Nothing Phone (2) confirmed to get a big power boost from a Snapdragon 8
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The Nothing Phone (1) is a mid-range device, but for the Nothing Phone (2), it looks like the company could be targeting the high-end as it will feature a high-end chipset.
Notably, during MWC 2023, Nothing announced that the Nothing Phone (2) will use a Snapdragon 8 series chipset, the best mobile chipsets Qualcomm makes.
There’s more than one Snapdragon 8 series chipset, of course, otherwise it wouldn’t be a series, and chances are the Nothing Phone (2) isn’t running the top model, which is currently the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. found in the OnePlus 11, for example, nor a bespoke platform like you’ll find in the Samsung Galaxy S23 line.
Whichever platform Nothing chooses, any Snapdragon 8 series chipset should deliver a substantial upgrade from the Snapdragon 778G Plus found in the Nothing Phone (1), so this is promising news, especially as our review of that phone the performance of the chipset as a weak point.
We may also soon learn exactly which 8-series chipset will be used, as nothing has said we’ll hear more in the coming weeks. Unless Qualcomm makes something new, the phone will use the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 (found in the OnePlus 10 Pro, among others) or the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1, which can be found in the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4, for example.
Either way, that makes for a powerful platform and sounds like a promising upgrade – although of course it could also mean a more expensive handset than the Nothing Phone (1), and that phone’s price was one of its best selling points.
It sounds like Nothing has confidence in the phone, as Carl Pei, CEO of Nothing, told us that “our technique is much stronger than before. We had many partners help us from the outside, but today we have nearly a hundred people, so the maturity of products at the same stage is much higher
“We’ve run a lot of prototypes, unfortunately we can’t really share them yet, but it’s going much better than before.”
Analysis: what we know about the Nothing Phone (2)
Aside from this chipset news, the Nothing Phone (2) is largely a mystery so far, but not entirely.
Nothing has confirmed that – unsurprisingly – the phone will land this year, and has also said it will be a “more premium” smartphone, befitting this chipset news.
In addition, Nothing has previously said that the company is focusing on software improvements with the phone (2).
Other than that, we can imagine it will have a similar eye-catching design, but as for other features like the cameras and battery, that’s a guess for now. Hopefully we’ll get to know more about this promising Android phone soon.