The Nothing 2 smartphone. Image: Nothing
The flashy iPhone competitor is available to pre-order with a starting price of €649 and can be bought in-person at a number of pop-up kiosks this week.
Rising smartphone brand Nothing has revealed more details of its next phone, which is launching this month to challenge Apple’s iPhone dominance.
The new Phone 2 is available to pre-order and will be available to buy in-person this week, with a number of pop-up kiosks appearing in multiple cities including Dublin, London, New York, Paris and Berlin in the coming days.
📍13 July – London – 17:00 BST
📍13 July – New York – 19:00 EST
📍14 July – Bengaluru – 19:00 IST
📍15 July – Paris – 11:00 CEST
📍15 July – Berlin – 10:00 CEST
📍15 July – Dubai – 17:00 GST
📍15 July – Kuala Lumpur – 11:00 MYTFor more locations visit https://t.co/pLWW07l8G7 pic.twitter.com/CYFkx7vxai
— Nothing (@nothing) July 7, 2023
For pre-orders, the phone has an expected shipping date of 17 July with a delivery time of three to five days. The Phone 2 has a starting price tag of €649 and features multiple upgrades over its predecessor, while maintaining its unique, flashy design.
The new phone comes with a 32-megapixel front camera, along with the 50-megapixel dual main camera that was seen in the first phone. The Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset has been upgraded to 8 Plus Gen 1 version, while the flashy ‘Glyph’ interface has been given a boost.
This interface lets users assign specific light and sound sequences to different contacts and notifications, to make it easier to see what the notification is at a quick glance of the phone. Nothing advertises this as a way to be “on your phone without actually being on your phone”.
The feature utilises the unique design of the Nothing device and now has extra functions. For example, the lights can be used to represent countdown timers, show battery life or the current volume level. The phone also has a “Glyph Composer” feature to let users create their own light and sound combinations.
The Phone 2 has a higher starting cost than its predecessor, but is still competitive compared to the latest smartphones by Apple and Samsung. The new phone is also getting a larger release, being made available in the US on launch.
Founded by Carl Pei in 2021, Nothing grabbed international attention when it launched its Phone 1 device to compete with the iPhone last year. Pei is famous for having previously co-founded Chinese electronics brand OnePlus with Pete Lau in 2013, before leaving in 2020.
Pei’s new challenger company is developing a range of devices to “make tech fun again”. The Phone 1 smartphone was hailed by Time Magazine as one of the best inventions of 2022 for its innovative design.
Nothing managed to raise $96m in a funding round last month and is backed by big names such as Google and Swedish House Mafia.
But the Apple challenger has a long journey to tackle the dominant position of the iPhone. Research by Counterpoint claims Apple strengthened its dominance in the premium smartphone market last year, taking 75pc of the total sales.
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