Nothing Phone 3 preview: everything we know so far

The Nothing Phone 2 was one of the best mid-range phones around, so a new Nothing phone has been near the top of my personal wish list for a while now. The design-minded disruptor brand already has one of the slickest takes on Android, and stands out from the crowd with unique features like glyph lighting. Now that Phone 3a and Phone 3a Pro have been revealed, all attention has turned to the Nothing Phone 3 due later in 2025.

The British firm timed Phone 3a’s reveal around the Mobile World Congress show, and both phones are now on sale. My Phone 3a Pro review praised the zoom camera, but highlighted the lack of gains everywhere else compared to the vanilla Phone 3a – which is comfortably one of the best affordable phones around right now. That means the flagship Phone 3a has it all to prove, and will need to be a big step up on specs.

Here’s everything we know about it so far, plus a healthy dose of speculation – and a list of the features I’d like to see make the cut.

Nothing Phone 3 expected price and release date

Nothing first teased a new model in late January, posting a short video to X showing what appeared to be a new three lens rear camera module surrounded by the firm’s trademark glyph lighting LEDs. The tagline, “Power in Perspective”, suggested it’d be the first Nothing phone to get a telephoto lens, and the date – March 4th at 10:00 GMT – lined up perfectly with Barcelona’s Mobile World Congress show.

That duly came to pass, with Phone 3a and Phone 3a Pro announced during the event – although via a live stream, rather than an in-person unveiling. At the same time, founder Carl Pei said the higher-end Phone 3 was “still cooking”. Pei previously said in a leaked internal email that Phone 3 would be the firm’s first flagship phone, and that there would be a big focus on AI for the new handsets, which would come with “breakthrough innovations in user interface”.

A look back at previous Nothing launches shows the firm tends to favour July for its mainline reveals, while the more affordable a-badged devices landing earlier in March. The step-up Phone 2a Plus was an anomaly the firm hasn’t repeated for the successor. That suggests Phone 3 should arrive in July 2025.

Nothing Phone 3a and Phone 3a Pro – revealed March 2025

Nothing Phone 2a Plus – revealed July 2024

Nothing Phone 2a – revealed March 2024

Nothing Phone 2 – revealed July 2023

Nothing Phone – revealed July 2022

Pricing is an unknown until we know exactly how high-end Nothing is planning to take its flagship. For reference, the Nothing Phone 2 went on sale at $599/£579/€679. This year’s Phone 3a landed at $379/£329, and the Phone 3a Pro sits in the middle at $459/£449. The closer the firm gets to four figures, the tougher the competition, so I’d be genuinely surprised if Phone 3a arrives at more than $800/£800.

Hardware and design rumours

Nothing largely stuck to its established A-series design for Phone 3a, tweaking the previous generation’s transparent rear and reshaping the glyph lighting LEDs, but maintaining an altogether different vibe from Phone 2. Adding a third rear camera lens hasn’t changed the overall look very much, and the slimmer screen bezels help it look like a higher-end handset than the price suggests. Phone 3a Pro, on the other hand, has proven much more divisive.

To make room for an even more capable periscope telephoto camera, Nothing has added a prominent circular camera island – and then laid out the lenses in an asymmetric pattern. It’s distinctive for sure, but many fans have argued it’s too similar to what flagship rivals are doing. Not what a firm known for its unique looks wants to hear.

Camera hardware aside, the two phones are identical, with a Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 chipset, 5000mAh battery, 50W wired charging, under-display fingerprint sensor and Nothing OS 3.1 software running on top of Android 15. Where Phone 3 goes from there is an unknown, but leaks have been few and far between up to now.

The expectation is that Nothing will use metal and glass instead of polycarbonate. Screen size could climb slightly, and the handset could get slightly skinnier, as seems to be the current phone world trend. While it could bring back Phone 2’s rear glyph layout wholesale, the current thinking is Nothing will come up with something entirely different for the new generation.

A triple rear camera setup now seems a given, and there needs to be a noticeable step up from the Phone 3a Pro on image quality. Performance will surely come from a Snapdragon CPU, though it’s debatable whether Nothing will use a Snapdragon 8 Elite, or go for something a little less potent in order to keep costs in check. Battery capacity could climb, and wireless charging will almost certainly make a comeback.

What we’d like to see from the Nothing Phone 3

I’m a big fan of Nothing’s phones, having given both the Phone 2 and Phone 3a full five star scores. But the former is now two years old, and the current crop of flagship phones have really moved the game on in terms of camera quality, battery capacity, charging speeds and performance. Here’s what I’d like Nothing to add to its latest offering in order to compete:

Killer camera hardware

Pixel count only has so much bearing on camera image quality; lens aperture, sensor size, and who supplies them, also make a big difference. If Phone 3 does get three rear snappers, I’d like to see them all come from the same source – preferably Sony or Samsung – and the bigger, the better. I’m not expecting a 1in sensor, as that would really bump prices into unfamiliar territory for the firm, but the Sony LYTIA LYT-818 seen on the Vivo X200 Pro would be a superb choice. Would a variable aperture lens be too much to ask, too?

Then Nothing should add a 50MP ultrawide that’s properly ultrawide, so there’s a clear distinction between it and the main lens, and includes autofocus for macro close-ups.

Finally, the telephoto should be a periscope zoom, with at least 50MP and 3x magnification. Cropping the main snapper should easily cover 2x zoom, so the dedicated telephoto should get usefully closer to your subject.

Style and substance

Nothing was arguably ahead of the game with Phone 1 and Phone 2, adopting flat frames and screens well ahead of rivals that were still all about curved-edge glass. That style was a lot more common when Phone 2a rolled around, and Phone 3a hasn’t mixed things up at all, so I can’t see the firm changing things for its new flagship. However, the transparent rear and glyph lighting really do make Nothing’s phones stand out from the crowd. I think Phone 3 needs an entirely new glyph layout, and possibly more distinctive circuitry underneath the glass, so you can instantly tell it’s a new model.

If Phone 3 is going to be a true flagship, I think it also needs to feel like one. That doesn’t mean titanium, but perhaps the central metal frame could have a different finish. Tougher glass and an IP68 rating should be a given. I’m pretty sure Samsung has tied Corning’s hands when it comes to supplying Gorilla Armor glass to other brands, so Victus 2 should be the aim.

Beefy batteries and Qi2

The biggest difference between the Western smartphone establishment (ie Apple, Samsung and Google) and the current crop of flagships from Chinese brands is battery capacity and charging speeds. Oppo, Honor and others have adopted silicon-carbon cells that can hold way more juice than traditional lithium-ion batts can, and I’d love to see Nothing follow suit. It would potentially mean 20% capacity hike over the previous generation, with no weight or size penalty.

The icing on the cake would be Qi2 support, which the Android world has so far failed to get on board with. Magnetic charging to rival Apple’s MagSafe would instantly elevate Phone 3 above rivals in my eyes, and opens the door for all kinds of kooky accessories and cases – something I’m sure Nothing fans will love.

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