Nothing’s ‘first true flagship’ phone plays it a little safe

“The Glyph interface is not a gimmick,” Nothing laminitis and CEO Carl Pei told the property arsenic helium revealed the Nothing Phone 3 for the archetypal time, soon earlier announcing that its caller iteration lets you play Spin the Bottle connected the backmost of the phone.

It’s mixed messaging, but successful Nothing’s defense, you couldn’t impeach them of making that mistake elsewhere. The Phone 3, we’re told, is Nothing’s “first existent flagship phone,” a constituent the institution is keen to hammer home: flagship chip, flagship camera, flagship price. In fact, it’s truthful flagship that the institution is adjacent springing for a existent US launch, its archetypal since 2023’s Phone 2, which Pei tells maine lone makes consciousness for their “premium” phones.

At $799, the Phone 3 is priced to lucifer the iPhone 16, Galaxy S25, and Pixel 9, arsenic Nothing positions itself firmly extracurricular its mid-range origins, and Pei says the institution feels acceptable “to vie with products successful that terms level.” Preorders unfastened Friday, July 4th, with wide merchantability starting from the 15th from Nothing’s ain webstore and Amazon successful the US. Nothing says the telephone is afloat compatible with T-Mobile and AT&T, with “more constricted 5G support” connected Verizon.

This is Nothing’s astir costly telephone yet, but connected insubstantial the specs should support gait with the price. The Snapdragon 8S Gen 4 spot isn’t the astir almighty astir close now, but its show should header with each but the astir demanding mobile games, particularly paired with up to 16GB of RAM. Storage starts astatine 256GB, and for an further $100, you tin get 512GB.

The Nothing Phone 3 uses a silicon-carbon battery, a comparatively caller exertion that makes it easier to acceptable large batteries into tiny phones. Here, that means a generous 5,150mAh capacity, combined with a 65W wired charging velocity and 15W wireless charging speed. The 6.67-inch OLED surface is much than doubly arsenic agleam arsenic the Phone 2’s, and the IP68 water- and dust-resistance standing is simply a archetypal for Nothing too. All 4 of the cameras — 3 connected the back, 1 connected the beforehand — are 50-megapixel, though it’ll beryllium intolerable to accidental whether they’re immoderate bully until we get to trial the telephone retired properly. Nothing’s camera processing has lagged a small down the contention successful the past, truthful this’ll beryllium the country to watch.

All that’s successful enactment with different flagship phones, truthful what makes the Phone 3 consciousness similar Nothing? That’s wherever that new, gimmick-free Glyph plan comes in. While erstwhile Nothing phones person featured an array of airy strips that tin glow and flash successful custom patterns for notifications and ringtones, here, those person been swapped retired for a small, circular dot matrix LED show successful 1 country of the backmost of the phone.

The Glyph Matrix is instantly little striking than the older phones’ designs, and little unsocial excessively — Asus has included dot matrix displays connected the back of its ROG gaming phones for years. Pei told maine that the vantage is that customized notifications tin beryllium “much much immediate,” with easy recognizable images oregon emoji tied to circumstantial apps and contacts alternatively than abstract animations that mightiness beryllium hard to grok astatine a glance.

Then determination are the Glyph-focused games, officially dubbed Glyph Toys, designed to adhd a interaction of amusive that’s “severely lacking successful the abstraction close now.” The Phone 3 launches with Spin the Bottle, Rock Paper Scissors, and much functional fare similar a stopwatch and artillery indicator, which you tin rhythm betwixt utilizing a haptic fastener hidden among the galore shapes connected the semi-transparent rear. Pei suggests you could usage Spin the Bottle to assistance determine however to divided the measure astatine dinner, 1 of those jokes that plays good during a keynote code but doesn’t marque overmuch consciousness erstwhile you truly deliberation astir it. 

Pei insists that Nothing isn’t done iterating connected the Glyph Matrix. He calls the “expandability” the astir breathtaking portion of the caller design, citing Glyph Toys already developed based connected ideas from the company’s “community” of fans, similar a magic 8 ball. “I deliberation they mightiness invent immoderate caller usage cases we haven’t adjacent thought of yet,” Pei says.

The Phone 3 besides sees the instrumentality of the Essential Key, a broadside fastener that debuted connected the Phone 3A and 3A Pro earlier this year. It’s customizable, but by default launches Essential Space, an AI-powered app that stores and analyzes screenshots to springiness you reminders astir events oregon question plans. New to this telephone is the enactment to transcribe and summarize gathering audio, on with a cosmopolitan hunt barroom that tin way down everything from contacts to photos and reply basal factual queries.

The Phone 3 is simply a large plaything for Nothing. It’s the company’s archetypal determination into the flagship market, and its archetypal effort to ace the US successful 2 years, truthful possibly it’s nary astonishment that the phone’s caller Glyph plan is simply a small much blimpish than we’re utilized to. Still, Nothing playing it harmless has produced a bolder and much divisive telephone than immoderate Samsung oregon Apple has enactment retired successful years — conscionable don’t telephone it a gimmick.

Photography by Dominic Preston / The Verge.