Nothing Phone 2 review: At a glance
- What is it? The Nothing Phone 2 is the sophomore Android phone from the London startup brand led by OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei, and the first to be made available to buy in North America. Following on from the warm reception of the Phone 1, the Nothing Phone 2 sticks with the signature Glyph lighting and transparent design while pushing performance to the next level with a high-end Snapdragon 8 series processor and making further refinements that elevate it from the mid-range to affordable flagship status.
- What is the price? The Nothing Phone 2 is priced at $599 for the base model (8GB/128GB) in the US, with higher-spec variants retailing for $699 (12GB/256GB) and $799 (12GB/512GB). The Nothing Phone 2 starts at £579 in the UK, €679 in other European regions, and CAD$929 in Canada.
- Where can you buy it? Pre-orders for the Nothing Phone 2 started on July 11 on Nothing’s online store. General availability begins on July 17.
- How did we test it? I tested the Nothing Phone 2 for seven days. The review unit was supplied by Nothing.
- Is it worth it? The Nothing Phone 2 enters a North American smartphone market starved of affordable flagship phones not made by Google, and does so with all the power of an elite handset and the effortless cool of the Nothing Phone 1 that never reached US shores. If you’ve been waiting for a Pixel 7 alternative with style and substance, and can forgive a handful of concessions (most notably on durability) for superior performance and retrofuturistic vibes, then follow the light and grab yourself a Nothing Phone 2 without hesitation.
Nothing Phone 2
Should you buy the Nothing Phone 2?
Credit: Damien Wilde / Android Authority
The Nothing Phone 2 carries over the same transparent glass design and LED lighting array — portentously dubbed The Glyph — from the Nothing Phone 1, but ups the ante with more powerful internals, subtle build tweaks, and other minor spec bumps. The result is a familiar Android phone with a fractionally higher price tag, but one that pushes beyond the mid-range trappings of its predecessor to take on the biggest names in the business.