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Rather than waiting until a full launch event, Nothing likes to slowly release information about its devices spec-by-spec over time. It’s an approach that generates a lot of headlines, but it can be hard to keep track of all the official information that’s been made public.
As its name suggests, the Phone 2 is Nothing’s second smartphone and is set to launch a year after the company revealed its predecessor. The Phone 1 was notable for its flashing “glyph” interface, where light strips on the rear of the phone would light up to alert you to notifications and other device details.
Here’s our roundup of all the announcements Nothing has made about the Phone 2. We plan to update this page regularly with new details as they emerge in the run up to its official launch in July.
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Carl Pei teases a see-through USB-C cable for the Nothing Phone 2.
The slow drip-feed of rumors and details about Nothing’s next phone continues, with exec Carl Pei tweeting a photo of a USB-C cable (only the ends are clear, which is a little disappointing) that we expect to see debut with the Phone 2 on July 11th.
You know we love transparent gadgets, and while a cable is pretty basic hardware, now that Beats has stepped up to match Nothing’s clear earbuds, it has to do more.
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a:hover]:text-gray-63 [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63 dark:[&>a]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray”>Image: Nothing We knew that the Nothing Phone 2 would arrive next month, and now we have a precise date: July 11th, a day shy of the Phone 1’s first birthday. It’ll include a Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chipset and a bigger battery, and it will launch in the US this time. We know all of this because Nothing has said so in a series of spec teasers, a tactic that founder Carl Pei loved to employ at the last company he helped found: OnePlus.
Based on a teaser image accompanying today’s news, the Phone 2 looks like it will continue to offer the “glyph” notification lights featured on the back of the Phone 1. On that device, they’re partly a style flourish and partly practical since they can indicate different types of incoming notifications by flashing in different patterns. Underneath the blinky lights, the Phone 1 was a good midrange phone that only sort of launched in the US.
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Ahead of the official launch of the Nothing Phone 2 next month, leaker OnLeaks has published unofficial renders based on a prototype of the new device via Smartprix. You might be disappointed if you’re expecting the phone to be a radical departure from Nothing’s previous devices since it looks like the essential design of the Phone 1 lives on in its successor.
But there are a couple of differences to tease out from the renders, though Smartprix cautions the phone’s design may have changed since this prototype was produced. Most notably, the flat, squared-off top and sides of the Phone 1 appear to have been given more of a curve for the Phone 2. As Android Authority notes, it makes the Phone 2 look like an iPhone 6 next to the iPhone 5-style design of the Phone 1. Smartprix notes that the front and back of the Phone 2 also have a subtle curve to them.
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No surprise: a lot of Nothing comes from OnePlus.
According to Inverse (citing “a source familiar with the company’s operations”) 70 percent of Nothing’s software team and 30 percent of its hardware team come from OnePlus. It makes sense given Nothing’s co-founder and CEO, Carl Pei, previously co-founded OnePlus. Nothing is reportedly making the US its number one priority with its next launch, the Phone 2.
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Nothing’s next phone will have high-end power.
While the Nothing Phone 1 is “A good midrange phone underneath a whole lot of hype,” the US-bound sequel is ready for more.
Today the company confirmed that, unlike its predecessor’s midrange Snapdragon 778 chipset, the Phone (2) has a higher-end Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Series inside — although it didn’t specify between Gen 1 or Gen 2.
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a:hover]:text-gray-63 [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63 dark:[&>a]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray”>Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge Nothing’s next smartphone, the Phone 2, will be getting an official US release, the company’s CEO Carl Pei has confirmed in an interview with Inverse. Although the Phone 1’s transparent rear design and flashing light strips didn’t see a US release after the company chose to focus its attention on Europe and Asia, Nothing has decided to change its focus for its 2023 flagship. “We decided to make the U.S. our No. 1 priority in terms of markets,” Pei tells Inverse.
Hints of a US launch came earlier this month when Nothing announced a beta program for American buyers, which would supply them with a Phone 1 handset for a $299 fee. But the program is a far cry from an official US release, with Nothing cautioning that devices won’t support 5G on AT&T and that coverage on Verizon is very limited. In other words, the program is a way for people to test the hardware, but it’s not ready to replace a primary smartphone for US buyers.
