Smartphone startup Nothing tries to stir market out of ‘sea of sameness’ with $400 phone
BARCELONA — British smartphone startup Nothing on Tuesday debuted a new handset it hopes can shake the mobile industry out of a perceived innovation slowdown.
Nothing launched its new Phone (3a) device, a budget phone that comes with an unusual design featuring multiple different shapes and so-called “Glyph” lights on the back that light up to preset ringtones and notification sound effects.
The Phone (3a) will retail at a starting price of £329 — or about $414 — while Phone (3a) Pro, a souped-up version of the device with better camera features, will start at £449.
The Nothing brand was founded in 2020 by Carl Pei, a co-founder of Chinese smartphone brand OnePlus, with the aim of bringing some “warmth” back to consumer tech products.
“In the past, people were so optimistic about technology. But now people are indifferent. And there must be a way of breaking the cycle,” Pei told CNBC in an interview in 2021.
Pei’s old company OnePlus gained something of a cult following in its early days, thanks to its focus on designing slick and affordable Android handsets and garnering buzz through unconventional marketing tactics.
Pei appears to be gunning for the same kind of appeal with Nothing. In the leadup to Phone (3a)’s launch, Nothing put out a video that depicted a humanoid robot — made by Norwegian startup 1X — unboxing the device and holding it up.
Ben Wood, chief analyst at market research firm CCS Insight, applauded Nothing for “trying to do something different” to combat what he called the “sea of smartphone sameness.”
“Bottom line, if you want to sell phones in this more affordable segment, you have to have something that stands out from the crowd,” Wood told CNBC.
The Phone (3a) has a triple camera system on the back, which includes a 50-megapixel main lens with optical image stabilization to avoid any shakes and blurs, a 50-megapixel telephoto lens for enhanced zooming and an 8-megapixel ultrawide lens from Japanese tech giant Sony
.
The gear ships with Qualcomm’s
Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 processor for smartphones. That marks a shift from the MediaTek Dimensity 7200 Pro chipset, which Nothing used in its Phone (2a) last year.
Besides a nifty design and impressive camera features, there’s not an awful lot else that separates the Phone (3a) from most other phones. It’s similar in shape to an iPhone and offers exactly what you’d expect from many other handsets available on the market right now.
In terms of unit sales expectations, Wood said Nothing doesn’t have the kind of scale to sell millions of phones like some of its larger competitors including Apple and Samsung, and that “hundreds of thousands of units” would be considered a success for the sales of its latest product.
“Nothing have a business where they run a lean organization and they have to in order to have a viable business,” Wood said. Nothing says it’s sold more than 7 million products to date — including its Ear wireless earbuds — with cumulative revenue topping $1 billion in 2024.
Wood argues that Nothing will have to be “extremely price competitive” given how much it’s targeting the Indian market, too. In January, Pei said Nothing was now the fastest-growing smartphone brand in India, achieving 557% year-over-year growth in 2024.
Notably, Nothing said that its pricier Phone (3a) Pro model won’t be available for orders in India. The company’s co-founder Akis Evangelidis plans to move to India to head up operations there later this year.
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Nothing Announces Phone (3a) and Phone (3a) Pro
London-based technology brand Nothing has announced its latest smartphones, unveiling a duo that delivers on design, functionality and features without breaking the bank. The new Phone (3a) Series marks a refresh of Nothing’s “mid-range” offering and builds on last year’s Phone (2a) – however, it would be safe to say that the new pair of smartphones are “mid-range” in name only, with both Phone (3a) and Phone (3a) Pro packing several upgrades between them as well as a completely new AI platform designed for and launching with the new series, making them a solid choice for Android users regardless of budget.
Phone (3a) and Phone (3a) Pro share a large 6.77-inch AMOLED Full HD+ display that delivers an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate. The phones build on their predecessors with a 480Hz touch sampling rate in normal usage, a 100% increase, and can reach 1,000Hz when used in Gaming Mode. Put simply: this increased sampling rate equates to smoother and more responsive scrolling. Visibility in bright light has also been improved on the new phones and both models achieve 1,300 nits of maximum, consistent brightness outdoors, and – when playing HDR content – can reach 3,000 nits with highlights boosting.
Both phones are powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 Mobile Platform chipset, a capable processor that launched in 2024 that excels at extending battery life. In fact, Nothing says it worked directly with Snapdragon to optimize the chipset for the new Phone (3a) series and claims it uses “8% less power” that translates to “30 minute more [battery] power” than the same chipset found in other phones. The brand also states that the new phones feature a “33% faster” CPU compared to the Phone (2a), with an Adreno 800 Series GPU that brings an 11% improvement to graphics on the device.
Smartphones haven’t changed much in recent years in terms of their form factor and overall look, but pushing the expectations of its own product’s design has been key Nothing’s brand since its launched in 202o. The new Phone (3a) and Phone (3a) Pro have been redesigned from the ground up, with upgraded glass panels on the back replacing the previous series’ polycarbonate (plastic) body. This has resulted in a more premium feeling device, but the change also plays a more practical role and Nothing says the move from plastic to glass has allowed it to upgrade the devices’ IP rating to IP64, making them more water resistant and completely protected from dust. The camera design on both phones has also been updated to “celebrate each new camera system” – Phone (3a) Pro, in particular, stands out, featuring a large circular camera bump that’s easily the first thing you notice when holding it. It’s a bold design choice that goes against the typical smartphone design grain: while most brands have tried to reduce the footprint cameras take up on their devices, Nothing has gone all out with a camera bump that’s big enough to be a conversation starter.
Opinion is sure to be split on Phone (3a) Pro’s camera, but the relatively large housing isn’t without reason: it’s home to a periscope zoom lens with a 70mm focal length equivalent that Nothing calls “flagship-grade”. Periscope lenses use a prism or lens to manipulate light in a way that allows for a much greater zooming ability without adding too excessively to a phone’s overall bulk. The periscope lens on the Phone (3a) Pro is combined by a 1/1.95-inch Sony LYTI 600 sensor and a relatively large f/2.55 aperture which, together, deliver respectable zoom images. On the other hand, Phone (3a) opts for a 50MP telephoto lens with a f/2.0 aperture and a 50mm equivalent focal length. It features 2x optical zoom and has the ability to achieve a 30x ultra zoom with the help of “AI clarity-enhancing algorithms”. Both models share the same 50MP main camera, but the Phone (3a) Pro benefits from a larger sensor that allows it to achieve better low light imagery and 43% faster auto-focus. The selfie camera on both phones has also been upgraded and can now record in 4K, with Phone (3a)’s boasting 32MP and Phone (3a) Pro’s 50MP.
The Phone (3a) Series features the best battery life the brand has ever offered, with both models including a large 5,000mAh battery for “up to two days of use on a full charge”. Additionally, both phones can be super-fast charged and can achieve 50% of power “in under 20 minutes”. Nothing is delivering the new phones with Nothing OS 3.1 built-in – a customized version of Android 15 that includes the Nothing Gallery photo app and updated versions of the Camera and Weather apps.
Lastly, Nothing is launching a new AI platform with the Phone (3a) Series. Essential Space, arriving in early access, is described by the brand as an “AI-powered hub for notes, ideas, and inspirations” that can “capture, process and remember” things in a practical and user-friendly way. Nothing says that it has designed its new AI platform with users in mind first and foremost, claiming that it will function “just like a second memory”. While Essential Space is still being developed, one of its early features lets users to save on-screen content (like screenshots) with added voice notes, allowing you to recall the content at a later date with context that might be missing otherwise.
Nothing Phone (3a) is available to pre-order today via Nothing’s website, with pricing starting at £329 GBP / $379 USD. Phone (3a) Pro will be available to pre-order from March 11, with pricing starting at £449 GBP / $459 USD.
Presented by Desperados
Presented by Konami
The burgeoning tech brand has built its name by pushing an aesthetic beyond the stagnant four corners of smartphone design – and, in that respect, its new phones deliver.
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Nothing Phone (3a) and (3a) Pro at MWC 2025.
Phone brand Nothing creates some of the most aesthetically striking mobile devices on the market. That pattern will continue into 2025, as the company recently revealed its new Phone (3a) Series.
Also: This $399 Samsung Galaxy is the mid-range phone most people should buy
The set consists of the base Phone (3a) and the Phone (3a) Pro. Both models house an optimized Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 chipset, ditching the MediaTek hardware present in the previous generation.
According to Nothing, the new processor allows the duo to be up to “33% faster than [the] Phone (2a)”. The devices are also better at running video games. Players will enjoy more “stable frame rates” plus 11% better graphical fidelity.
To support mobile titles, the smartphones have a 4,500 mm² vapor chamber to keep temperatures low and a RAM Booster. This feature combines “physical and virtual RAM”, enabling up to 20GB of memory.
Also: Are tri-foldable phones the next big thing? I tried one from an upstart brand
Nothing brings a new feature to this generation of devices called Essential Space. It provides quick access to other on-device tools, such as Camera Capture and Flip to Record.
Be aware that Essential Space will be in “Early Access” mode when the Phone (3a) Series launches. During this initial period, first-time buyers may encounter a few bugs.
The differences between the phones start with their respective designs. You’ll notice that the Nothing Phone (3a) resembles the Phone (2a), although there are three lenses on the new device instead of two. This array includes a 50MP main lens, a 50MP telephoto option, and an 8MP ultra-wide-angle camera. The first two lenses come from Samsung, while the third is from Sony.
Nothing states this camera array can take “professional-grade” photographs. The telephoto lens has a fast f/2.0 aperture and a 2x optical reach, allowing it to take high-quality zoomed-in pictures. TrueLens Engine 3.0 delivers extra support by utilizing AI processing and “multi-frame technology” to enhance image quality.
Also: I replaced my iPhone 16 Pro with the 16e for 24 hours – here’s everything I learned
The Phone (3a) Pro places its lenses in a circular array. I’m unsure if this unique layout gives the mobile device a functional advantage over the base model, but it might. The (3a) Pro has a 50MP 1/1.95-inch Sony LYTIA 600 sensor as its telephoto camera.
The company says the device possesses a faster f/2.55 aperture plus a 70mm equivalent focal length for an even better zoom. And thanks to optical image stabilization, the lens can take high-quality photos “across [different] lighting conditions”.
Also: This $200 Motorola is the cheap Android phone to beat in 2025 – and I love the design
Pre-orders for the Nothing Phone (3a) begin today, March 4, on Nothing’s official website and cost $379. Pre-orders for the Pro model start on March 11 and retail for $459. Stay tuned for our reviews on the Phone (3a) Series. We have review units on hand and will publish our thoughts once we’ve conducted our extensive testing.
