I went hands-on with the Nothing Phone 3, and it might just be the most interesting phone of the year – here’s why
Are modern smartphone designs boring? We polled 1,500 readers for their thoughts on that very question earlier this year, and a whopping 78% of respondents answered in the affirmative.
The smartphone industry was once awash with weird and wonderful devices (remember the LG Wing?), but these days, manufacturers are – quite literally – much more straight-edged in their approach to design.
The exception to the rule is Nothing, which has stuck by its mission to “make tech fun again” since being founded by former OnePlus chief Carl Pei in 2021. Nothing phones are designed to stand out from the crowd, and the company’s latest handset, the long-awaited Nothing Phone 3, fulfils that brief and then some.
Nothing’s “first true flagship” is a truly weird-looking thing. Imagine if a kindergartner took an old-school sliding block puzzle game, dipped it in PVA glue, and accessorized it with three black sewing buttons. That’s the Nothing Phone 3. It’s an outlandish creation with specs to rival some of the best phones – and I think it could be the most interesting flagship launch of the year.
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So, what’s new versus the well-received (but decidedly un-flagship) Nothing Phone 2? For starters, linear Glyph lights are out, and a new Glyph Matrix interface is in.
This interactive screen sits in the top-right corner of the Phone 3’s 6.67-inch rear panel and is capable of displaying several different types of content – from person-specific notifications to ‘Glyph Toys’ (read: party games) like Spin the Bottle and Rock, Paper, Scissors. Heck, Glyph Matrix can even double as a pixelated viewfinder for selfies, which is a nice retro touch for those who miss the Game Boy Camera.
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As for other big design changes, the Phone 3 still has that classic modular Nothing look. But its camera lenses sit independently of a physical module, rather than being positioned in a circular or pill-shaped casing, as on the Phone 3a and Phone 3a Pro, respectively.
I can see this new lens arrangement being the most controversial aspect of the Phone 3’s design, but I’m personally a big fan of the abstract, asymmetrical vibe it brings to the device as a whole. Previous Nothing phones looked unique, sure, but not to this extent.
Speaking of cameras, there’s a brand new one. The Phone 3 gets a 50-megapixel main lens, a 50MP ultra-wide lens, and an all-new 50MP telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom. Of course, we can’t yet say how good these cameras are without having tested them properly (stay tuned for our full review), but on paper, at least, they’re flagship-level snappers.
You’ll also get a 50MP selfie camera on the front, which marks a step up from the 32MP equivalent on the Nothing Phone 2. Oh, and the little red dot on the back of the Phone 3? That’ll light up when you’re recording with any one of its three rear cameras.
Under the hood, the Phone 3 is powered by the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 chipset. I’ve already written about why I don’t think the lack of a Snapdragon 8 Elite is a big deal in a separate piece, but we won’t know for sure until we’ve benchmarked the Phone 3 against similarly priced rivals.
Nothing, for its part, is confident in the performance credentials of its “first true flagship,” and having had a quick play with the Phone 3 at its London launch event, I’m convinced that the 8s Gen 4 will be speedy enough to support the software demands of Nothing OS 3.5 (and, eventually, Nothing OS 4.0).
The Phone 3’s chipset is paired with a 5,150mAh silicon-carbon battery, which is a technology you still won’t find in many of the best Android phones. You’ll get 65W fast charging, too – another notable upgrade over the Phone 2’s 45W charging speed cap.
Other features of Nothing’s newest flagship include an IP68 dust and water resistance rating, Corning Gorilla Glass protection, and a new Essential Search function to go alongside the physical Essential Key, which was introduced on the Phone 3a Pro.
Again, I only handled the phone for a few minutes at Nothing’s launch event, so I haven’t yet taken these new tools for a proper spin. But the bottom line is this: the Phone 3 is unlike any other device on the market right now, and I sincerely hope that its performance lives up to Nothing’s “flagship” billing. If the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 can compete with Google’s Tensor G5, at the very least, then the Phone 3 could well be the most interesting phone of the year.
The device starts at $799 / £799 / AU$1,509 for the model with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, with that price rising to $899 / £899 / AU$1,689 for 16GB and 512GB, respectively. Those figures put the Phone 3 in league with the iPhone 16, Samsung Galaxy S25, and Google Pixel 9, so stay tuned for our verdict on whether Nothing’s latest phone can compete with such big-name rivals.
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