Carl Pei is a crude brand for high-tech enthusiasts, where OnePlus, an electronics maker, offers affordable phones that produce multiple devices, including flagship phones that challenge Samsung and Apple. He runs a similar playbook with Nothing, a five-year-old venture hardware startup that just launched its most ambitious device (3) earlier this month. The $799 priced phone is intended to compete with Samsung and Apple devices.
OnePlus focused on providing valuable specifications and experience in its early days, but none of them focused on design and software as differentiators that stand out from other mobile phones. Startups generate eye-catching devices with a transparent design that attracts attention.
As my previous TechCrunch colleague Brian Heater said, the phone (1) was not cool, and the phone (2) was a robust midrange device while still maintaining novelty. The phone (3) calls mixed emotions into that design while maintaining the spirit of transparent design.
The phone has many asymmetric elements on the back, including a strangely arranged camera module. Looking at the reactions on the internet, some people liked it because it’s not like other phones, but some people disliked it. If you can get over the asymmetrical arrangement, you might like the device.
Nor did previous phones take away the noticeable glyph LED placement. This arrangement makes the device stand out even more when illuminated to indicate an incoming call or message. Over the years, the company has made it more customizable and has been able to assign different patterns to different contacts. I also created an SDK for developers, but it didn’t take off.
With the phone (3), the LED placement is replaced by the Glyph Matrix. GlyphMatrix is located in the upper right corner, the second circular screen in the upper right corner, and displays detailed information. Press the button on the back to display basic information such as time and battery level.
The company also includes mini apps such as Spin the Bottle, Stopwatch, Lock, Paper and Scissors. This is a fun trick you might use to show off your phone.
The second screen on the device is not a new concept and does not solve the problem of having to turn the phone to read the message. You can assign emojis to a contact, but you will tell them that you got a message from that contact, but you don’t know what it is. You need to turn on the phone anyway. Is the Matrix cool? of seeds. Is it convenient? Not that much yet.
The company invites developers to build tools for that. This will improve if hired.
Hardware and camera
The company uses a Snapdragon 8S Gen 4 processor built on top of the 4-nanometer architecture under the Snapdragon 8 elite used in the Galaxy S25, OnePlus 13, and Xiaomi 15 Ultra. However, it is not so important for daily use.
The device also includes a 6.67-inch AMOLED screen with 1.5K resolution, protected by the Gorilla Glass 7i instead of the Gorilla Glass Victus. The screen is bright and has punchy colors. It supports HDR on YouTube, but it’s not said that Netflix hasn’t whitelisted devices to run HDR content.
The phone (3) features three 50 megapixel cameras for various purposes. The main camera has an AF/1.68 aperture, 20% larger than the phone (2). Periscope telephoto lenses offer 3x optical zoom with AI Super Res Zoom, 6x in-sensor and 60x digital zoom. The ultra-width lens also provides a 114-degree field of view. There is also a 50 megapixel selfie camera with an f/2.2 opening.
While no one claims that this phone is a “true flagship,” top-notch devices, such as iPhones and Samsung Galaxy phones, have achieved different camera quality over many years of work. No phone (3) takes good photos, but color accuracy requires working with other flagship phones. Furthermore, if lighting was not ideal, the phone produced crushed shadows and exaggerated highlights in dark or bright areas of the image.
The phone has a 5150mAh battery for the international version. This is enough to continue a day of medium to large amounts of usage. You can charge your device via 65W wired and 15W wireless charging.
AI Features
No one uses the Nothing Phone 3A and 3A Pro to debut a customizable hardware key called The Essential Key. This key moves to the new flagship and opens the Essential Space app. This allows you to save screenshots with notes. But, strangely enough, you can’t just save notes.
The company is also debuting essential searches that use AI to double as internet and web search.
You can enter keywords to search for files and events, or ask questions such as “Who won Wimbledon in 2024?” Next, tap on the AI button to view the web results using Google’s Gemini model. This is similar to Apple, which integrates ChatGpt with Siri to search the web for specific queries.
Image credit: Screenshots from TechCrunch
The phone also gets a meeting note tonscriber that records the meeting and summarises important points. You can trigger this to hold the essential key and flip the phone over. You can double-press important keys to record audio snippets in transcription. However, users have no way of accessing these recordings or transcripts outside of their phones, unless they explicitly export them.
In a chat with TechCrunch, CEO PEI said that smartphones are the perfect medium for distributing AI and that they want to make AI capabilities useful to users.
“We have to really focus on building things [AI features] That’s convenient [for end users] And we not only call our phones “Nothing Ai Phones,” but some people also have image generation, and we call them a day,” he said.[We are thinking about] How to actually utilize this new technology to help people. The idea is not to compete with people or take away their jobs. How do you help people become better and more creative? ”
This ambition is good, but its feature set, including AI-powered wallpaper generation tools, is a step ahead of other phone makers.
No positioning
Nothing makes phones available through the US Canadian website and Amazon. It is affiliated with Best Buy.
For $799, the device competes directly with the Samsung Galaxy S25, Google Pixel 9, and iPhone 16. Because it is not offered through the wireless carrier bundle, the phone is buying unlocked phones and looking for alternatives to Samsung, Apple and Google.
It’s another story as phones start at £79,999 in India, the company’s biggest market. The company offers discounts and exchanges, but prices are comparable to iPhone 16 and Galaxy 25, depending on the seller. The initial response on social media suggests that customers found prices higher, which could affect the company’s sales.
There’s nothing to challenge Samsung and Apple of the World, but at this point, it’s not a direct competition and the phone is a great, inexpensive alternative to those devices.
