Comparing the Nothing Phone (2) and iPhone 13: which flagship should you buy?

Nothing Phone (2) is the latest flagship offering the Carl Pei-led startup. The handset arrives as a follow-up to the Phone (1) and brings a flagship chipset to the table. The handset ships with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC, 15W wireless charging support, 45W fast charging support, and Nothing OS 2.0. In this article, we will be comparing the Nothing Phone (2) against the iPhone 13 to see which is a good value for your money.

Nothing Phone (2) vs iPhone 13: specs at a Glance

Nothing Phone (2) vs iPhone 13: price in India

• The Nothing Phone (2) is priced at Rs 44,999 for the 8GB + 128GB model, Rs 49,999 for the 12GB + 256GB variant and Rs 54,999 for the 12GB + 512GB model.
• The handset comes in White and Dark Grey colours.
• iPhone 13 is currently available at Rs 57,999 for the 128GB model, Rs 67,499 for the 256GB version, and Rs 87,499 for the 512GB variant.

Nothing Phone (2) vs iPhone 13: Design

Nothing Phone (2)

• The Nothing Phone (2) has a unique design, thanks to its transparent back panel.
• The phone features a centre-positioned punch-hole cutout for the selfie shooter and symmetrical bezels on all corners.
• The power button is on the right edge, while the volume rockers are on the left spine.
• The back of the phone has dual camera sensors and an LED flash.
• The bottom portion of the phone has a USB Type-C port, a speaker grille, and a primary microphone.
• The Nothing Phone (2) will be available in Black and White colour options.
• The phone can be seen in White and Grey colour options.

iPhone 13

• On the other hand, the iPhone 13 has a similar design to previous iPhones. 
• There is a typical wide notch on the front to house the FaceID and camera sensors and symmetrical bezels.
• The power button is on the right, while the left houses dual camera sensors, a SIM tray section and an alert slider. 
• The back of the phone has dual cameras and an LED flash.
• The Lightning port, speaker grille and microphone are at the bottom.

Nothing Phone (2) vs iPhone 13: Display

The Nothing Phone (2) sports a 6.7-inch FHD+ OLED display with 2412×1080 pixels resolution, Corning Gorilla Glass protection, 1-120Hz 10-bit LTPO panel, 240Hz touch sampling rate, HDR10+, 10-bit colour, and 1600 nits peak brightness.

The Apple iPhone 13 sports a 6.1-inch OLED Super Retina XDR display with 2532×1170 pixels resolution, 460ppi, 800 nits brightness, up to 1200 nits brightness, and HDR. The panel has Ceramic Shield protection.

Nothing Phone (2) vs iPhone 13: Processor

The Nothing Phone (2) is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 Mobile Platform with Adreno 730 GPU, up to 8GB LPDDR5 RAM and 512GB UFS 3.1 storage

The iPhone 13 is powered by the Six-Core A15 Bionic 5nm chipset with a 4‑core GPU and 16‑core Neural Engine. The iPhone packs up to 512GB of storage.

Nothing Phone (2) vs iPhone 13: Cameras

The Nothing Phone (2) features dual cameras on the back, with a 50MP Sony IMX890 primary sensor with OIS and a 50MP ultra-wide Samsung JN1 sensor. There is a 32MP front Sony IMX615 sensor.

The iPhone 13 features a 12MP wide-angle camera with a 7P lens, Sensor-shift optical image stabilisation, True Tone flash, HDR video recording with Dolby Vision and a 12MP Ultra Wide secondary camera. There is a 12MP front camera for selfies and video chats.

Nothing Phone (2) vs iPhone 13: Battery

The Nothing Phone (2) packs a 4,700mAh battery with 45W fast-charging support and 15W Qi wireless charging and 5W reverse charging.

The iPhone 13 ships with a lithium-ion battery with MagSafe wireless charging and fast charging support.

Nothing Phone (2) vs iPhone 13: Others

Connectivity options on the Phone (2) include 5G SA/NSA, Dual 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 6E 802.11ax, Bluetooth 5.3, GPS, USB Type-C, and NFC. There is an in-display fingerprint sensor for security, an IP54 rating, and stereo speakers.

On the other hand, the iPhone features 5G, Gigabit-class LTE, Wi‑Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0, Ultra Wideband chip for spatial awareness, NFC, and GPS with GLONASS. The iPhone 13 has FaceID for security and IP68 water and dust resistance.

Nothing Phone (2) vs iPhone 13: which one should you buy?

The Nothing Phone (2) offers good value for your money. The transparent back design offers a glimpse of the internal design and the Glyph LED light interface adds more aesthetic and is an instant eye-catcher. The Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 is a very capable performer that can handle your everyday tasks with ease. The cameras too are very capable of clicking good daylight photos and acceptable low-light shots. 

On the other hand, the iPhone 13 is a generation old since we already have the iPhone 14 and are readying for the iPhone 15 announcement in September. However, this doesn’t mean to say the iPhone 13 bows down as the performance of the A15 Bionic chipset is top-class and can handle hard video editing, high-end gaming, and multitasking with ease. The cameras, especially while video recording is spot-on. The animations and smoothness of iOS are no competition to Android despite having a slower refresh rate.

So, if you are on the Android side of the spectrum, the Nothing Phone (2) is a no-brainer but if you are into the Apple eco-system, the iPhone 13 is simply the best choice considering the discounted price during the sale period.