New Nothing Phone and Headphones Bet on Unique Design
Nothing phones have always looked a little different from the rest, starting with the 2022 original with its futuristic styling and glowing glyphs on the back. With the new Phone 3 and Headphone 1, Nothing is pushing even further into the alternative aesthetic—while most smartphones look pretty much the same, you definitely won’t mistake them for any other company’s devices.
Nothing Phone 3 has a “mysterious” design
First up is the Nothing Phone 3 , which follows the mid-range Phone 3a and Phone 3a Pro from earlier this year. The back of the phone looks like a puzzle of sliding blocks, with nods to Google’s now-defunct Project Ara modular phone project. Three 50MP rear cameras and a flash sit on four of those blocks, with what Nothing calls the Glyph Matrix in the top-right corner.
This small monochrome display can show a variety of information, including notifications, and can even be used for simple games (including Rock, Paper, Scissors). It can also function as a simple viewfinder to make sure everything is in the frame before you press the shutter button.
You can choose the phone in white or black. On the front, you have a 6.67-inch OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and a resolution of 2800 x 1260 pixels. The phone has IP68 water and dust resistance, and the cameras are complemented by a 50-megapixel selfie camera on the front.
What about the insides? The Phone 3 runs on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 processor, paired with either 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage or 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. There’s a 5,150mAh battery (up from the Nothing Phone 2’s 4,700mAh), with 65W wired charging and 15W wireless charging.
On the software front, Nothing OS 3.5 is based on Android 15. However, we’re expecting a pretty big Nothing OS 4.0 update (based on Android 16 ) in the near future: the update is due out before the end of September, and Nothing CEO Carl Pei has hinted several times that major AI features are coming in the near future.
As we suggested last month , the price could be a tough sell: The Nothing Phone (3) starts at $799 for the 12GB/256GB model, so you’re paying the same as the Google Pixel 9 , iPhone 16 , or Samsung Galaxy S25, which is serious competition. Opt for the 16GB/512GB version, and that price jumps to $899.
That’s a flagship-level price for not-quite-flagship specs: The Phone 3 doesn’t use the latest Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset like the Galaxy S25, for example. But the phone’s unusual looks and unusual features could make it appealing enough to a wide range of people — and it certainly has enough power for most.
The phone will go on sale on July 15.
The Headphone 1 has a massive appearance
Nothing also released its first full-size headphones , the Nothing Headphone 1 (using the singular form of the name). Again, you can see the reluctance to follow conventional thinking when it comes to design: passersby will definitely be able to tell that you’re not wearing a standard set of headphones on your head when you put these on.
Developed in collaboration with audio experts KEF, the headphones feature 40mm drivers and come with active noise cancellation (ANC), transparency mode, and spatial audio with head tracking (so sounds from supported sources will shift as you move your head). No one is saying you’ll get up to 35 hours of battery life with ANC on.
The Nothing Headphone 1 also features a set of physical buttons, as well as 3.5mm, USB-C, and Bluetooth wireless connectivity. Like the Nothing Phone 3, your color choices are black or white, and they’ll set you back $299. They’ll also debut on July 15.