Carl Pei led electronics producer OnePlus from being a scrappy model for tech fanatics providing reasonably priced telephones to 1 that produces a number of strains of gadgets, together with flagship telephones that problem Samsung and Apple. He’s operating an analogous playbook with Nothing, a five-year-old, venture-backed {hardware} startup that simply launched its most formidable system, the Telephone (3), earlier this month. The cellphone, priced at $799, is meant to compete with gadgets from Samsung and Apple.
Whereas OnePlus centered on offering value-for-money specs and expertise in its early days, Nothing centered on design and software program as a differentiator to face out from different telephones. The startup produces eye-catching gadgets with a clear design that pulls consideration.
As my former TechCrunch colleague Brian Heater stated, Nothing Telephone (1) was cool, and the Telephone (2) was a sturdy mid-range system whereas sustaining the novelty. The Telephone (3), whereas sustaining the clear design ethos, invokes mixed emotions in the direction of its design.
The cellphone has loads of uneven components on the again, together with the unusually organized digicam module. In case you have a look at the reactions on the web, some individuals appreciated it as a result of it’s not like different telephones, whereas some hated it. If you will get over the asymmetrical association, you would possibly just like the system.
Nothing additionally took away the glyph LED association that was distinguished in earlier Nothing telephones. This association made gadgets stand out much more after they illuminated to point an incoming name or a message. Through the years, the corporate made it extra customizable, permitting you to assign completely different patterns for various contacts. It even created an SDK for builders, which didn’t take off.
With Telephone (3) the LED association is substituted with Glyph Matrix, a circle-shaped second display within the high right-hand nook to show extra data. It may show primary data corresponding to time and battery stage while you press the button on the again.
The corporate has additionally included mini apps corresponding to spin the bottle, a stopwatch, and rock, paper, and scissors. That is extra of a enjoyable gimmick that you simply would possibly use to indicate off your cellphone.
A second display on a tool just isn’t a brand new idea, and it doesn’t clear up the issue of getting to show the cellphone to learn the message. You possibly can assign an emoji to a contact, but it surely simply tells you that you simply bought a message from that contact, however doesn’t inform you what it’s. So it’s important to flip your cellphone on anyway. Is the matrix cool? Sort of. Is it helpful? Not by a lot but.
The corporate is inviting builders to construct instruments for it, which may enhance issues if there’s adoption.
{Hardware} and Digicam
The corporate is utilizing a Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 processor, constructed on a 4-nanometer structure, which is a step beneath the Snapdragon 8 Elite used within the Galaxy S25, OnePlus 13, and Xiaomi 15 Extremely. Nevertheless, in your day-to-day utilization, that wouldn’t matter quite a bit.
The system additionally features a 6.67-inch AMOLED display with 1.5K decision, which is protected by Gorilla Glass 7i as an alternative of a stronger Gorilla Glass Victus. The display is vivid and has punchy colours. Whereas it helps HDR for YouTube, Nothing stated that Netflix hasn’t whitelisted its gadgets to run HDR content material.
The Telephone (3) options three 50-megapixel cameras for various functions. The primary digicam has a 1/1.3-inch sensor, which is 20% greater than Telephone (2), at a f/1.68 aperture; the periscope telephoto lens affords 3x optical zoom, 6x in-sensor, and 60x digital zoom with AI Tremendous Res Zoom; and the ultra-wide lens gives a 114-degree subject of view. There’s additionally a 50-megapixel selfie digicam with an f/2.2 aperture.
Whereas Nothing claims that this cellphone is its “true flagship,” top-tier gadgets corresponding to iPhones and Samsung Galaxy telephones have achieved distinct digicam high quality with years of labor. Nothing Telephone (3) takes good pictures, however colour accuracy wants work to match different flagship telephones. Plus, if the lighting was not superb, the cellphone produced crushed shadows and overblown highlights in darkish or vivid areas of photographs.
The cellphone has a 5150mAh battery for worldwide variations, which is nice sufficient to final you a day of average to heavy utilization. You possibly can cost the system via 65W wired charging and 15W wi-fi charging.
AI options
Nothing debuted a customizable {hardware} key known as the Important Key with the Nothing Telephone 3a and 3a Professional. This key ports over to the brand new flagship and opens up the Nothing House app, which helps you to save screenshots with notes. However unusually, you’ll be able to’t save simply notes.
The corporate can also be debuting Important search, which doubles up as an web and internet search utilizing AI.
You possibly can seek for recordsdata and occasions by typing in key phrases, or it’s also possible to ask a question like “Who received Wimbledon in 2024?” after which faucet on the AI button to floor internet outcomes utilizing Google’s Gemini fashions. That is akin to Apple integrating ChatGPT with Siri to look the net for sure queries.
Picture Credit: Screenshot from TechCrunch
The cellphone additionally will get a gathering word transcriber, which data your assembly and in addition summarizes key factors. You possibly can set off this by holding the Important key and flipping the cellphone. You possibly can double-press the Important key to file a voice snippet with transcription. Nevertheless, customers don’t have a approach to entry these recordings and transcripts exterior the Nothing cellphone, until they explicitly export them.
In a chat with TechCrunch, CEO Pei stated that smartphone is one of the best medium to distribute AI and the corporate needs to make AI options helpful for customers.
“We have now to be actually centered on constructing issues [AI features] which are helpful [for end users] and never simply name our telephones ‘Nothing AI telephones’ with some having some picture era and name it a day,” he stated. “[We are thinking about] how we will actually leverage this new know-how to assist individuals. The thought is to not compete with individuals or to take their jobs away. How can we assist individuals grow to be higher and in addition extra artistic?”
Whereas this ambition is an efficient one to have, Nothing’s characteristic set, which additionally consists of an AI-powered wallpaper era device, is consistent with different cellphone makers.
Nothing’s positioning
Nothing is making the cellphone obtainable via its web site and Amazon within the U.S. In Canada, it’s partnering with Finest Purchase.
At $799, the system instantly competes with the Samsung Galaxy S25, Google Pixel 9, and the iPhone 16. Since it’s not being provided via wi-fi provider bundles, the cellphone remains to be geared toward individuals shopping for unlocked telephones and searching for options to Samsung, Apple, and Google.
In India, the corporate’s greatest market, it’s a completely different story for the reason that cellphone begins at ₹79,999. Though the corporate affords reductions and exchanges, the costs are on par with or above the iPhone 16 and the Galaxy 25, relying on the vendor. Preliminary reactions on social media urged that the shoppers discovered the value excessive, which may affect the corporate’s gross sales.
Nothing has taken it upon itself to problem Samsung and Apple of the world, however in the mean time, quite than direct competitors, the cellphone is an efficient, cheaper different to these gadgets.