlier this year by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. But even though it isn’t the latest chip in Qualcomm’s arsenal, it should still offer huge performance improvements over the Nothing Phone 1. Pei says that apps will open twice as fast and that there’s an 80% overall performance boost. Furthermore, the newer Image Signal Processor (ISP) will allow the Nothing Phone 2 to capture 4,000 times more camera data compared to the Nothing Phone 1.
Even though the Nothing Phone 2 may be using an older chip, we have high hopes for it. The UI on the Nothing Phone 1 was clean and snappy, even with a midrange processor. Our review unit of the Nothing Phone 1 also had 8GB RAM with 256GB storage, so we should have something similar for the Nothing Phone 2.
The Nothing Phone 2 has been confirmed to have a 6.7-inch screen, which is 0.15 inches larger than the one found on the Nothing Phone 1.
In terms of software, we’re expecting the Nothing Phone 2 to be running on Nothing OS, Nothing’s custom Android interface. The company recently confirmed that Nothing Phone 2 owners should expect three years of Android updates and four years of security updates following the phone’s launch later this year.
Nothing Phone 2: release date
While we don’t have a cemented release date for the Nothing Phone 2, the company recently announced that it would be launching this summer. While we had a hunch that might have been the case based on the Nothing Phone 1’s July 2022 release date, it’s good to have a more specific window confirmed by Nothing.
Though the Nothing Phone 1 was only released in the U.K. and not the U.S., that won’t be the case for the Nothing Phone 2. It’s confirmed that the top priority with the Nothing Phone 2 is to make it available in the United States.
A reason behind this decision is the fact that Nothing was only two years old by the time it launched the Nothing Phone 1, and it was too busy building up its team and products. Now the company has more solid footing, allowing it to take the steps needed to gain traction in the U.S. market.
Nothing Phone 2: price
There have been no rumors or leaks about what the Nothing Phone 2 could cost. But if we’re going by the brand’s history so far, the Nothing Phone 2 will likely cost $500 or less.
Since the Nothing Phone 1 is generally a budget flagship, we should expect the Nothing Phone 2 to follow a similar price point. It will definitely be more in line with the pricing for Google’s Pixel devices (like the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7a) instead of Samsung’s Galaxy S-Series devices and even Apple’s iPhone.
