Tech company Nothing has big plans for 2025, as a leaked email already revealed. But though we knew a new phone announcement was imminent, today’s model is a surprise. Instead of the expected Phone (3), it’s the Phone (3a) series. Here’s why this makes sense.
Nothing Phone (3a).
Previously, Nothing released the Phone (2) and then the Phone (2a), so you might have thought they’d got out of order here, a bit like those street addresses where 17a comes before 17 for no apparent reason.
But I think there’s a method here. The (a) suffix indicates a more affordable model with slightly reduced specs. As Nothing’s co-founder Akis Evangelidis said in the Community Quartely Update video that announced the new phone: “For the (a) Series we have a different set of users. When people buy a smartphone some are looking for the greatest specs, they want the latest innovations and processors. Yet there are some other users that are equally excited about tech, but are happy with just a great user experience—that’s who the (a) Series is for. We’re really focused on the core user needs in terms of camera, screen, processor, and of course design.”
Nothing has always set it up to challenge the leading smartphone brands, including Apple. And numerous reports have said that this Spring, Apple will be introducing its own affordable phone, the iPhone SE fourth-generation (although it could come with an entirely different name).
So, to launch the Phone (3a) at the same time seems a clever move. The unveiling will take place on Tuesday, Mar. 4, which coincides with this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and might beat Apple to the punch by a few weeks.
We don’t know any more about the new phone, thought the teasing image shows the same pair of cameras peeping out of the back of the phone and, of course, the company’s trademark LED lights, called glyphs.
The company is growing apace, the video tells us, with more than $1 billion in lifetime revenue since October 2020, and with more than half of that revenue coming in 2024.
One more thing: note that it says “series”. So, don’t be surprised if there’s more than one phone coming.
More as we have it.