Nothing Phone 2 vs Nothing Phone 1: Is the second

Nothing's Phone 2 is a refined version of Phone 1, but does it have enough improvements to justify a price jump?

Nothing's Phone 2 brings a few under-the-hood improvements to the company's flashy transparent design. The smartphone now features a flagship-level Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip and an improved camera system. However, are these upgrades worth the increased price of Phone 2?

Nothing's Phone 1 was the company's first attempt at a smartphone, and featured a cool transparent design. Though it was affordable, it wasn't available in the U.S., and came with a few compromises. But is it a better value than Phone 2?

Nothing's first attempt at a smartphone, Phone 1, broke from the market's status quo in a lot of ways. Namely, it brought a transparent design that revealed the internal components of the smartphone were carefully designed to look sleek and futuristic. However, Phone 1 was a bit underpowered and wasn't available in the U.S., which limited the reach of Nothing's smartphone. Phone 2 aims to fix a lot of those issues, packing an improved processor and upgraded camera hardware that puts it more in line with the best phones available. Most of all, it's available in more markets and regions, including the U.S. But all these improvements to Phone 2 came with a price hike, so which Nothing smartphone is the better value in 2023?

The Nothing Phone 1 debuted in July 2022 and was the first smartphone from Nothing Technology, a tech startup headed by OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei. Before making a smartphone, Nothing released the Nothing Ear 1, which were a pair of truly-wireless earbuds. Phone 1 was available in select regions and markets, including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Finland, and Portugal. Notably, Phone 1 was not available in the U.S., although there was a membership plan that included the smartphone. This was a somewhat shady way to bring Phone 1 to American customers without earning FCC certifications, which are required for most electronics sold in the U.S.

Phone 2 brings the Nothing experience to the U.S. market, and it's the first Nothing phone sold in the country without any restrictions or qualifications. As has been the case with many Nothing products, information about the second smartphone was revealed slowly throughout the summer. Phone 2 was officially released on July 17 in North America, the U.K., Ireland, India, and Hong Kong. Although it is available for purchase in the U.S., Phone 2 isn't as ubiquitous as other major cell phones that are sold stateside.

Nothing briefly sold Phone 2 at a pop-up kiosk in New York City, but the company's only official retail store is located in London. Otherwise, you can buy Phone 2 directly from Nothing's website. Third-party retailers aren't currently selling Phone 2, and neither are the major cellular carriers. Phone 2 starts at $599 for the base model that features 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. That's a slight price hike from Phone 1, which retailed for £399 (about $500). You can choose white or gray colors for Phone 2 and either 12GB/256GB or 12GB/512GB configurations.

Nothing is known for its creative design that typically features some transparent elements, so you get a look that is different from other smartphones on the market. But between Phone 1 and Phone 2, there really aren't that many changes you'll notice. That's not to say that the design of the two phones is bad, though, because they both happen to be some of the better-looking phones available. The back glass is completely transparent and allows you to take a peek at the internal components of Phone 1 and Phone 2, like the wireless charging coils and a few ribbon cables. There's also the Glyph Interface, which represents one of the biggest design changes between Phone 1 and Phone 2.

Both smartphones feature what Nothing calls the Glyph Interface. It's a series of LEDs that light up the back of Phone 1 and Phone 2, forming both a cool and functional experience. On the original Nothing Phone 1, the lights were mostly found in a singular strip that loosely resembled a 'C' shape. Now, the lights are disconnected and form an array of 11 LED strips packed with more pixels than the original Interface. Functionally, this disconnected design makes more customization options possible, like notifications and ringtones. Aside from lighting up via a toggle called Glyph Torch, a more useful way to use the Glyph Interface is to show notifications when the phone is face-down. There are more features available on Phone 2 thanks to the new LED array, but many of the features are software-based and are thus available on both models.

Otherwise, both phones look great and feel comfortable. The back glass is slightly curved on the Phone 2, which makes it sit in your hand more comfortably than the Phone 1's flat back. Additionally, the phones are thin and light, with a weight of around 200 grams for both models. Specifically, Phone 2 has dimensions of 162.1x76.4x8.6mm and a weight of 201.2g, and Phone 1 has dimensions of 159.2x75.8x8.3mm and 193.5g. Besides weight and feel, Phone 1 and Phone 2 both resemble the general design and build of an iPhone, with tweaks from Nothing.

Nothing's Phone 2 features a larger display than the company's first phone, with a 6.7-inch OLED panel. That's slightly larger than the 6.55-inch display found on Phone 1, and this accounts for the disparity in the dimensions between Phone 1 and Phone 2. Otherwise, the panels on Phone 1 and Phone 2 are fairly similar, with both phones featuring 120Hz refresh rates. Phone 2 has a 2412x1080 resolution and a 1,600-nit peak brightness rating, while Phone 1 has a 2400x1080 resolution and a 1,200-nit peak brightness rating.

That means Phone 2 will be easier to view in direct sunlight, and this will be a significant benefit if you use your phone outdoors often. The actual display quality will be nearly identical, though, since the difference in resolutions does line up with the phones' screen sizes. If you're choosing between the two phones, the display likely won't be the differentiating factor. However, if you prefer smaller or larger phones, you might be inclined to choose Phone 1 or Phone 2, respectively.

A big reason for the price jump from Phone 1 to Phone 2 has to do with the processor upgrade found on Nothing's newest phone. The original Phone 1 shipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G+ 5G chip that was underpowered even at the phone's price point. This drew criticism from both Phone 1 reviewers and fans of the Nothing brand, but Phone 2 fixes this flaw. It features Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 system-on-a-chip, which is still firmly considered a flagship mobile processor. It's true that Qualcomm already has a newer version of this chip that you'll find on flagships like the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, but Nothing was likely constrained to the 8+ Gen 1 platform due to price.

Both phones run Nothing OS, but Phone 2 is powered by a version based on Android 13. By comparison, Phone 1 is still stuck on the original Nothing OS version based on Android 12. We do expect Phone 1 to get the upgrade to Android 13 soon, and Nothing has promised three years of full operating system updates with its smartphones. But, as of now, Phone 2 is the clear winner, running the latest Android 13 version. Overall, Nothing OS is a light skin that keeps all the good parts of stock Android. Plus, you can choose right at setup whether you want to keep the Nothing look or go with a simpler version from stock Android.

Part of the experience is the aforementioned Glyph Interface as well. It's hard to say that the series of LEDs is a huge feature that puts it above competing smartphones. It's definitely more functional than something just for show. However, since the Glyph Interface is available on both Phone 1 and Phone 2, you can choose either and still make use of this cool aspect of Nothing phones with things like the new Glyph Composer.

The changes to Phone 2 include an upgraded camera system, at least as far as the main camera goes. Nothing went with a 50MP Sony IMX766 sensor on Phone 1 that featured an f/1.9 aperture and a 1/1.56-inch sensor size. The sensor size is a lot smaller than you'd find in the best smartphone cameras, and it packs somewhat underpowered hardware. As such, photos didn't really compare to modern flagships, but it's important to remember that Phone 1 retailed for around $500. At a higher price point, Nothing managed to improve the camera hardware and quality on Phone 2.

The company swapped the main camera for a 50MP Sony IMX890 sensor that features a 1/1.56-inch image sensor size and an f/1.9 aperture. This sensor produces better image quality than Phone 1, but it's unfortunately where the camera upgrades end on Phone 2. The 50MP Samsung JN1 ultra-wide camera found on Phone 2 is completely unchanged from Phone 1, with an f/2.2 aperture and a 1/2.76-inch image sensor.

Aside from tangible hardware upgrades, Nothing also expanded its engineering teams between the release of Phone 1 and Phone 2. As such, there's great optimization for the sensors in Phone 2, and the camera generally performs well in good lighting conditions. Outside of that, you'll start to see quality worsen with issues like overexposure.

Nothing Phone 2 camera samples:

In the U.S., at least, there's really only one choice: the Nothing Phone 2. After all, the Nothing Phone 1 never got a proper release stateside, and units you will find won't have great cellular support. That's without even considering the measures Nothing took to avoid FCC certifications, which we probably don't want to normalize for other smartphone manufacturers. These reasons that you might call intangible can be enough of a reason to choose Phone 2 over Phone 1.

Then when you get to the hardware side of things, for a roughly $100 price increase, you get a lot of upgrades in Phone 2. From the flagship Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor to the newer camera hardware, there are changes that you'll certainly notice in daily use. Plus, it ships with Android 13 on the Nothing OS skin, and it's a delightful software experience.

The Nothing Phone 2 brings back the transparent design the brand is known for, with a new flagship-level Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip and improved cameras.

Really the only reason why you might want to grab a Nothing Phone 1 over a Nothing Phone 2 comes down to price. It is slightly cheaper, and in regions other than the U.S., you won't experience some of the hiccups you'll find here. If you can snag a Phone 1 at a discount or through a reseller, you can get a great deal on a fascinating phone. Since Phone 1 and Phone 2 have a lot of similarities, you can try out the Nothing experience without spending too much money.

The Nothing Phone 1 blends unique transparent design with powerful hardware.

Brady Snyder is a technology journalist that has written about mobile devices and computers for multiple publications. He graduated from St. John's University in 2023 with a B.S. in Journalism and a minor in English. Prior to joining XDA Developers, Brady wrote over 500 articles for Screen Rant's tech team, where he covered an Apple beat. Based in New York City, he reviews consumer technology, software, and services. Brady is an expert in iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and macOS — but experiments with Android and Windows as well.