British startup Nothing is about to launch its second-gen smartphone, the Phone (2) that fans of Carl Pei’s work have been waiting for. Unlike the first-gen device, which was a mid-range Android handset, the Phone (2) will be the first Nothing flagship. Well, there’s a twist there, since Nothing will use an older Qualcomm flagship chip. But it’s still great progress for the company. And now, Nothing has revealed the launch date of Phone (2): July 11th, at 11:00 EDT.
That’s almost the birthday of the Nothing Phone (1), which saw the light of day on July 12th last year.
Nothing posted the simple teaser below on its website, fully knowing it would make waves on social media. After all, Carl Pei is using a marketing tactic that worked for OnePlus in its early days: Dropping morsels of information to drive up the hype.
Nothing started teasing the next-gen phone back at MWC in Barcelona, Spain, a few months ago. It teamed up with Qualcomm to reveal the Phone (2) will rock a high-end Qualcomm chip. They didn’t specify the model, and I speculated it might be an older-generation version to keep costs down.
Then a social media post from a Qualcomm exec gave us confirmation that the Nothing Phone (2) will use the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chip. It’s not the newest chipset, but that’s still a great alternative to the current Qualcomm flagship, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.
The “8 Plus” chip equips the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Flip 4, Samsung’s flagships unveiled in the second half of 2022. Going for a flagship chip, even if it’s an older model, is a great strategy for a mobile startup. Certainly better than launching the Phone (1) with a custom mid-range CPU.
While the Phone (2) will get a big performance bump, today’s teaser confirms that the glowing glyphs on the back will make another appearance. That’s the least useful phone feature I could ask for, but that’s just me. While I see it as a gimmick, some Nothing fans will appreciate the ability to customize their handsets via functional rear-facing lights.
The image above doesn’t show the phone’s full design, though people on social media are busy hunting for clues. No matter how you try to edit the photo, you won’t get to see the phone’s actual shape. But I’d expect the handset to retain the iPhone-like appearance. No point in completely changing what already worked for the company.
A recent design leak indicated that the Phone (2) model will have curvier edges compared to its predecessor. As an owner of an iPhone 14 that uses the same iPhone 12 design, I miss the curvier edges of the iPhone X. That design was more comfortable to hold, no matter how great the iPhone 14 looks.
Other Phone (2) specs leaked in recent months. The flagship phone should feature a 6.7-inch display, meaning it’ll be as big as an iPhone Pro Max. The phone will also feature a 4,700 mAh battery.
On top of that, Nothing confirmed it’ll give the flagship 3 years of Android updates and 4 years of security updates.
While Nothing is yet to reveal the release date and price for the Phone (2), expect it to be more expensive than last year’s model. But Nothing’s first flagship might be cheaper than its 2023 rivals, especially given the compromise on the CPU. Also, expect it to be available in the US, a market the company said it was interested in.
Nothing will announce everything on July 11th, although be ready for more teasers until then.
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