Nothing Phone 3 Leak Suggests A Snapdragon And Camera Upgrades

It's been a while since we heard from Nothing, a smartphone manufacturer founded by former OnePlus leader Carl Pei. The company's Nothing Phone 2a launched in early 2024, and Pei has promised a third-gen phone of some sort would come in 2025. A new leak points to three devices coming down the pike, and they'll most likely be moving to Snapdragon processors.

The Nothing Phone 2a (above) was a somewhat more modest phone than the Phone 2, which launched in 2023. Based on this leak, it appears the company will continue on with that product line. According to Smartprix, three new Nothing phones have appeared in an IMEI database, offering a hint of what's to come.

There appear to be two variants of the Nothing Phone 3a. Model A059 (codename asteroids) is the Phone 3a, and model A059P (asteroids_plus) is the Nothing Phone 3a Plus. This numbering scheme would match the notation used for the 2a and 2a Plus phones. Lastly, there's the A001 model, which is codenamed galaga. This is believed to be the second-gen CMF Phone.

The Nothing Phone 2a and CMF Phone both used MediaTek chips—the Dimensity 7200 Pro and Dimensity 7300, respectively. The rumor mill now suggests the company's 2025 releases will step up to the slightly more capable Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 chipset. With many mid-range phones skipping Qualcomm's more expensive chips, this could be a differentiator for Nothing. Of course, we anticipate these phones will also have plenty of hardware differentiation in the form of illuminated light rings (3a) and a modular design (CMF 2). The phones will also have eSIM support.

The latest builds of Nothing's Android skin provide some more hints, reports Android Authority. The Nothing Phone 3a could add a periscope telephoto lens, which is a feature usually reserved for flagship phones. The current Nothng Phones have the traditional mid-range arrangement of a wide-angle main and ultrawide secondary camera.

The new leaks don't include a timeline for Nothing to release these devices. Some of Nothing's phones have launched without US support. Hopefully, the third-gen update will end the need for a limited "beta program" in the US.