Carl Pei led electronics producer OnePlus from being a scrappy model for tech fanatics providing inexpensive telephones to at least one that produces a number of traces of units, together with flagship telephones that problem Samsung and Apple. He’s operating an identical playbook with Nothing, a five-year-old, venture-backed {hardware} startup that simply launched its most bold system, the Cellphone (3), earlier this month. The telephone, priced at $799, is meant to compete with units from Samsung and Apple.
Whereas OnePlus targeted on offering value-for-money specs and expertise in its early days, Nothing targeted on design and software program as a differentiator to face out from different telephones. The startup produces eye-catching units with a clear design that attracts consideration.
As my former TechCrunch colleague Brian Heater mentioned, Nothing Cellphone (1) was cool, and the Cellphone (2) was a strong mid-range system whereas sustaining the novelty. The Cellphone (3), whereas sustaining the clear design ethos, invokes blended feelings in the direction of its design.
The telephone has loads of uneven parts on the again, together with the unusually organized digicam module. For those who take a look at the reactions on the web, some folks appreciated it as a result of it isn’t like different telephones, whereas some hated it. If you may get over the asymmetrical association, you may just like the system.
Nothing additionally took away the glyph LED association that was outstanding in earlier Nothing telephones. This association made units stand out much more once they illuminated to point an incoming name or a message. Through the years, the corporate made it extra customizable, permitting you to assign totally different patterns for various contacts. It even created an SDK for builders, which didn’t take off.
With Cellphone (3) the LED association is substituted with Glyph Matrix, a circle-shaped second display screen within the high right-hand nook to show extra info. It could possibly show primary info comparable to time and battery stage whenever you press the button on the again.
The corporate has additionally included mini apps comparable to spin the bottle, a stopwatch, and rock, paper, and scissors. That is extra of a enjoyable gimmick that you just may use to indicate off your telephone.
A second display screen on a tool will not be a brand new idea, and it doesn’t clear up the issue of getting to show the telephone to learn the message. You’ll be able to assign an emoji to a contact, but it surely simply tells you that you just bought a message from that contact, however doesn’t inform you what it’s. So you need to flip your telephone on anyway. Is the matrix cool? Type of. Is it helpful? Not by a lot but.
The corporate is inviting builders to construct instruments for it, which may enhance issues if there’s adoption.
{Hardware} and Digicam
The corporate is utilizing a Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 processor, constructed on a 4-nanometer structure, which is a step under the Snapdragon 8 Elite used within the Galaxy S25, OnePlus 13, and Xiaomi 15 Extremely. Nonetheless, in your day-to-day utilization, that wouldn’t matter loads.
The system additionally features a 6.67-inch AMOLED display screen with 1.5K decision, which is protected by Gorilla Glass 7i as a substitute of a stronger Gorilla Glass Victus. The display screen is vivid and has punchy colours. Whereas it helps HDR for YouTube, Nothing mentioned that Netflix hasn’t whitelisted its units to run HDR content material.
The Cellphone (3) options three 50-megapixel cameras for various functions. The primary digicam has a 1/1.3-inch sensor, which is 20% greater than Cellphone (2), at a f/1.68 aperture; the periscope telephoto lens presents 3x optical zoom, 6x in-sensor, and 60x digital zoom with AI Tremendous Res Zoom; and the ultra-wide lens offers a 114-degree area of view. There’s additionally a 50-megapixel selfie digicam with an f/2.2 aperture.
Whereas Nothing claims that this telephone is its “true flagship,” top-tier units comparable to iPhones and Samsung Galaxy telephones have achieved distinct digicam high quality with years of labor. Nothing Cellphone (3) takes good photographs, however coloration accuracy wants work to match different flagship telephones. Plus, if the lighting was not splendid, the telephone produced crushed shadows and overblown highlights in darkish or vivid areas of photographs.
The telephone has a 5150mAh battery for worldwide variations, which is nice sufficient to final you a day of average to heavy utilization. You’ll be able to cost the system by 65W wired charging and 15W wi-fi charging.
AI options
Nothing debuted a customizable {hardware} key referred to as the Important Key with the Nothing Cellphone 3a and 3a Professional. This key ports over to the brand new flagship and opens up the Nothing House app, which helps you to save screenshots with notes. However unusually, you possibly can’t save simply notes.
The corporate can also be debuting Important search, which doubles up as an web and net search utilizing AI.
You’ll be able to seek for recordsdata and occasions by typing in key phrases, or you can even ask a question like “Who gained Wimbledon in 2024?” after which faucet on the AI button to floor net outcomes utilizing Google’s Gemini fashions. That is akin to Apple integrating ChatGPT with Siri to look the net for sure queries.
Picture Credit: Screenshot from TechCrunch
The telephone additionally will get a gathering word transcriber, which information your assembly and in addition summarizes key factors. You’ll be able to set off this by holding the Important key and flipping the telephone. You’ll be able to double-press the Important key to file a voice snippet with transcription. Nonetheless, customers don’t have a option to entry these recordings and transcripts exterior the Nothing telephone, until they explicitly export them.
In a chat with TechCrunch, CEO Pei mentioned that smartphone is the perfect medium to distribute AI and the corporate desires to make AI options helpful for customers.
“We now have to be actually targeted on constructing issues [AI features] which can be helpful [for end users] and never simply name our telephones ‘Nothing AI telephones’ with some having some picture era and name it a day,” he mentioned. “[We are thinking about] how we will actually leverage this new expertise to assist folks. The thought is to not compete with folks or to take their jobs away. How will we assist folks turn into higher and in addition extra inventive?”
Whereas this ambition is an effective one to have, Nothing’s characteristic set, which additionally consists of an AI-powered wallpaper era instrument, is in keeping with different telephone makers.
Nothing’s positioning
Nothing is making the telephone out there by its web site and Amazon within the U.S. In Canada, it’s partnering with Greatest Purchase.
At $799, the system straight competes with the Samsung Galaxy S25, Google Pixel 9, and the iPhone 16. Since it isn’t being provided by wi-fi service bundles, the telephone continues to be aimed toward folks shopping for unlocked telephones and searching for options to Samsung, Apple, and Google.
In India, the corporate’s greatest market, it’s a totally different story because the telephone begins at ₹79,999. Though the corporate presents reductions and exchanges, the costs are on par with or above the iPhone 16 and the Galaxy 25, relying on the vendor. Preliminary reactions on social media steered that the shoppers discovered the value excessive, which may affect the corporate’s gross sales.
Nothing has taken it upon itself to problem Samsung and Apple of the world, however in the meanwhile, reasonably than direct competitors, the telephone is an effective, cheaper various to these units.
