Nothing Phone (3) Launches with Glyph Matrix, Snapdragon 8s Gen 4

Nothing will release its flagship smartphone “Phone (3)” at 9:00 on August 28. The series will be available in two colors, white and black, including a 12GB memory/256GB storage model and a 16GB/512GB storage model. In addition to the direct sales website “Nothing.tech,” it will be exclusive to Rakuten Mobile. In addition, sales at Rakuten Mobile stores are expected to expand the number of stores operated compared to before.

Abandoning the glowing back, adopting the new “Glyph Matrix”

It is equipped with a 6.67-inch flexible AMOLED display with a resolution of 1,260x2,800, adopting a transparent geometric design. There are a total of four cameras, three external cameras and one internal camera, all supporting 4K video recording. The model announced globally in July now seems to have been unveiled for the Japanese market. The model for the Japanese market is equipped with FeliCa and compatible with Osaifu Keitai. In addition, it is compatible with eSIM. The “Glyph Interface,” which was a major feature of the previous series, has been canceled from the glowing back specification.

On the other hand, the Glyph Interface adopts a new approach by using a combination of “Glyph Matrix” and “Glyph Button,” displaying various information as pixelated picture icons on a small circular micro-LED display. The chip is equipped with Snapdragon 8s Gen 4, which the company explains has greatly improved overall efficiency compared to Phone (2). It uses a 5150mAh silicon-carbon battery, supports 65W output charging and 15W wireless charging. In addition, it can wirelessly power the company’s fully wireless earphones. It also has IP68-equivalent waterproof and dustproof performance.

The operating system is Nothing OS 3.5 based on Android 15. In addition to plans to update to Android 16 and Nothing OS 4.0 in the third quarter of 2025, it will provide five years of major Android updates and seven years of security updates.

What is the newly adopted “Glyph Matrix”?

The back of the body adopts a new design combining geometric shapes and modular structures. Soft curves and circular patterns are arranged in three rows of grids in a disciplined manner, both interesting and possessing timeless structural beauty. On the other hand, the bezel width of the body’s surface screen is 1.87mm. It is said that the four sides around the screen are uniformly wide to create a balanced and immersive experience. The newly installed “Glyph Matrix” is a circular black-and-white display with 489 individually illuminated micro-LEDs. They are displayed in your own dot style, such as notifications from contacts or applications.

In addition, the “Essential Notifications,” which are planned to be added in updates after release, allow you to assign specific icons to unread notifications from specific contacts, applications, and keywords. You can switch/select notifications in the Glyph Matrix by tapping/holding the Glyph Button located under the circular display. You can switch between time, battery level display, and mini-games such as “Glyph Toys.” In addition, a public SDK is provided to allow general software developers to develop Glyph Toys.

The brightest display in Nothing’s history – AI and processing power also improved

Looking closely at the hardware specifications, the display part is equipped with a 6.67-inch flexible AMOLED display with a resolution of 1,260x2,800, as mentioned above. The pixel density is 460 ppi, and it also supports HDR10+. The brightness is 4,500 nits peak brightness (when playing HDR content), 1,600 nits full-screen outdoor brightness, and 800 nits standard brightness, making it the brightest display in Nothing smartphone history.

In addition, it supports an adaptive refresh rate of 30Hz~120Hz. The touch sampling rate is 1000Hz, which is a significant improvement compared to the 240Hz of Phone (2). It also explains that using 2160Hz PWM dimming makes it eye-friendly and practically comfortable. The chip is also equipped with the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 mobile platform. It is said to adopt a 4nm process technology and further improve performance through an upgraded Qualcomm Kryo CPU architecture and cutting-edge Qualcomm Adreno GPU.

Compared with Phone (2), CPU processing speed increased by 36%, GPU graphics performance improved by 88%. Processing performance for AI-related tasks improved by 60%, and image recognition accelerated by 125%. As for the reason for choosing Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 instead of the top Snapdragon 8 Elite, Nothing Japan Managing Director Yoshirou Kurozumi explained: “We considered the balance between price and future potential. These made the final price relatively lower than other companies’ flagship models.”

In addition, Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 itself has the ability to support Snapdragon Sound, but Nothing has not disclosed whether Phone (3) supports Snapdragon Sound.

Camera functions also enhanced

For the first time, Ultra XDR video is supported. The camera part consists of a main camera, a 70mm periscope (telephoto) camera, an ultra-wide-angle camera with a field of view of 114 degrees, and a selfie front camera, all with 50MP pixels. In addition, all cameras can shoot 4K (60fps) video. The main camera and periscope camera are also equipped with optical image stabilization. The main camera is equipped with a 1/1.3-inch large sensor, said to be the best in its class, and also improves shooting capability in dark places.

Lossless zoom, said to be digital zoom without loss of image quality, supports 35mm (1.5x) and 48mm (2x) on the main camera, while the periscope camera supports up to 6x. The periscope camera can also use AI super-resolution 60x zoom.

The image processing engine is equipped with TrueLens Engine 4. Using the high-performance ISP and AI engine in Snapdragon 8s Gen 4, it is said to process photos 25% faster than Phone (2), achieving real-time scene segmentation, noise reduction, smoother motion, and bright powerful HDR shooting. In addition, the device is the first Nothing smartphone to support Ultra XDR video. By shooting each frame with double exposure, it adjusts the balance between shadows and highlights to obtain vivid and realistic images.

AI automatically organizes photos and voice memos and recommends them to users. The unique Nothing OS 3.5 uses a variety of functions such as “Essential Search,” “Flip Recording,” and “Essential Space.” For example, Essential Search is a smart search bar that can be accessed simply by swiping up from the bottom of the home screen, allowing you to quickly find contacts, photos, files, and more.

Flip Recording is a function that automatically records and transcribes meetings, identifies speakers, and summarizes recorded content. You can use this function by holding down the Essential Key on the side of the body and flipping the device. Essential Space is a function that supports AI storage and organization of information such as ideas, notes, and content. Previously provided as a beta version on the company’s smartphones, this time it is officially released. For example, this function allows you to capture the screen by pressing the Essential Key on the side of the device once, hold to record a voice memo and convert audio to text on the device, and send photos directly from the camera app to Essential Space. AI then automatically organizes and catalogs this content, generating audio transcriptions, image descriptions, personalized recommendations, summaries, and action plans.

In addition, the battery material uses a new silicon-carbon composite instead of the conventional graphite negative electrode. Compared with Phone (2), this increases energy density by 10%. Discharge efficiency has also been improved, power up to 3.2V can be used, and working time per charge has been increased. For example, with this advanced battery consumption efficiency management and the large capacity of the battery itself, it has succeeded in increasing YouTube video playback time by up to 19 hours compared to Phone (2). Its appeal is that it can run stably all day even when handling cameras, games, editing, etc.

It can be fully charged in 54 minutes, and the battery power can be restored to 50% in 19 minutes. Even with just 10 minutes of charging, the battery can be restored to 28% from the start of charging.