One of the most interesting devices of 2022 was the Nothing Phone (1). It wasn’t just the cool lighting on the back that made it stand out (although that helped), but rather the emergence of a new brand that managed to take on the big boys without being wiped out. .
Now the next generation of the handset is said to be in production, so how will Carl Pei and his team handle the traditionally difficult second album?
Here’s everything we know so far about the Nothing Phone (2).
When will the Nothing Phone (2) be released?
There is no official release date for the Nothing Phone (2) at the time of writing, but Carl Pei, the company’s CEO, confirmed in an interview with Inverse that it will be later in 2023 and that this time around the device would get an official US launch, unlike the Nothing Phone (1).
As an indication of when the new model will appear, we can turn to its ancestor, which debuted in July 2022. But with Nothing being a new company, it is not yet clear whether it intends to use a 12-month update cycle or wait a bit longer before introducing the successor.
How much will the Nothing Phone (2) cost?
Again, it’s too early to know for sure. The Nothing Phone (1) surprised a lot of people (us among them) when its extremely competitive prices were revealed. Here’s how the different configurations lined up:
- 8GB + 128GB: £399 / $469 / ₹33,999 / $299 (Beta US only)
- 8GB + 256GB: £449/$499/₹36,999 (about $540)
- 12GB + 256GB: £499/$549/₹39,999 (about $600)
Dominic Preston / Foundry
In the interview with Inverse, Carl Pei said that the new device will be “more premium than the Nothing Phone (1)”, which could indicate a move from mid-range to high-end. Obviously, this would lead to a price increase, although the amount is uncertain.
What features will we see in the Nothing Phone (2)?
We have seen very few details regarding the technical specifications likely to appear in the Nothing Phone (2). If this is a “more premium” device, we suspect a few areas that will be addressed are the processor, cameras and battery life.
Processor
At Mobile World Congress in February, Pei announced that the Nothing Phone (2) would run a Snapdragon 8 series chipset.
However, it is unconfirmed which chipset specifically. That could mean it’s the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, but using the older 8 Gen 1 or 8+ Gen 1 could allow the company to offer increased performance while keeping the price on the underside of the Samsung and Apple behemoths.
The Nothing Phone (1) was equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G+ chip, which is a solid mid-range processor.
Cameras
The Nothing Phone’s (1) main and twin 50Mp ultra-wide cameras were actually decent, and perhaps the main issue we detected in our review was that the compute software wasn’t powerful enough to shoot the best of optics.
Dominic Preston / Foundry
Carl Pei said the company is focused on improving the software for the new model, so we could see a similar approach to Google, which has often kept the same sensors in its Pixel cameras for several generations, but improved the software. to maximize their performance. .
Battery life
One area that really let the Nothing Phone (1) down was battery life. The 4500mAh battery itself is pretty standard (although 5000mAh would be better), but it quickly drained when the screen was on. Added to this is the limitation of a maximum charging speed of 33W, which is lower than many comparatively priced Android phones.
We’ve seen that software updates have a positive effect on battery life, so other improvements might do the trick, but a battery upgrade would also be positive for the Nothing Phone (2).
We saw a report from MySmartPrice which laid out some of the specs that could appear in the new device. He said Nothing will use a Snapdragon 8-series processor, 12GB of RAM (plus virtual RAM), 256GB of storage, an AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, plus a 5,000mAh battery. This lines up with many of our suspicions, although it may be some time before we know for sure if this is happening.
That’s all we have so far, but rest assured that we’ll continue to update this article as more details emerge. Until then, be sure to also check out our selection of the best Android phones and the best mid-range phones to see what the Nothing Phone (2) will be up against.
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