Nothing, the tech company known for its transparent gadget designs, has just unveiled its latest offering: the Phone 2a Special Edition. This new variant of Nothing’s affordable Android phone introduces a vibrant twist by combining red, yellow, and blue — colors that have previously been used individually in Nothing products — into a single, attention-grabbing device.

Adam, Design Director at Nothing, described the Phone 2a Special Edition as a celebration of primary colors within the brand’s identity. He emphasizes its unique aesthetic, which draws inspiration from design influences of the past while offering a fresh take on smartphone design.

The design has certainly sparked strong reactions online. Personally, I find the colored accents add a nice contrast to the phone’s transparent back, making it quite eye-catching. However, the internet seems divided on this opinion, with some loving the bold new look while others find it jarring or even downright ugly.

The pattern on the back has even been compared to a side view of someone on a toilet, showcasing the range of reactions this design is eliciting. Tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee (@MKBHD) summed up the divided opinions perfectly in his tweet: “You’re only allowed to love or hate this Nothing Phone 2a special edition design, no in between.”

Availability and Pricing

Aside from the new colorway, the Phone 2a Special Edition shares the same specifications as the standard model. It features a 6.7-inch 120Hz AMOLED display, a MediaTek Dimensity 7200 Pro chipset, a dual 50MP rear camera system (main and ultrawide), a 32MP front-facing camera, and a 5000mAh battery with 45W wired charging.

The Phone 2a Special Edition has 12GB RAM and 256GB storage and is priced at £349 / ₹27,999 INR / €379. Limited quantities are available now through nothing.tech, and a first-come, first-served in-person drop will take place at the Nothing Store in Soho, London, on June 1.

For US buyers, the standard Nothing Phone 2a is available for $350 through Nothing’s developer program. However, the Special Edition colorway is not yet available for direct purchase, but interested buyers can sign up to receive an alert when it becomes available in the US.

With opinions split, the Phone 2a Special Edition has certainly sparked curiosity and debate among the tech community. Whether it’s a hit or miss, one thing is clear — it’s got everyone talking.

When it comes to updates, Nothing has been on the ball with the Phone 2a. In fact, the handset received three updates just one month in April. Now the Nothing Phone 2a is getting another one, with the key highlight being ChatGPT integration.

Nothing announced on X (formerly Twitter) that Nothing OS 2.5.5 has rolled out to the Phone 2a. With that update, owners will get a handful of new ChatGPT features including:

The Nothing Phone 2a is a unique new phone in the Carl Pei-led brand’s lineup, as it’s the first truly budget-minded phone from the startup. It’s not aiming for premium flagship territory, and it’s also not going for value flagship territory either. This is a phone designed for folks who want to spend as little money as possible while still getting all the basics. But how does it compare to the Nothing Phone 2? I spent time with both to find out.

Nothing Phone 2a vs Nothing Phone 2: What’s the same?

The Nothing Phone (2a) is the third smartphone from Nothing, but it’s the company’s first budget model, with prices starting at £319 in the UK, €329 in Europe, and $349 in the United States (although it will only be available in the US through a developer program at launch). But while that makes this new […]

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At Mobile World Congress 2024, we’ve seen a whole bunch of new tech. Today, though, we saw one of the more exciting smartphone launches of the week: the Nothing Phone 2a.

At a Barcelona restaurant packed with journalists, Nothing “unboxed” the Phone 2a by literally pulling apart two large boxes covering a display case with the Phone 2a inside. Because of the way it was propped, we could only see the back of it. However, that’s where a lot of interesting stuff is happening.

First, any concerns that the Phone 2a wouldn’t have Glyph lights can be put to rest. There are three lights on the back of the phone — far fewer than the 11 on the back of the Nothing Phone 2 — and the bottom “exclamation point” light isn’t one of them. That means the charging animation seen on the Phone 2 and the Phone 1 won’t be included with the Phone 2a, at least not in the same way. That’s a bit of a bummer.

The phone also has a unique camera module that’s centered in the top half, with the lenses grouped to look like eyes. This explains the “Fresh Eyes” tagline Nothing has been using in teasers so far.

Since the phone was in a glass display case, we couldn’t do much of a size comparison to other devices. However, judging from what we could tell, the Phone 2a is not significantly larger or smaller than the other two Nothing phones. If you were hoping for something more compact, it does not appear the Phone 2a will provide.

Since we couldn’t see the front of the phone, we can’t tell you much else. However, we do know through previous confirmations that the Phone 2a will come with the MediaTek Dimensity 7200 Pro and 12GB of RAM. We also know the phone is launching on March 5, so you only have about a week to go before we know everything.

Nothing revealed chipset details regarding the upcoming Nothing Phone 2a yesterday, confirming a Dimensity 7200 Pro SoC. The company also claimed that the new handset will be more powerful and efficient than the Nothing Phone 1.

Now, company co-founder Carl Pei has elaborated on these claims in an interview with Digital Trends.

“The Phone 2a is a clear upgrade from Phone 1, particularly in terms of performance. Phone 2a is 18% more powerful than Phone 1 and 16% more efficient in terms of battery consumption compared to Phone 1,” the executive asserted.

The comparisons suggest that Nothing wants Phone 1 owners to upgrade to the Phone 2a. But Pei didn’t clarify whether the Phone 2a would replace the Phone 1 in its portfolio.

What makes the Nothing Phone 2a better?

This disparity isn’t a surprise as the Nothing Phone 1’s Snapdragon 778G Plus chipset was a mid-range chipset back then. It’s been almost two years since the Phone 1 was launched, so that processor will have undoubtedly been surpassed by other mid-range chips.

The Snapdragon 778G Plus has a 6nm design compared to the Dimensity 7200 Pro’s smaller, more efficient 4nm process. So that partly accounts for the battery life claims.

The MediaTek chip also brings a more modern CPU, featuring two heavy Cortex-A715 cores and six little Cortex-A510 cores. In saying so, the older Snapdragon chip has four heavy CPU cores and four little cores. So we’re curious to see how the Nothing Phone 2a fares against the Phone 1 when it comes to multi-core workloads. It does, however, stand to reason that more little cores will result in a more power-efficient processor.

Nothing will launch the Phone 2a on March 5. So we’ll be sure to put the phone through its paces to see if it indeed eclipses the original handset as far as performance and battery life are concerned.

Nothing is continuing its drip-feed of Nothing Phone 2a spec disclosures in the run-up to its March 5 launch. Now, the smartphone brand has revealed the new phone’s processor.

Nothing confirmed in a YouTube video that the Nothing Phone 2a will be powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 7200 Pro processor. This is the first Nothing phone with a MediaTek chipset, following in the footsteps of the Snapdragon 778G Plus and Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 in the Nothing Phone 1 and 2 respectively.

Nothing product marketing manager Raymond Zhu noted in the video that the Dimensity 7200 Pro differs from the standard Dimensity 7200 in a couple of areas. For one, he says certain components such as the display IC chip and modem are roughly 10% more efficient. Nothing also developed some software features specifically for this chipset, such as a Smart Clean feature.

Otherwise, it seems like the Dimensity 7200 Pro is in line with the standard chip. That means we’re expecting a capable CPU (2x Cortex-A715 and 6x Cortex-A510) and a Mali-G610 MC4 GPU.

Nothing Phone 2a: Why MediaTek over Qualcomm?

Zhu claimed that the Dimensity 7200 Pro was chosen because the company wanted the “best possible performance” for its users.

“We knew MediaTek was a hard sell since Qualcomm is a lot better known (sic) here in the UK, but we couldn’t justify going with a lower-performing processor” Zhu explained.

Interestingly, the representative said that the choice of chipset came down to the Dimensity 7200 Pro, Snapdragon 7s Gen 2, and Snapdragon 782G. But Zhu confirmed that the Snapdragon chips had lower performance than the MediaTek SoC.

Nothing’s clip also showed a graphic (seen at the top) pointing to the Phone 2a packing 12GB of RAM. But it’s unclear if this figure applies to all variants.

Aside from Nothing’s official disclosures, we’ve also recently seen apparent leaked renders for the device. The renders show a phone with a circular camera housing and two cameras sitting side-by-side. Thankfully, it looks like the phone still retains the company’s Glyph lighting.

One of the biggest mysteries regarding the upcoming Nothing Phone 2a is what the phone will look like. A trusted source recently published purportedly leaked renders but later confirmed they were inaccurate. Now, the same source has posted what they claim are accurate Nothing Phone 2a renders.

Veteran leaker Steve Hemmerstoffer and SmartPrix posted new Nothing Phone 2a renders, and we get a decidedly different design compared to the previously posted images. Check the gallery below, showing an apparent Dark Gray model.

Perhaps the biggest tweak here is the move to a distinctive, center-aligned rear camera system with the two sensors being side-by-side. This differs from the previous render which offered a pair of vertically stacked rear cameras in the top-left corner of the phone, bringing to mind older iPhones.

We can also make out at least three LED lights on the back here, forming the apparent Glyph lighting setup. So those who were worried about this trademark Nothing feature disappearing on the budget phone can seemingly breath easy.

Otherwise, we’ve still got flat edges here, along with a center-aligned punch-hole cutout. We’ve also got volume keys on the left-hand edge while the power button sits on the right-hand edge. The phone is also said to measure 162.2 x 76.5 x 8.7mm.

SmartPrix also asserts that the phone will feature a Dimensity 7200 Pro chipset rather than a vanilla Dimensity 7200 SoC. The outlet further claims that you can expect dual 50MP rear cameras (S5KG9 main sensor and JN1 ultrawide sensor), a 32MP selfie camera, and a 5,000mAh battery with 45W wired charging. But we’ll take these claims with a pinch of salt as Hemmerstoffer doesn’t usually supply specs to his media partners.

Nothing revealed chipset details regarding the upcoming Nothing Phone 2a yesterday, confirming a Dimensity 7200 Pro SoC. The company also claimed that the new handset will be more powerful and efficient than the Nothing Phone 1.

Now, company co-founder Carl Pei has elaborated on these claims in an interview with Digital Trends.

Nothing is continuing its drip-feed of Nothing Phone 2a spec disclosures in the run-up to its March 5 launch. Now, the smartphone brand has revealed the new phone’s processor.

Nothing confirmed in a YouTube video that the Nothing Phone 2a will be powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 7200 Pro processor. This is the first Nothing phone with a MediaTek chipset, following in the footsteps of the Snapdragon 778G Plus and Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 in the Nothing Phone 1 and 2 respectively.

One of the biggest mysteries regarding the upcoming Nothing Phone 2a is what the phone will look like. A trusted source recently published purportedly leaked renders but later confirmed they were inaccurate. Now, the same source has posted what they claim are accurate Nothing Phone 2a renders.

Veteran leaker Steve Hemmerstoffer and SmartPrix posted new Nothing Phone 2a renders, and we get a decidedly different design compared to the previously posted images. Check the gallery below, showing an apparent Dark Gray model.

  The Nothing Phone (2a) is the target of multiple leaks and teasers in the coming days. The fact is that Nothing’s first mid-range smartphone ...

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