Deep breaths, folks: the Nothing Phone 3 really does look like that. The transparent tech pioneer has gone distinctive (some might say dissentient) for its first flagship smartphone, which ditches the signature glyph lights of previous entries for a more functional dot matrix display.
Up for pre-order today in the US, UK and Europe for $799/£799/€799, Phone 3 open sales kick off from July 15. It’s a big leap into premium territory for Nothing, which until now has majored on mid-range and value champs like the Phone 3a. Having now seen one in person at the firm’s global launch event, I’m wondering how the radical design change will go down with returning fans and newcomers alike.
The circular glyph matrix takes pride of place at the rear, next to an asymmetrical three-camera setup that’s very like-it-or-hate-it. The white on black LEDs can flash up app notifications, countdown timers, and the current time when placed screen-down on a flat surface, as well as act as a pixellated selfie camera viewfinder.
At launch it can play a bunch of micro-games, like rock-paper-scissors or spin-the bottle, by pressing the touch-sensitive dot built into the rear casing. Eventually you’ll be able to assign glyph mirror portraits to your contacts for person-specific call notifications, with a long-press to show the contact name or number. Nothing is also unleashing a software development kit to community developers, so expect plenty of third-party tools and functions to appear later down the line.
Those rear cameras alongside it all use 50MP sensors, with the lead lens getting optical image stabilisation and an f/1.68 aperture. The periscope telephoto also has OIS and is good for 3x optical zoom, 60x super res shots using AI upscaling, and macro focusing as close as 10cm from your subject. The ultrawide has a wide 114 degree field of view. All three can manage 4K/60fps video recording, with a red recording indicator lighting up on the rear of the phone.
Nothing has updated its camera pipeline to make the most of the new hardware, promising 13 more frames captured per HDR image for more accurate contrast and colour. There’s an action mode for fast-moving subjects and a smarter portrait mode to boot. The gallery app has its own set of editing tools now, too. I’ve been largely impressed by the firm’s mature image processing in the past, but now it’ll have to hold its own against top-tier handsets from the likes of Samsung and Google.
Despite the controversial rear layout and lack of lights, Phone 3 is unmistakably Nothing from almost every angle. It’s launching in your choice of white or black hues, with a similar flat metal mid-frame, flat screen and flush rear glass setup to the outgoing Phone 2. The firm has stepped up to Gorilla Glass 7i up front and Victus glass around back this time out. It also slimmed the screen bezel down to a barely-there 1.87mm, and sealed it all up tight enough for IP68 resistance against the elements.
The screen is a palm-friendly 6.67in – a fair bit smaller than rival flagships like the OnePlus 13, but more substantial than the Samsung Galaxy S25 or Google Pixel 9. The 2800×1260 resolution, 30-120Hz dynamic AMOLED can crank up to 4500nits peak brightness, which bodes well for outdoor visibility. It looked plenty bright under the harsh lighting of Nothing’s demo area.
Underneath, a Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 chipset provides the power. While I didn’t get to run any benchmarks, on paper that’ll put it behind competing flagships with a Snapdragon 8 Elite, and might be a sticking point for anyone wanting maximum grunt for minimal outlay – especially when the Poco F7 has just arrived with the same silicon for less than half the price. Here it’s paired with 12GB or 16GB of RAM and either 256 or 512GB of on-board storage.
Nothing has gone with silicon carbide battery tech for Phone 3, but stayed conservative on capacity: you’re getting a 5150mAh cell here, which should be good for all-day use. There’s 65W charging for a 0-50% refuel in under 20 minutes, and there’s 15W wireless charging too – even if the design on the rear doesn’t incorporate the charging coil anymore.
It’ll arrive running the firm’s monochrome, widget-filled NothingOS 3.5 software, with an update to Nothing OS 4.0 (and Android 16) expected towards the end of the year. Nothing has promised five years of new Android generations, and seven years of security updates – a decent showing for a top-tier phone, if a small step behind the likes of Samsung and Google.
Essential Space remains one of the headline features, with a dedicated button at the side of the phone for launching the AI-assisted note taking tool. New for Phone 3 is a flip to record mode, which can record a conversation, transcribe and summarise it automatically, and file to Essential space with a press-and-hold.
An AI-powered Essential Search also makes its debut. Accessed on the app drawer screen or picked to replace the stock homescreen’s Google search bar, the system-wide search will eventually tap into your apps, contacts book, gallery images and the web. It seemed a bit WIP during my brief demo – perhaps it’ll fill up with suggestions once you’ve used the phone for a few weeks.
The bigger questions are whether the controversial styling will grow on you just as quickly; if there’s enough CPU grunt to compare favourably with similarly-priced rivals; and if the battery can go the distance. Those will all have to wait for a full review.
