The Nothing Phone 3 might not be announced anytime soon, but we’ve summarized all of the speculation behind the unannounced phone from the brand, headed by Carl Pei.
It’s well past July, and we still haven’t seen the next installment in the Nothing Phone series. The company did announce a few budget phones this year, including the Phone 2a and Phone 2a Plus, but there’s no sign of the Nothing Phone 3 yet.
Leaks and rumors about the device have been pretty limited, even though the company’s founder has confirmed a launch sometime next year. The Phone 3 is likely to share many similarities with its predecessors—the Nothing Phone 1 and Phone 2—including the Glyph interface and the semi-transparent design.
Nothing may give the Phone 3 a hardware upgrade to make it go against the best Android phones out there. It may come with an updated SoC, improved camera system, and more.
Release window rumors
Nothing has confirmed that the Nothing Phone 3 will launch in 2025. The release was announced by founder and CEO Carl Pei on June 5, 2024.
Nothing is taking its time to “redefine the user interface to enable a highly personalized and dynamic user experience as AI is integrated at a system level across smartphones”.
The startup is also prioritizing its budget segment, having launched the Nothing Phone 2a and Phone 2a Plus. The brand also unveiled a new phone under its sub-brand CMF, called the CMF Phone 1.
Price speculation
The Nothing Phone 3 is speculated to be priced at around $480-$540 USD, according to a 91Mobiles report. The Nothing Phone 2 starts at $600 in the US while the Phone 1, which never launched in the States, costs around $500. This suggests that the upcoming phone might see a price bump. But it’s still too early to know for sure.
For reference, the base variant Nothing Phone (2) is priced at $444 in India. This suggests the Phone 3 may see a price bump in the US and other markets.
Design & display
Nothing phones have debuted with a consistent design so far, and we don’t expect the company to make any significant aesthetic changes on the Phone 3. After all, Nothing has made an identity out of the semi-transparent LED-infused design.
The existing Nothing smartphones stand out from other Android devices with its glass back that reveals the internal design. The LED interface, which Nothing calls a Glyph Interface, is wired to light up during calls and notifications. It can be customized to serve various other functions, such as functioning as a flashlight or displaying the volume level.
The Glyph Interface also acts as a visual progress bar for apps that suit the need. For instance, Uber has an integration that can light the LED lights up to indicate how far your ride is. Nothing might collaborate with developers to expand this functionality to more apps.
A May 21 X post from Carl Pei suggests the Nothing Phone 3 might debut with an extra button. Pei posted a few screenshots of Nothing OS 3, asking users for feedback. However, the phone shown in those screenshots has a total of four buttons.
The volume rockers and the power button are something we’ve seen in previous Nothing phones, but there’s a new button below the power button. We are not sure what its function is; it could be an Action Button like the one seen on the iPhone 15 Pro Max or a mute switch like the OnePlus 12.
Sharing some Quick Settings redesign WIP, any feedback? 😁 pic.twitter.com/kZP1LRAwdB
— Carl Pei (@getpeid) May 21, 2024
Nothing made serious improvements in the display with the Phone 2, and it might do the same with the Phone 3. The current model packs a 6.7-inch LTPO AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, a peak brightness of 1600 nits, and support for HDR10+.
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Phone 3 might bring a brighter display, however, we expect the refresh rate and underlying display tech to remain the same.
Camera
Cameras appear to be the focus of most smartphones nowadays, but Nothing doesn’t seem to be bothered by the industry trends. Both Nothing Phone 1 and Phone 2 stick to a two-camera setup, but there are some differences. Phone 2 packs a newer Sony IMX890 for its main sensor, with 50MP output, phase-detect autofocus, and optical image stabilization.
The upcoming Phone 3 might also retain a dual camera setup on the rear. However, we hope Nothing uses a better sensor to improve the low-light camera performance. The existing two phones have struggled to click decent pictures at nighttime.
Rumored specifications
Nothing phones don’t exactly pack the latest and greatest hardware specs. The company uses mid-range processors in its phones to keep the price in check. This year’s Nothing Phone 2 featured Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC, which was announced in mid-2022.
Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 was an unexpected release from Qualcomm. The SoC was meant to remedy the heating and performance issues of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. It powered most flagships in 2022 but was soon abandoned as Qualcomm launched Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.
Nothing Phone 3 isn’t likely to be powered by this year’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, meaning you might see the older 8 Gen 2 on the smartphone. 91Mobiles reports that Nothing could instead use the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 processor in the Phone 3.
The 8S Gen 3 is one of the newer Qualcomm SoCs announced earlier this month. It includes a CPU similar to the standard 8 Gen 3 but with one less performance core. It runs at a lower frequency— the prime core clocks at up to 3.0GHz versus 3.4GHz on the 8 Gen 3. The new 8S Gen 3 also uses a previous-gen X70 5G modem with Wi-Fi 7 support.
Nothing Phone 2 also brought more RAM and onboard storage than its predecessor, suggesting the Phone 3 might do the same.
The upcoming phone is likely to run Android 15 out of the box with Nothing OS skin on top. The existing models both receive 3 years of major Android updates but we hope Nothing will up the ante with the Phone 3.
Software
AI is “all the rage these days” said Nothing CEO while teasing some of the Nothing OS features the company is working on. According to the CEO, none of the features mentioned are finalized, as they are still in the idea stage.
The company is showing off two big ideas today. First up is a “hub”— a new home screen setup that pulls together everything you might need in one place, like a boarding pass QR code, reminders, and more.
The second idea is an AI-powered voice companion. It’s described as multimodal, personalized, and “friend-like.” The companion even has animated “eyes” in a homescreen overlay. The feature could eventually work with Glyph lights or show up on the lockscreen.
It’s unclear which one of these ideas will be implemented on the Nothing Phone 3. The upcoming phone is likely to run Android 15 out of the box with Nothing OS skin on top. The existing models both receive 3 years of major Android updates but we hope Nothing will up the ante with the Phone 3.
Nothing Phone 3 could be worth waiting for
The Nothing Phone 3, following in the footsteps of the Phone 2, has the potential to become a solid option in the mid-range segment. However, the smartphone isn’t set to launch before 2025. With that in mind, it’s important to take all leaks and rumors with a pinch of salt, as a lot could change before the official debut.
