Nothing Phone (2) leak hints at a spiritual successor to OnePlus

The priorities sound very familiar to Carl Pei fans

The Nothing Phone (2) has been spotted on a Bureau of Indian Standards government site, spotted by 91Mobiles, a phone blog covering the local market. This means production may be finalized and a launch could be imminent. 

This is good news for anyone interested in Nothing Phone, not just Indian fans, as Nothing CEO Carl Pei has pledged to bring the upcoming Nothing Phone (2) to more markets, making the US a real priority this time, and not just a late round beta testing zone. 

We’d heard recently from loose-lipped Qualcomm executives that the Nothing Phone (2) would likely use the company’s late-2022 flagship mobile platform, the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1. The current top-of-the-line is the 8 Plus Gen 2 platform, but the latter chipset is powerful enough to run phones like the Galaxy Z Fold 4 portable tablet. That makes it a serious upgrade for Nothing. 

The 91Mobiles leaks also suggest that the phone could get 12GB of RAM as a standard. Paired with the fast chipset, that would make the Nothing Phone (2) a serious performer. If Nothing can deliver the phone near the bargain price of the original, that would make it an interesting contender.

Other leaked specs for the Nothing Phone (2) include a fast-refresh display with FHD+ resolution. It won’t be very sharp, but it should look nice and smooth, especially with that high-performance platform.

There could also be a 5,000 mAh battery, the standard large cell for flagships and big phones. The Nothing Phone (2) could support 67W charging, which is faster than any Samsung, Apple, or Google phone, another indie win for Nothing.

The camera specs haven’t been super impressive so far. We’re hearing about 50MP sensors, but that doesn’t tell us much. The camera could have some sort of image stabilization, but mileage varies greatly. A 32MP seflie camera up front will handle influencer portraiture.

This (2) sounds like one plus one

Nothing Phone is helmed by Carl Pei, the founder of Oppo’s OnePlus performance brand. OnePlus started as an indie phone maker offering the OnePlus One, a high-performance handset that cut other corners for bargain pricing. It didn’t have a great camera or superior durability. 

While Pei’s Nothing Phone (1) was all about design and cool looks and features, it didn’t offer much for performance to draw serious phone fans away from flagships. 

If the Nothing Phone (2) boosts the benchmarks significantly, those specs, plus a unique design that Nothing is sure to deliver, could be the right mix for today’s budget-conscious phone market. 

We’ve heard that the Nothing Phone (1) will be launched later this year, and there is no rush, especially with US availability in the cards. We want to see a refined phone that works well on our networks, and nothing less. 

By Philip Berne