Nothing Phone (2a) arriving on March 5: Everything you need to know

Here is everything that we have learned so far about the upcoming Nothing Phone (2a), which is also expected to be the most affordable smartphone from the brand.

A similar design

Phone (2a) retails the brand’s iconic Glyph lighting (Image credit: Nothing)

Looking at the rear panel, it is very evident that the design of the Phone (2a) is in line with the company’s design philosophy. However, it also looks drastically different from the first two phones, thanks to the positioning of the dual-camera setup at the top centre with three Glyph light bars. The horizontally positioned dual-camera setup gives this phone a new look, and the entire back panel seems to revolve around the camera unit.

In one of the videos, the company has also confirmed that the Nothing Phone (2a) uses a plastic frame and a plastic back panel. However, the power and volume buttons are still made using metal. On the white variant, the company is using black coloured buttons to offer a contrasty look to the device, which reminds me of the Pixel 4a.

The Nothing Phone (2a) only has three Glyph light bars, while the Phone (2) (review) has 11. The plastic frame and body also mean the phone could be significantly lighter. Upon close inspection, it becomes very evident that the Nothing Phone (2a) will miss out on wireless charging, which has been a staple feature on previous models.

From the front, the device looks just like the Phone (2). According to leaks, the Phone (2a) comes with a 6.7-inch AMOLED screen with 120Hz refresh rate and the device also includes an in-display fingerprint sensor.

Powered by a custom MediaTek chip

Phone (2a) is the first MediaTek SoC-powered phone from the brand (Image credit: Nothing)

A few days ago, Carl Pei, the CEO of Nothing confirmed that the Phone (2a) is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 7200 Pro SoC. One of the teaser images of the Phone (2a) also confirms that the phone offers up to 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of internal storage. Considering the previous devices, the Phone (2a) might not offer a microSD card slot, but it is likely to include dual nano SIM slots.

The Mediatek Dimensity 7200 is an octa-core processor fabbed by TSMC using a 2nd Gen 4nm process with a peak CPU clock speed of 2.8 GHz and Arm Mali G610 MC4 GPU. The chipset supports UFS 3.1-type storage, and we expect to see the same on the Phone (2a). It also comes with APU 650 to handle AI-related tasks.

Considering the capabilities of the Dimensity 7200 SoC, the Nothing Phone (2a) will offer 5G connectivity, Bluetooth 5.3, and Wi-Fi 6E. As per the leaks, just like the Phone (1) and (2), the Nothing Phone (2a) will also offer a dual 50 MP camera at the back, and these could be newer and better sensors.

Another leak suggests that the Phone (2a) will come with a 5,000 mAh battery, which makes it the biggest battery that the company has ever shipped on a phone. Considering this, we expect the Phone (2a) to deliver enhanced battery life, and it is also expected to support fast charging of 45W.