Nothing, the upstart smartphone maker that has come on strong over the past couple of years, has confirmed that its long-rumored, budget-friendly Nothing Phone 2a is a real handset that will soon be making its debut.
The company confirmed the phone’s existence in a YouTube video, where co-founder Akis Evangelidis talked about how the handset is in the works. “With Phone 2A we’ve really doubled down on the core user needs — performance, camera, you name it,” Evangelidis said.
Evangelidis stopped short of sharing specific features, including how the device’s performance and camera improvements will ultimately shake out. He did, however, say that the device will ship with “some of the most loved features of Phone 2.”
Rumors have been swirling about the Nothing Phone 2A for months. Most of those reports centered on the idea that the Phone 2A would come with a slightly lower-powered version of the Nothing Phone (2), allowing it to cost around $400, compared to the main phone's $599 starting price.
In order to bring the price down, Nothing will apparently scale back on the Glyph interface on the handset’s rear panel to limit what you can do with the marquee feature of previous Nothing handsets. Nothing Phone 2A may also ship with a MediaTek Dimensity 7200 system-on-chip, which is newer but less powerful than the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 on board the Nothing Phone 2.
Those changes may be enough to keep the handset’s price down. Other reports have said Nothing Phone 2A will ship with the same dual 50-megapixel cameras as those in the Nothing Phone (2), as well as the same 6.7-inch 120Hz OLED in the more powerful version.
While Nothing appeared ready to say the Phone 2A exists on Thursday, the company didn’t confirm any of those rumors. The company also stopped short of saying how much the handset would cost and when it’ll launch, though rumors at the end of last year predicted a February 2024 debut, possibly at the Mobile World Congress phone trade show taking place that month.
If that's true, it may not be long before we finally feast our eyes on a budget friendly Nothing device and learn whether it can capture the same interest as its predecessors.
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