Nothing CEO Carl Pei drew crowds when he took the stage at Mobile World Congress 2023 to announce that his company’s next handset, the Nothing Phone 2, would be powered by a high-end Snapdragon 8-series chipset.
In fact, this wasn’t the revelation we’d hoped for – the prospect of sneaking a peek at the phone itself was the real draw of the show – and new information suggests that Pei’s announcement might not be as significant as first thought.
as originally found 91 mobile phone (opens in a new tab)Qualcomm exec Alex Katouzian may have falsely revealed in a now-redacted LinkedIn post (opens in a new tab) The Nothing Phone 2 will use the first-generation Snapdragon 8 chipset instead of the top-of-the-line Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.
Specifically, the new phone will use the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chipset, which will appear in late 2022 in phones like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 and the OnePlus 10T, both of which are considered to be excellent performers.
However, it also means that the Nothing Phone 2 won’t have a processor that matches the best Android phones of 2023, such as the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra and OnePlus 11 (read our Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra review and OnePlus 11 review for low- on those two phones).
That said, from a performance standpoint, the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chipset will still be a significant improvement over the Snapdragon 778G Plus in the Nothing Phone 1, and some of the best smartphones continue to deliver on Qualcomm’s 2022 hardware.
In fact, the Nothing Phone 2 should feel every bit as powerful as the best Samsung phones of 2022, with vastly superior performance and imaging capabilities compared to its predecessor.
What’s more, the Nothing Phone 2’s use of the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 instead of Gen 2 will give it an advantage in terms of price. By allowing Nothing to lower component costs, the company may be able to offer its first truly premium phone at a lower price than its top rivals.
Of course, the Nothing Phone 2 won’t be cheap – it will almost certainly cost more than its predecessor’s £399/€469/AU$749 equivalent – but it will be exciting to see what Carl Pei and company can offer under the hood A little more power (even if that power doesn’t compare to the latest and greatest in 2023).
