Decoding Nothing Phone 2: A Premium Flagship-y Smartphone

After the not-so-anticipated success of Nothing Phone 1, Carl Pei’s next-gen Nothing Phone 2 is reportedly in the works. Turns out Pei already confirmed that the Nothing Phone 2 is in the making and will be released soon as a ‘premium’ smartphone compared to the first iteration that rocked a Snapdragon 778G.

Nothing Phone 2 is incoming

Thanks to the courtesy of Samsung, Xiaomi, Google, and Apple, the smartphone market is saturated. In fact, these tech juggernauts are comfortable that they won’t be challenged by other smartphone makers let alone Nothing.

Talking about Nothing Phone 2, Pei mentioned that it will be a premium iteration of Nothing Phone 1. He didn’t say that it will be a flagship phone (which it is not) but refrained from denying the same as it would be presumed that Nothing Phone 1 was not a flagship phone. It is indeed possible that the upcoming Nothing Phone 2 will get better chipsets among other specs to take its firm stance towards Pei’s ‘premium’ smartphone.

‘Nothing Phone 2’ will make it to the US as well

Unlike the previous iteration, the Nothing Phone 2 will be launched in the US as well. It will help the company encounter a 30% hike in sales as it accesses the market where the affordable midrange smartphone market is scattered. The Phone 2 won’t compete for head-on with iPhone 15 or Galaxy S23 although it will take on Pixel 7 or Pixel 8 given the timeline it arrives.

According to Phone Arena, the Nothing 1 was launched at a sweet spot of $450 while the Pixel 7 bracket is at $600. If Nothing Phone 2 is launched between these ranges, it will become a hot deal in the EU, UK, and the US if not other markets.

Talking about other features, we could see fast charging onboard, better speakers setup, IP67 dust and water resistance, and on top of that, an energy-efficient 120Hz panel as some of the improvements over the last generation.

Everything can be said and done but what about the chipset? It is the powerhouse from where the phone draws power and makes up a considerable chunk of its Bill of Material (BOM). Since we are going for a premium but not too flagship chipset, we could see Mediatek Dimensity 8200 SoC under the hood that has an 86 points A+ rating on NanoReview just shy of Snapdragon 8 Gen 1’s 90 points A+ rating.

Nothing Phone 1 failed to impress the masses with the Snapdragon 778G SoC. Although the performance was good and the software made it better, it was still a mid-range phone. It means Nothing Phone 2 willl get a more premium but not too powerful chipset. Nothing is unlikely to get the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 as it is the flagship and expensive whereas the most we can see is the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 launched late last year.

The usual stuff i.e. 5G, dual camera at the back, customizable LED glyph system, and a few other things will make it to Phone 2 as usual.