Nothing Phone 3: What We Know About The Rumored New Device

Nothing, the brainchild of OnePlus' co-founder Carl Pei, has found success in a niche that appeals to tech enthusiasts who are captivated by unique design. The company's first product, Nothing Ear (1), was well received thanks to its transparent housing and affordable price tag. The brand soon branched out its product catalog with the launch of the Nothing Phone (1), revealing its own OS. 

The Nothing Phone (2) brought several improvements, as a successor should, and currently sits in the company's online store right above the newly released midrange Nothing Phone (2a). The company has been busy crafting successors to its lineup of earbuds, and it's almost time to board the hype train for its next big release — the Nothing Phone (3). 

Though Nothing has a history of teasing upcoming products to oblivion, we have yet to see a formal announcement for their next flagship phone. However, this doesn't mean the internet hasn't dug out a few rumored upgrades for the upcoming Nothing Phone (3).

In our review of the recently launched Nothing Phone (2a), we explored how the brand was taking a side step in exploring a true midrange offering. This might sound puzzling to most since the previous two launches weren't known for providing flagship-grade levels of performance to begin with. The Phone (1) launched with a well-balanced but comparatively lower-tier Snapdragon 778G+ 5G processor. 

Nothing switched to the top-end of Snapdragon chips with the Phone (2) but opted for the 8+ Gen 1 from a year prior. This helped the brand shave off some costs while still delivering a smartphone with great performance. While we could expect a similar pattern again, a report from 91mobiles (via 91mobiles Hindi) claims the Nothing Phone (3) could launch with the new Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chipset instead.

The 8s Gen 3 is a slightly trimmed-down version of the 8 Gen 3, the current processor of choice in flagship phones from companies like Samsung and OnePlus. Compared to its bigger brother, the 8s Gen 3 runs at a slightly lower frequency and sports one less performance core. The reason for this chip's existence is so Qualcomm can still offer on-device generative AI features like the ones found on Samsung phones to more affordable handsets. Even if the Nothing Phone (3) opts for the less powerful Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chipset, synthetic benchmarks in AnTuTu show an improvement of up to 20% compared to the 8+ Gen 1 chip found in the Phone (2). 

The Nothing Phone (1), thanks to its midrange chip, was launched in select markets at a USD equivalent of around $480. The jump to the higher-end processor in the Phone (2) wasn't without a price hike. While $599 is still a far stretch from being deemed expensive in the world of modern-day flagship phones that are soaring to the $1,299 price point — any higher and Nothing could find it difficult to attract the budget-oriented market with its next release.

The report by 91mobiles Hindi estimates the launch price of the Nothing Phone (3) to be around 40,000 to 45,000 INR, which is the same price as its predecessor. We hope Nothing sticks to the $599 price tag for the Phone (3) in the U.S. as well. According to India.com, we also expect the Phone (3) to be released with similar RAM and storage configuration choices as the Nothing Phone (2): 8 GB of RAM with 128 GB of storage or 12 GB of RAM with either 256 GB or 512 GB of storage. 

Phone (2) was an iterative update to the already well-received Phone (1). The Nothing Phone (3) is expected to carry the same affordable flagship experience forward; however, the existence of the Phone (2a) is a good opportunity for Nothing to implement even more premium features in the Phone (3), further differentiating its lineup of smartphones.

While the 4,700 mAh battery in the Phone (2) is sufficient for most, a bigger capacity for the Phone (3) is expected. We may even see charging speeds rise from the current cap of 45W. The camera experience in affordable devices like the ones Nothing manufactures has also been a topic of debate among photoholics — and this is a noticeable gap the Phone (3) could fill with improved optics. 

Something we would definitely appreciate is more innovation from the brand when it comes to utilizing the glyph interface. While it's convenient to indicate notifications and visualize certain activities like a countdown timer or the phone's remaining battery, the lights are largely deemed quite gimmicky in their current form. Lastly, if the Nothing Phone (3) does indeed run on top of the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chip, it is almost a given that we'll see a gallery of AI features at launch.