Nothing's Next Phone Is Headed To US In July With A Battery Boost

It's not often that a new player manages to break into the smartphone market, which has matured to the point that even some legacy players are unable to compete. However, Nothing founder Carl Pei has an advantage as a founder of OnePlus. Nothing launched the Phone (1) internationally last year, but its second device will come to the US. We're finally getting some information about this device, but Pei is keeping most of the juicy details to himself.

In a recent interview with Forbes, Pei confirmed that the Nothing Phone (2) would have a global release that includes the US market. While it was possible to import the Nothing Phone (1), it lacked many of the cellular bands you'd want on a new smartphone these days. The device didn't officially come to the US until a beta program in early 2023. Simply launching the device in the US will make it much more appealing.

The latest morsel fueling the Nothing hype train is the battery. Last year's phone had a meager 4,500mAh cell, which is behind the curve for flagship phones that usually ship with 5,000mAh batteries. The Nothing Phone (2) will get a boost i this department, sporting a larger 4700mAh battery. That's not going to set the world on fire, but it puts the device in the thick of the market. It's still shy of the batteries in devices like the Galaxy S23 Ultra or Pixel 7 Pro, but it's larger than the 4385mAh battery in the Pixel 7a. No word on whether or not the flashy Glyph lights (see above) are coming back. 

On the chipset front, Pei has also confirmed that the Nothing Phone (2) will have a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor. That was the top-of-the-line hardware in 2022, powering phones like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 and OnePlus 10T. This year, the Gen 2 chip has taken the crown, but The 8+ is still a very capable chip and a significant upgrade from the Snapdragon 778G that Nothing used in the first phone. Pei is claiming an 80% improvement in performance, but keep in mind this comes from a CEO trying to hype his next product.

Finally, Pei suggested that we should keep an eye out for the Nothing Phone (2) in July—almost exactly a year since the first Nothing Phone launched. There's no word on pricing yet, but it should come in below flagship devices like the Galaxy S23 family, but we'll have to see if it can beat the Pixel 7a on value.