Nothing Phone (2) Launches and You Might Just Buy It

They may have launched several pairs of ear buds and a phone that sort of made its way in a very late and semi-official capacity to the US, but Nothing’s first year or so of product releases always felt a bit out of reach for us. The US audience, clearly, was not the target out of the gate.

For 2023, that’s all changing and the company led by Carl Pei has plans to make a big push here with the launch of the Nothing Phone (2), a proper flagship-level phone with some familiar tricks, software polish, and a price that might have you think twice about going Pixel.

The Nothing Phone (2) is very official as of the moment you began reading this post. Nothing pushed out a pre-recorded unveiling video to hype the device and it is now up for pre-order if you really loved what you saw. If you missed that, well, let’s chat about the new phone from Nothing.

With the launch of the Nothing Phone (2), we’re getting a phone that’s built to compete with high-end phones from Google, Samsung, and OnePlus. It has specs that line-up nicely with many of their phones, but Nothing is also pricing this phone right, with a $599 price point to start. That puts it somewhere above the typical mid-ranger and just below the cheapest Galaxy S23. In other words, this is both a high-end phone and value buy.

Nothing tossed in a big 6.7″ OLED display at 1080p and with 120Hz refresh rate. Powering that display is a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip, which is a year old at this point, but very much still a high-end chip that is as power efficient as they come. You’ve got dual 50MP cameras on the back, 4700mAh battery on the inside with fast 45W wired and 15W wireless charging, 8GB or 12GB RAM, and storage options of 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB.

Nothing encased Phone (2) in aluminum and glass while keeping the clear backside to showcase their updated Glyph interface lightshow. For this phone, they added more LED segments and are figuring out how to work with 3rd party apps to utilize the lights, starting with Uber. They’ve even added a new composer that lets you create your own Glyph light ringtones.

On a software front, Nothing Phone (2) runs Android 13 out of the box. It runs Nothing OS 2.0 as well, and there is quite a bit going on. While still clean Android, Nothing OS brings a bunch of custom widgets (including lock screen widgets), options to make icons bigger or to add cover photos to folders, and they managed to create a monochrome theme that completely themes all of your icons into a black/white look. They plan to offer 3 years of Android updates and 4 years of security patches every 2 months.

As someone who owns the original Nothing Phone (1), I can tell you that the improvements I’ve just walked through are quite major and I can’t wait to tell you more on that soon.

Nothing Phone (2) Specs

• Display: 6.7″ OLED with LTPO (2412×1080, 120Hz)
• Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1
• Camera (main): 50MP Sony IMX890 (f/1.88, OIS, EIS, 24mm)
• Camera (ultra-wide): 50MP Samsung JN1 (f/2.2, EIS, 114° FOV, 4cm macro)
• Camera (front): 32MP Sony IMX615(f/2.45)
• Battery: 4700mAh
• Charging: 45W wired, 15W Qi wireless, 5W reverse
• RAM: 8GB / 12GB
• Storage: 128GB / 256GB / 512GB
• Security: In-display fingerprint, face unlock
• Durability: IP54
• Other: Stereo speakers, USB-C
• Size: 162.1 x 76.4 x 8.6mm, 201.2g
• Colors: White, Dark Gray

Nothing Phone (2) will ship in White or Dark Gray and be available in 3 RAM/storage configurations. Those are 8GB/128GB, 12GB/256GB, and 12GB/512GB and they are priced at $599, $699, and $799.

Pre-orders open today (right now), July 11 on Nothing’s website, with public availability happening on July 17 at 4AM Eastern. It looks like pre-orders are dropping $50 off the price of 256GB and 512GB models.

Curious what we have to say about it? Stay tuned – our review will be along shortly.

Pre-order Nothing Phone (2)