A Phone That Redefines “New”

“New.” A word abused by the smartphone industry to the point of meaninglessness. Every year, we are told that a refreshed chipset, an extra camera megapixel bump, or a few AI filters are “new.” But as soon as I held the Nothing Phone (3), it felt… actually new. Not just in specs, but in spirit.

Born from Carl Pei’s vision to create a company that injects creativity, humanity, and intentional design back into tech, Nothing has built its third flagship as more than a phone. The Phone (3) is an idea: that our daily devices can inspire joy instead of fatigue, curiosity instead of obligation. It’s a design object, a creative tool, and a statement of what technology should feel like when engineered with soul.

In an industry where innovation has become a race of diminishing returns, the Nothing Phone (3) dares to reimagine what interacting with technology should look and feel like. From its matured transparent design and playful Glyph Matrix to its Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 muscle and camera system worthy of creator rigs, this is a phone that reminds us why we loved gadgets in the first place.

Design: A Matured Manifesto in Glass and Light

Design has always been Nothing’s superpower. The Phone (3) elevates their signature transparent aesthetic into a mature, confident form factor that is both artful and robust. At 160.60mm tall, 75.59mm wide, and just 8.99mm thick, it fits naturally in hand without feeling wafer-thin and fragile like ultra-slim rivals. Its weight of 218g is perfectly balanced – heavy enough to feel substantial, light enough to remain comfortable over long sessions of reading, filming, or gaming.

Flip it over, and you’re greeted by a design language that screams “Nothing” in the subtlest way possible. The three-column geometric grid layout is a symphony of asymmetry, disciplined lines, and playful circles that celebrate the brand’s love of visible engineering. This is not minimalism as emptiness; it’s minimalism as intentional expression.

The transparent back reveals layered metal and glass with precision-finished cutouts for the Glyph Matrix, while the nostalgic red recording light pays tribute to classic camcorders – reminding you that design can nod to the past while pushing into the future.

The bezels are impressively slim, measuring just 1.87mm on all sides – an 18% reduction from Phone (2) – giving the AMOLED display an uninterrupted canvas that feels immersive. Gorilla Glass 7i protects the front, while Gorilla Glass Victus shields the back, combining durability with clarity. With IP68 water and dust resistance, it’s ready for Dubai pool days, London rain commutes, or an accidental iced latte spill at your favourite café.

Every part of the Phone (3) design feels considered, from the layered transparent aesthetic to the subtle interplay of shadows and reflections that make it look like an industrial art piece resting on your desk. It’s mature, confident, and unapologetically Nothing.

Display: A Visual Feast with 4500 Nits of Fury

The Phone (3)’s 6.67-inch flexible AMOLED display is a masterpiece. Its 1260 x 2800 resolution and 460ppi density ensure razor-sharp clarity whether you’re editing micro details in Lightroom or reading text in bright daylight.

Peak brightness is an outrageous 4500 nits in HDR playback, while outdoor brightness hits 1600 nits and typical brightness remains a comfortable 800 nits. Even under harsh Middle Eastern sun or bright European summer skies, the screen remains clear and punchy.

HDR10+ support, 10-bit colour depth, and a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio make HDR videos and Ultra XDR photos burst with realism, depth, and vibrancy. The adaptive refresh rate up to 120Hz keeps scrolling smooth, while the 1000Hz touch sampling rate ensures every flick, tap, or swipe feels immediate – crucial for competitive gamers or fast-paced creators.

Add in 960Hz PWM dimming to reduce eye strain and ultra-slim bezels for immersive viewing, and Phone (3)’s display stands among the very best in its class.

Glyph Interface: Lights That Become Language and Play

What began as an intriguing light strip system in the Phone (1) has evolved into Nothing’s most complete design expression yet. The Glyph Matrix in Phone (3) is not merely decorative. It is functional light – a monochrome dot-matrix display of 489 individually addressable LEDs that communicate with you in ways your notification bar never could.

Caller ID becomes art as pixelated avatars glow when your favourite contact calls. App-specific signals flash when priority notifications arrive, all while keeping your phone face-down and your mind undistracted. The Glyph Button adds interactivity, allowing you to tap and cycle through tools and widgets or hold to select, opening up a world of playful micro-experiences called Glyph Toys.

Spin the Bottle becomes a party trick. Rock Paper Scissors lets you procrastinate in pixelated retro charm. Magic 8 Ball answers your existential “Should I quit my job?” questions with the wisdom of a Nothing community co-creation. The Solar Clock visualises the sun’s journey, while the Leveller – built with community input – lets you hang that picture frame straight with satisfying precision. This isn’t just lighting. This is playful design that celebrates curiosity.

Practical tools integrate seamlessly too. Camera timers display countdowns on the Matrix so you can pose without peeking. The Glyph Torch turns the entire Matrix into a powerful light burst, perfect for car key hunts at night. Even volume adjustments are visualised, creating a multi-sensory interaction system that feels more natural than any haptic slider could.

And for creators, Glyph Mirror transforms the Matrix into a live preview for rear camera selfies, merging utility with design in a way only Nothing dares to imagine. The red recording blink pays tribute to retro camcorders while ensuring everyone knows when you’re filming or recording a voice note.

The Glyph Interface is intentional minimalism made playful – a refreshing reminder that tech can be both serious and fun without compromising either.

Nothing OS 3.5: Fast, Fluid, and Purposeful

Nothing OS 3.5 is the culmination of the brand’s software journey so far, running atop Android 15 but feeling distinctly Nothing. The Dot Engine powers every animation, icon, and glyph with clarity and purpose, creating an interface that is clean without being sterile.

Performance is tuned for fluidity. Behaviour-learning algorithms pre-load your most-used apps, and the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4’s AI Engine delivers 60% faster AI processing than Phone (2). This results in near-instant app launches, seamless multitasking, and snappy camera operations that keep up with your creative flow.

Essential Space is perhaps the OS’s most underrated innovation. Tied to the Essential Key – a physical button on the phone’s right side – it acts as your second memory. Press once to capture screenshots or photos, long-press to record voice notes with on-device transcription, or double-press to jump into Essential Space where your captures are organised into collections, summarised by AI, and securely encrypted on-device.

Flip to Record lets you transcribe meetings by flipping your phone face-down, with recording status displayed on the Glyph Matrix – a satisfying combination of physical interaction and digital function. Essential Search, meanwhile, is a universal smart bar that finds anything from contacts to files to currency conversions in milliseconds, becoming your phone’s command centre with a swipe.

Nothing OS 3.5 feels fast, fluid, and intentional – proof that clean software design doesn’t mean feature-light, but rather, clutter-free.

Performance: Snapdragon’s Balanced Brilliance

Powering the Phone (3) is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 processor, built on TSMC’s 4nm process with an eight-core CPU clocked up to 3.21GHz and an Adreno 825 GPU. Compared to Phone (2), CPU performance is up by 36%, graphics by 88%, and AI processing by 60% – impressive leaps that manifest in real-world gains rather than just benchmarks.

This translates to editing 4K Ultra XDR videos on-device without lag, playing BGMI or Genshin Impact at high settings with no frame drops, and switching between your social feeds, Slack, Gmail, and Lightroom with buttery smoothness. The Qualcomm Hexagon NPU handles AI tasks like voice-to-text transcription and real-time scene segmentation with ease, feeling instant rather than processed.

With up to 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB UFS 4.0 storage, the Phone (3) is built to handle years of creative, professional, and daily multitasking needs. Whether you’re a creator rendering clips, a gamer grinding leaderboards, or a productivity power user running parallel apps all day, the Phone (3) keeps pace without breaking a sweat.

Camera System: Four 50MP Lenses of Creative Freedom

The Phone (3)’s camera system is a flex, plain and simple. Every lens is a 50MP powerhouse designed for creators. The main camera’s large 1/1.3” sensor with f/1.68 aperture pulls in 44% more light than Phone (2), capturing nightlife shots with richer shadows, cleaner highlights, and dramatically reduced noise.

Its lossless 35mm (1.5x) and 48mm (2x) options let photographers switch focal lengths without sacrificing detail, delivering crisp portraits and cinematic framing. The periscope camera’s 70mm lens creates beautiful background separation with macro focus for up-close textures, while the 6x lossless zoom and 60x AI Super Res Zoom unlock details miles away, stabilised with OIS and EIS for clarity at extreme ranges.

The ultra-wide camera maintains 50MP resolution with a 114° field of view, perfect for architectural captures, landscape sweeps, and immersive vlogs. Even the front-facing camera gets the 50MP treatment, producing sharp selfies and stable video for creators.

TrueLens Engine 4 ties it all together with AI-enhanced processing 125% faster than Phone (2), delivering real-time scene segmentation, brighter HDR frames, and smoother motion capture. Video maxes out at 4K Ultra XDR 60fps, using dual exposure for cinematic depth and dynamic range previously reserved for pro rigs.

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Battery: Silicon-Carbon Longevity and Flagship Speed

Battery life is powered by a 5150mAh silicon-carbon battery, offering 10% more energy density than Phone (2). It discharges efficiently down to 3.2V, providing up to two full days of moderate use and 19 extra hours of YouTube playback compared to its predecessor.

Charging is flagship-grade: 65W wired charging hits 50% in just 19 minutes and 100% in 54 minutes. Wireless charging runs at 15W, while 5W reverse wireless and 7.5W reverse wired charging let you top up accessories, earbuds, or your friend’s dying phone at brunch.

It’s fast, versatile, and intelligently managed for longevity – exactly what a flagship battery system should be.

Final Verdict: Minimalism That Performs

The Nothing Phone (3) is not just another flagship. It is a masterclass in design thinking, engineering intention, and playful interaction. It delivers Snapdragon power, camera versatility, display brilliance, and OS fluidity without ever compromising its minimalist identity.

It’s a phone that looks calm yet feels powerful, whispers “Zen” while roaring “Snapdragon 8s Gen 4,” and delivers design that performs in every aspect.

In a market of boring glass sandwiches, the Nothing Phone (3) is finally something.

MENA Pricing (Special offer):

⁠UAE: 12+256 (Aed. 2,999) 16+512 (Aed. 3,299)

KSA: 12+256 (SAR. 3,299) 16+512 (SAR. 3,699)
Qatar: 12+256 (QAR. 2,999) 16+512 (QAR. 3,299)
⁠Kuwait: 12+256 (KD. 249) 16+512 (KD. 279)
Oman: 12+256 (OMR. 319.9) 16+512 (OMR. 349.9)
Bahrain: 12+256 (BD. 329.9) 16+512 (BD. 369.9)

For a limited time, till August 3rd 2025 , customers purchasing the 12GB/256GB variant of the Nothing Phone (3), can avail a free upgrade to the 16GB/512GB variant and will get a complimentary Nothing Ear.