When you think of fashionable Android phone brands right now, you're probably thinking of Nothing. The company – led by ex-OnePlus man, Carl Pei – have made a name for themselves by crafting elegant handsets at good prices.
The brand aren't done yet, though. Recently, they announced the CMF by Nothing sub-brand, which promises to offer incredible value for money. Now, rumours are emerging about a new phone from the brand, which would look to offer even better value than the Nothing Phone (2).
Dubbed the Nothing Phone (2a), this looks set to be a slightly stripped back handset which retains the signature Nothing DNA. Now, images of the handset are said to have leaked. Those come from tech tipster Yogesh Brar, who enjoys a fairly good reputation for affordable handset leaks.
Still, don't expect to see the finished article. These are working prototypes, and the images appear to show a device sheathed in some kind of protective material. That's a good thing, too, as the flat, square design doesn't feel very Nothing-esque.
Brar also suggests a handful of specs for the handset. That includes a 120Hz OLED panel, which we'd guess will also feature an adaptive refresh rate. Inside, a MediaTek Dimensity 7200 is rumoured to feature. That would be significant, marking the first instance of a Nothing device with a non-Snapdragon chipset.
That's said to pair with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Users will find Nothing OS 2.5 on the handset, too, which means Android 14 connectivity out of the box.
On the back, a dual 50MP camera setup is no real surprise. In fact, both the Nothing Phone (1) and the current Phone (2) used a dual 50MP setup on the back, so that was probably a smart money bet. It's oriented horizontally in the centre, though, instead of vertically on the side as on other handsets.
According to Brar, the handset is set to launch at MWC for a price of around $400. If true, that would be a significant release, with the brand firmly setting sights on the best cheap phone market once more.
If everything we've heard proves true, it would raise questions over the longevity of the Nothing Phone (1). The two devices seem incredibly similar on the spec sheet, and it's unlikely that two devices with such crossover would exist in the same lineup.
Still, this seems like a good alternative, and should offer more of the Phone (2) DNA at a wallet-friendly price point. We'll have to wait for some official information to make any further judgements.
