Nothing Phone (2a) is Official – Here’s What You Need to Know

Nothing’s arrival on the smartphone scene has been nothing (get it) short of impressive, with the company gaining status and a following that many other non-mainstream brands in the industry would kill for. Continuing with its success, Nothing now adds the latest mid-tier device, the Nothing Phone (2a) to its portfolio.

While it is a fairly young company, the guidance of tech veteran Carl Pei has nevertheless helped steer the brand to an ideal position where it can get out as many products as possible in a short amount of time, without necessarily sacrificing quality.

At least that’s what it seems with the launch of the new Nothing Phone (2a). The company’s latest Android phone is its first attempt at breaking into the overly crowded midrange smartphone segment, which is mostly dominated by devices from Samsung, Google, Xiaomi, and more. With that being said however, the Nothing Phone 2a’s £350 price tag is a bit misleading – beneath its affordable exterior is a smartphone that’s worth looking into, especially for folks who want to get the most out of their coin.

While the phone’s price tag is small, its size is anything but – there’s a fairly large 6.7-inch AMOLED panel that makes up the phone’s display and houses a 32MP selfie camera. The screen comes with a smooth 120Hz adaptive refresh rate and gets considerably bright at up to 1,300 nits. This screen serves as a window into Android 14, which is combined with Nothing’s Nothing OS 2.5, with support for up to three years of major software upgrades.

Flip the phone over, and you’re greeted by a look that shares a similar look with earlier Nothing Phone models. The Phone (2a) features the company’s signature Glyph Interface, a series of LED lights that can be customized to work with notifications, ringtones, and more. The Phone (2a) does come with a slightly refined design that now places the camera module in the center of the back panel, as opposed to the upper left corner fixture in previous Nothing phones.

For processing power, Nothing decided that it would work closely with chip manufacturer MediaTek to develop a custom SoC for the Phone (2a), instead of merely slapping a pre-existing chipset inside the phone. As a result, we get a custom chipset of sorts with the Dimensity 7200 Pro, which works in tandem with up to 12GB of RAM (there’s also a base model with 8GB available), and up to 256GB of internal storage. Nothing does seem confident that the 7200 Pro will be able to handle processing without sacrificing too much in the way of power efficiency.

Speaking of power, the phone packs a 5,000 mAh battery inside, which is a common sight on most phones of this price nowadays. There’s support for 45W fast charging speeds, and while it’s not as fast as the insanely speedy 120W charging on other midrange Android phones, it’s a welcome feature nevertheless.

Perhaps as far as internet conversations and opinions go, the Phone (2a)’s dual 50MP camera design has been rather divisive, especially among fans. The new look is something that might need a bit of getting used to for some folks, although Nothing states that the new design is powered by the company’s “TrueLens” engine, which in theory should allow the phone to take images that are “as close to real life as possible.”

In terms of pricing and availability, the Nothing Phone (2a) starts at £319 for the base 8GB and 128GB memory configuration, and £349 for the maxed-out 12GB and 256GB variant. Nothing says that most global customers will be able to pre-order Phone (2a) beginning at 12:30 GMT on Tuesday, March 5 via nothing.tech, with public availability on Tuesday, March 12 via nothing.tech and select retail partners.