When the Nothing Phone (1) launched in 2022, it was subject to a massive amount of fanfare. The hype surrounding the release – the brainchild of original OnePlus co-founder, Carl Pei – was huge.
In keeping with the brands' wider aesthetic, the phone is minimal and industrial in design. There's a distinctly iPhone-y flavour to the whole thing, but with enough personality to warrant its own merit. You'll find the infamous Glyph – a collection of lights beneath the transparent back panel – on the rear of the handset, surrounded by exposed components.
Now, we know that the Nothing Phone (2) is going to be released later this year. That's despite earlier statements to the contrary from Pei, who had originally suggested a much less frequent release strategy. The device is said to heavily target the US market, who missed out on the initial Nothing Phone release.
Pei was tight-lipped on what the Phone (2) might look like, simply calling it a "premium" handset. But now, an anonymous source has revealed some details about the impending phone to MySmartPrice.
According to the report, the phone could be released as early as Q3 2023. Inside, it's said to feature an as-yet-unreleased Snapdragon 8 series processor. With the recent arrival of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, and accounting for Qualcomm's previous naming conventions, could this be the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 2?
Elsewhere, the device is said to pack at least 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. In addition, the device will make use of virtual RAM, boosting performance by using a portion of the storage space for RAM. The battery gets a boost too, up to 5,000mAh from the 4,500mAh on the Phone (1). The display is expected to be an AMOLED panel, with an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate.
Personally, I think this sounds like a home run for Nothing. Their debut handset, while impressive, lacked the firepower required to keep up with the best Android phones. But a handset with this spec sheet should be more than capable of asserting some dominance, while addressing a few of the issues from the original.
We'll be keeping up with all developments on this release over the coming months.
