Nothing Phone (3) makes big move into premium phone market

UK tech brand Nothing announced the Phone (3) overnight, a $1,500-plus handset destined to rival the top end of town dominated by Apple and Samsung. It’s what the company calls its “first true flagship smartphone” after previously prioritising the competitive mid-range market with devices like the Phone (3a) and its CMF sub-branded phones.

Unlike the annual release cycle most phone makers opt for, it’s actually been two years since major flagship handset launches from Nothing. Carl Pei, Nothing CEO, wanted to avoid making a “boring” phone that “looks the same, feels the same, does the same” as other devices.

“That’s why we took our time,” Pei said via a press release. “After two years of focused development, Phone (3) is our answer: a flagship built to make tech feel personal again.”

On the front, the Nothing Phone (3) has a 6.67-inch AMOLED display, supporting an adaptive refresh rate of up to 120Hz. It also boasts a peak HDR brightness of 4,500 nits, boosting its visibility in direct sunlight.

But, as is tradition with Nothing phones, what’s on the back is equally as interesting. There’s a newly designed Glyph Matrix next to the cameras, an array of customisable micro-LEDs. It has various uses, like notification alerts when the phone is face-down, acting as a fill light, and even for playing spin the bottle.

One of the most useful-sounding features is the Glyph Matrix’s ability to show an approximation of what the camera sees, letting you frame selfies using the rear camera. Developers will also be able to take advantage of the LEDs via a publicly available SDK.

Looking under the hood

On the inside is the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 chipset, which is an interesting choice. Nothing deliberately chose it over Snapdragon’s Elite variant to keep costs down and not compete in a sheer specs showdown.

Presumably, considering the starting price is already $1,509, Nothing wanted to avoid breaking the $2,000 barrier, like the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. In a pre-announcement briefing, the company claimed that the top-of-the-line processors only benefit the absolute edge use cases, like graphically intensive gaming.

Instead, the focus is on Nothing’s software mix, which uses Android 15 as the basis of the Nothing OS 3.5 ecosystem. A lot of it is driven by AI, including generative AI search functionality, and integration with platforms like ChatGPT. There are also other software tools like a built-in voice recorder and transcription feature.

AI is a big focus of Nothing’s new phone. Image: Nothing.

Back to the internals, the Nothing Phone (3) has a fairly big 5150mAh battery, with support for 65W wired charging and 15W wireless charging. There are two models with different storage and memory counts: the base model has 12GB of memory and 256GB of built-in storage, while the pricier version has 16GB and 512GB respectively.

Rounding out the hardware are four 50MP cameras. Three are on the rear, including a 3x optical zoom sensor, while the selfie camera shares the same megapixel count.

Nothing Phone (3) price and release date

Australians can pre-order the Nothing Phone (3) starting on 2 July via Optus and JB Hi-Fi, ahead of its 15 July release date. The 12GB + 256GB model costs $1,509, while the 16GB + 512GB version costs $1,689, sitting somewhere between Apple and Samsung’s core flagship phones and their high-end models.

Coinciding with the Nothing Headphone (1) launch, Optus has an offer where you get the headphones at no cost when buying the Nothing Phone (3) with a SIM plan. The headphones cost $549 alone, so the offer could sway those looking for a complete upgrade.

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