Carl Pei founded Nothing back in 2020 after leaving OnePlus, which he also co-founded. He’s gotten tons of much-deserved credit for his contributions to the smartphone industry, and at 34 years old, he’s got decades of impact left in the tank. Likewise, Nothing has done a great job establishing itself as a phone manufacturer that focuses on price-saving without compromising on the power of the device. The Nothing Phone 1 launched in 2022 andit was impressive, but it had tons of flaws. TheNothing Phone 2 packed all the right upgradesand launched at an incredibly low $599. There were rumors that theNothing Phone 1 would have a “Lite” variationcreated back in 2022, but nothing (hah) came to fruition from that. Now, it looks like a new phone that branches off from the Nothing Phone 2 is in the works that aims to be even more affordable than its mainline counterpart already is.
According to leakerDylan Roussel on X, the Nothing Phone 2a will be the next smartphone to come from Nothing (via9to5Google). It may launch with a model number of A142 and is being worked on with the codenames Pacman and Aero (or, as Roussel asked, “Aerodactyl?”). The biggest nugget in this leak is the rumor that it will run on the MediaTek Dimensity 7200, the first time Nothing will have made a phone with a MediaTek SoC. It may also come with a brand-new design by scaling back the number of Glyph lights on the back. This was backed up by another leaker, Sanju Choudhary, who also said thatit’ll ship with a 6.7-inch AMOLED screen and a center-aligned punch hole camera in front.
The Nothing Phone 2 was one of the best budget phones of the year. It launched with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC, which was released in mid-2022, so while it wasn’t cutting-edge to release the phone with a year-old, mid-range processor, it obviously saved people tons of money. Generally, consumers don’t need the most modern and fastest products to get what they need to get out of a smartphone. Along those lines, the MediaTek Dimensity 7200 was released in Q1 2023. It’s definitely a few steps down from the Nothing Phone 2’s Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, but again, it might not matter for most people who are looking for a mid-range phone on a budget.
It is speculated that the device could be unveiled at MWC Barcelona, the industry-wide trade show hosted by GSMA in Q1 every year. It’s set to take place from February 26–29, 2024. Nothing confirmed through a press email that it will be at MWC Barcelona to seemingly announce something on the evening of February 27. Could this be the official unveiling of the Nothing Phone 2a or something about threes?
We’ve got a ways to go until we find out moreinformation about the Nothing Phone 3. At this moment, we know absolutely nothing about it, but we can make some educated guesses. It’ll probably house one of the previous year’s flagship or best mid-range SoC’s out there to undercut other company’s top-end smartphone prices. Keeping with the brand’s UI, its software will hopefully come without needless bloatware once again. Nonetheless, if you want your hands on a new Android smartphone soon, then you’re in luck, as theSamsung Galaxy S24should be available for purchase in February, and theOnePlus 12should go on sale everywhere in January. It’s a good time to be an Android user.
