The Nothing Phone 2 may lose out to flagship rivals in one key area
Previous-gen hardware = lower price?
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Nothing CEO Carl Pei drew quite the crowd at Mobile World Congress 2023 when taking to the stage to announce that his company’s next phone, theNothingPhone 2, will come packing a high-endSnapdragon 8 series chipset.
In truth, that wasn’t quite the revelation we were hoping for – the prospect of a sneak peek at the phone itself was the real draw at the show – and new information suggests Pei’s announcement might be even less significant than first thought.
As first spotted by91Mobiles, Qualcomm executive Alex Katouzian may have mistakenly revealed in a now-editedLinkedIn postthat the Nothing Phone 2 will use the first-generation Snapdragon 8 chipset, rather than the top-of-the-lineSnapdragon 8 Gen 2.
Specifically, the new phone will use the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chipset, which appeared in late 2022 on phones like theSamsungGalaxy Z Fold 4and theOnePlus 10T, both admittedly excellent performers.
However, this also means that the Nothing Phone 2 won’t boast a processor to match the verybest Android phonesof 2023, like the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra and OnePlus 11 (read ourSamsung Galaxy S23 Ultra reviewandOnePlus 11 reviewfor the low-down on those two handsets).
That said, from a performance point of view, the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chipset will still mark a noticeable improvement over the Snapdragon 778G Plus found inside theNothing Phone 1, and some of thebest smartphonescontinue to put Qualcomm’s 2022 hardware to excellent use.
In practice, the Nothing Phone 2 should feel just as powerful as thebest Samsung phonesof 2022, with vastly superior performance and imaging capabilities compared to its predecessor.
Get the best Black Friday deals direct to your inbox, plus news, reviews, and more.
Sign up to be the first to know about unmissable Black Friday deals on top tech, plus get all your favorite TechRadar content.
What’s more, the Nothing Phone 2’s adoption of Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 instead of Gen 2 will work to its advantage in terms of price. By allowing Nothing to keep component costs down, the company may be able to offer its first bona fide premium phone at a price that undercuts its top-of-the-line rivals.
Sure, the Nothing Phone 2 isn’t going to be cheap – its price tag will almost certainly eclipse its predecessor’s £399 / €469 / AU$749 equivalent – but it’ll be exciting to see what Carl Pei and company can deliver with a little more power under the hood (even if that power won’t hold a candle to 2023’s latest and greatest).
Axel is TechRadar’s UK-based Phones Editor, reporting on everything from the latest Apple developments to newest AI breakthroughs as part of the site’s Mobile Computing vertical. Having previously written for publications including Esquire and FourFourTwo, Axel is well-versed in the applications of technology beyond the desktop, and his coverage extends from general reporting and analysis to in-depth interviews and opinion.
Axel studied for a degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick before joining TechRadar in 2020, where he then earned an NCTJ qualification as part of the company’s inaugural digital training scheme.
Nothing’s glow-in-the-dark Phone 2a has arrived – but getting one will be tricky
Nothing’s next wild design idea is this glow-in-the-dark Phone 2a
I fell in love with the cute and compact Hyundai Inster, but it has one major drawback
