According to a recent statement by a Qualcomm executive, the upcoming flagship device from Nothing, referred to as the Nothing Phone (2), will be powered by the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip. This is noteworthy because this chip is from 2022, whereas the current flagships in 2023 come with a newer chip.
While this would make the Nothing Phone (2) stronger than the previous model, which used the mid-range Snapdragon 778G+ chip, it still may not match the performance of other premium Android devices. In summary, the upcoming Nothing Phone (2) will likely use the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip, which will give it a performance boost but may not make it a top-performing device compared to other high-end smartphones.
Nothing recently announced that its upcoming flagship phone, set to launch later this year, will feature a Snapdragon 8 series chip. This announcement led to speculation that the phone would be positioned to compete with high-end devices like the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, rather than being a mid-range offering.
However, according to a LinkedIn post by Alex Katouzian, a Senior Vice President and General Manager at Qualcomm, the phone will actually feature the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip. This is the same chip that was used in last year’s OnePlus 10T and Samsung’s fourth-generation foldable devices. This clearly suggests that while the phone will offer improved performance compared to Nothing’s previous mid-range offerings, it may not be able to match the highest-end devices in terms of performance.
It’s not surprising that the Nothing Phone (2) may feature an older processor, given the similarity to the strategy used by Carl Pei’s former company, OnePlus. When OnePlus launched in 2014, their early flagship devices featured off-the-shelf Qualcomm chips from the previous generation and were released in the summer, after the usual flurry of flagship launches in the late winter. This approach allowed OnePlus to offer high-end features at a lower price point, and it’s possible that Nothing is taking a similar approach with its upcoming phone.
Despite being a slightly older processor, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 is still relevant in 2023, as it is used in Samsung’s foldable devices, which are some of the most expensive smartphones on the market. For Nothing’s upcoming Phone (2), using this processor would be a significant upgrade from the mid-range Snapdragon 778G+ used in its previous device, which received criticism from reviewers for its performance capabilities.
While the company did tweak the chip to support wireless charging, the performance remained the same. It will be interesting to see how Nothing manages to keep the cost down on the Phone (2), considering the previous model was priced under $500. However, a newer processor could potentially help improve the camera algorithms, which received mixed reviews on the first-gen phone release.
