We’ve compiled all of the rumors around the brand’s unreleased phone, led by Carl Pei, even though the Nothing Phone 3 may not be revealed anytime soon.
Nothing is a relatively new smartphone brand that has achieved remarkable success in a short period of time. The Nothing Phone 2a Plus is the most recent of the company’s three phones that have been unveiled thus far. The Nothing Phone 3 may be the name of their upcoming gadget.
The Glyph interface and the somewhat translucent form of the Phone 3 may bear many resemblances to the Nothing Phone 1 and Phone 2 models.
Nothing, though, might provide the Phone 3 a hardware boost to compete with the top Android phones now available. It might have a better camera system, an upgraded SoC, and other features. The Pixel 9 series and the Galaxy S24 Ultra could be the primary competitors for the Nothing Phone 3.
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
So yet, no phone has made its debut with a unified design, and we don’t anticipate the firm making any big visual adjustments with the Phone 3. After all, the semi-transparent LED-infused design hasn’t come to define anything.
The glass back of the current generation of Nothing smartphones shows out the internal architecture, setting them apart from other Android smartphones. The LED interface is connected to turn on during calls and notifications; Nothing refers to it as a Glyph Interface. It can be configured to perform a number of other tasks, such showing the volume level or acting as a flashlight.
For apps that are appropriate, the Glyph Interface also serves as a visual progress meter. For example, Uber offers a connection that allows the LED to illuminate to show the distance of your journey. Nothing could work with developers to add more apps to this functionality.
Carl Pei speculates in a May 21 X post that the Nothing Phone 3 may launch with an additional button. Pei asked for user input after posting a few pictures of Nothing OS 3. There are four buttons on the phone depicted in those screenshots, though.
Previous Nothing phones have included power and volume rockers, but the power button now has a new button beneath it. We’re not sure what it does, but it might be a mute switch similar to the OnePlus 12 or an Action Button like the one on the iPhone 15 Pro Max.
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+.
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.
