Nothing has confirmed that the Phone (2a) is the brand's latest project, being actively developed to give users the core smartphone experience of solid hardware, a dependable camera, and great software.
The news comes by way of a brief Nothing Community Update published to YouTube (video embedded below) where Nothing Co-Founder Akis reveals that the rumored Nothing Phone (2a) (codenamed Dactyl) is not only real, but focused on delivering all of the smartphone essentials while offering a "clear upgrade" over the Phone (1).
Nothing's Phone (1) was an impressive Android phone and a massive success for the Carl Pei-led debutante brand. Last year's Phone (2) release capitalized on this, delivering a flagship follow-up that many hailed as Android's very own iPhone.
Naturally, Nothing is looking to continue its smartphone successes, this time with a core model that focuses on delivering the essentials — borrowing a page from the Pixel playbook's A-Series of devices (much like the recent Google Pixel 7a) to create its own, consumer and budget-friendly smartphone model.
Nothing Phone (2a): Everything else we know
The Nothing Phone (2a) has been tipped to ditch the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor of the Phone (2) in favor of a MediaTek Dimensity 7200. Circulating rumors also point to the Phone (2a) delivering a similar 50MP main camera experience, 16MP seflie camera, up to 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, and to run on Nothing OS 2.5 (based on Android 14).
Tech tipster Sanju Choudhary suggested that the Nothing Phone (2a) could market for between 30K and 35K [rupees] in India, which is cheaper than the 40K [rupees] going rate for the Phone (2), but not by much.
However, another more established source of leaked smartphone information, Roland Quandt, suggests that the eventual price of the handset could fall below the 400 [euro] price mark, nearly cutting the Phone (2)'s price in half.
Official word on pricing, availability, and specs has yet to follow, but with this year's Mobile World Conference rapidly approaching, we could be set to see the Phone (2a) revealed in full when the event kicks off on Feb 26.
As always, stay tuned for Laptop Mag for news to follow on the latest news from Carl Pei's Nothing brand, and everything we know about the Nothing Phone (2a).
