Last year's Nothing Phone 2 was an overall positive improvement on the Nothing Phone, the company's first flagship mobile device. The rear LEDs are a little brighter; the hole punch camera is centered; the display is slightly more vibrant; and, perhaps most importantly, the battery life is better.
And when compared to other flagships, the Phone 2 feels like a value. It starts at $599 for a model with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage (as of this writing, you can even get one for $50 off). Boost the RAM and storage to 12BG and 512GB, respectively, and the price tops out at $799, or the cost of the base iPhone 15—provided you pay full price (with those specs, the Nothing Phone 2 will cost you $679 on sale right now). Of course, the devices cuts some corners to reach that price: The display is 1080p, lower than that offered with other phones; the cameras aren't super impressive (as Marques Brownlee highlights in this YouTube review), and it's not as water and dust resistant as other phones in its class.
However, that's not stopping Nothing from working on a midrange smartphone to complement the Phone 2. The company plans to call it Nothing Phone 2a, evoking Google's midrange line of Pixel devices. Now, to be fair, the company hasn't explicitly labeled the Phone 2a a midrange device, but in the announcement video, Nothing implies the 2a will be cheaper than the Nothing Phone 2, and will take advantage of efficiencies in manufacturing to pass savings to the end user.
Unfortunately, at this time, we don't know anything else about the phone itself. Nothing is keeping the 2a's specs pretty close to the vest. What is known is when the company will launch the device: on March 5, during an event that will take place at 6:30 a.m. ET. The company also has a separate event scheduled during Mobile World Congress later this month. Initial reports assumed the event would be about Nothing Phone 3, but now it seems more likely they'll highlight the Phone 2a.
You won't be able to just buy a Nothing Phone 2a...yet
We also know that people in the U.S. won't be able to simply buy the phone, like they would the Phone 2. Instead, Nothing is making the phone available for developers through the Glyph Developer Kit. The intention is for devs to buy a Phone 2a through this program in order to test their apps using Nothing's glyph system, and optimize those apps for the LEDs on the back of the phone.
Nothing hasn't released any additional information about the program, so it's not clear whether you need to be a registered developer in order to order the Phone 2a, or when (of if) the phone will be some direct-to-consumers. However, as The Verge notes, Nothing's first phone had a similar "Beta Membership" program, charging customers $299 to try out Phone 1.
Check out the Nothing Phone 2:
Phone 2 (8GB RAM and 128GB of storage): $599 (on sale for $549)
Phone 2 (12GB and 256GB of storage): $699 (on sale for $599)
Phone 2 (12GB and 512GB of storage): $799 (on sale for $679)