Don't get too excited about this Nothing Phone (2a) hands-on - the best is still to come

Nothing - the smartphone startup from the OnePlus founder Carl Pei - has confirmed that the Nothing Phone (2a) is preparing to launch and we know that we're going to see the reveal at Mobile World Congress at the end of February.

The Nothing Phone (2a) is going to see the brand step into a new smartphone category, offering an affordable device to complement, but sit under, the excellent Nothing Phone (2). 

The positioning of the new device was confirmed by Akis Evangelidis, who said that it will present an upgrade on the Nothing Phone (1) on every single front. That could see the Nothing Phone (2a) as one of the best cheap phones for 2024.

I'm taking the "every single front" comment with a pinch of salt, because I think the upgrade will mostly be in the core hardware of the phone: the Nothing phone (1) launched with the mid-range Snapdragon 778+ and we're now several generations beyond that hardware. The rumoured MediaTek Dimensity 7200 hardware powering the Nothing phone (2a) is brand new, so should easily provide a performance boost.

Nothing Phone (2a) design remains a mystery

But Nothing has also pulled off something of a trick here. A new device is about to be launched, and so far the design hasn't been comprehensively leaked. This is something that phone manufacturers like Samsung always struggle with and the latest leaks aren't anything to get excited about. The images shared via 91Mobiles show the Nothing Phone (2a), but it's in an engineering case.

An engineering case is used to disguise the design of the device, while still allowing the phone to run, the display to be used, and the cameras tested. It's common practice in phone development.

What it means is that the Glyph Interface is still slightly unknown on the Nothing phone (2a). I think it's highly unlikely that Nothing would omit the Glyph Interface from its new device because it's what makes the company's phones stand out. I expect it will look something more like this (via Weibo), reduced, but still there.

The Nothing phone (2a) is likely to offer great value for money and be a natural rival to devices like the Pixel 7a or Samsung Galaxy S23 FE. More will be revealed at MWC later in February.