Nothing Phone (3) first impressions: it’s all or nothing
Nothing took the stage in London on Tuesday to unveil its 2025 flagships, the Nothing Phone (3) and the brand’s first over-ear headphones, Headphone (1). While Nothing has always embraced transparency, literally and metaphorically, the Phone (3) builds on that identity with a fresh design language and meaningful upgrades under the hood. With a starting price of Rs 79,999, the Nothing Phone (3) is the most expensive phone from the brand yet, and the company seems to be going all out with this one. I got my hands on the Nothing Phone (3) at the sidelines of the launch event in London, UK, and here are my thoughts.
The Phone (3) grabs your attention with its asymmetrical rear layout. While the transparent back remains true to Nothing’s roots, the design elements have been restructured into a three-column grid. The standout feature? A circular Glyph Matrix display in the top-right corner is made for glanceable information.
The Glyph Matrix display consists of 489 LEDs and doubles up as a dynamic notification screen. It shows caller IDs, app-specific alerts, contact avatars, and a lot more. A new pressure-based haptic button, called Glyph Button, present in the centre right side lets you toggle between various widgets and mini-apps on the Glyph Matrix display – like a mirror mode for selfies, simple games like Rock Paper Scissors, and even a battery level indicator. The haptic response felt good.
What started as decorative LED strips on Phone (1) has evolved into a functional secondary display. The Glyph Matrix offers pixel-style animations for caller ID, contact avatars, app-specific alerts, and more. Tapping the Glyph Button lets you cycle through Glyph Toys, a quirky suite of micro-tools that includes:
Glyph Mirror (rear selfie preview)
Spin the Bottle, Rock Paper Scissors
Magic 8 Ball, Solar Clock, Digital Clock
Battery indicator, Stopwatch, and more
It’s novel, yes, but also feels genuinely useful and an effort to reduce screen time while staying in touch.
Elements like the red recording light, interactive Glyph Button, and a more mature metal-glass layering approach make the Phone (3) feel playful yet polished. I also feel the asymmetrical back design is something that will throw you off initially, but might grow on you later.
The Phone (3) sports a 6.67-inch flexible AMOLED display with up to 120Hz refresh rate, HDR10+, and a peak brightness of 4,500 nits. Bezels have been reduced to just 1.87mm, a notable improvement over its predecessor.
On the software front, Nothing OS 3.5 (based on Android 15) ships out of the box. A promise of five years of major OS updates and seven years of security updates makes it futureproof and in line with other flagships in the segment. Nothing also confirmed an upgrade to Android 16 with Nothing OS 4.0 by Q3 2025.
Powering the Phone (3) is the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 chip, delivering impressive on-paper gains: up to 36% better CPU, 88% faster GPU, and 60% enhanced AI performance compared to the Phone (2). We have seen this chipset power phones in the Rs 30,000 to Rs 40,000 segment like the POCO F7 and iQOO Neo 10. But at Rs 80,000, the chipset is a few steps below the Snapdragon 8 Elite found in rival phones like the Samsung Galaxy S25, Xiaomi 15 Ultra, the Dimensity 9400 powering the Vivo X200 Pro, or the A18 chip inside the iPhone 16.
While real-world performance remains to be tested, initial UI responsiveness and multitasking felt snappy in my short time with the device.
The Nothing Phone (3) comes with 50MP cameras across the board:
50MP main camera (1/1.3″ sensor, OIS, 2x in-sensor zoom)
50MP periscope lens (3x optical, 6x lossless, 60x AI Super Zoom)
50MP ultra-wide (114° FOV)
50MP selfie camera
All four cameras can shoot 4K 60fps, and there’s even Ultra XDR video, which uses dual-exposure frames for punchier contrast and dynamic range. Whether these specs translate to flagship-grade photography will be something we will test in the coming days and share with you in our full review.
The India variant packs a 5,500mAh silicon-carbon battery, a notable step up from the 4,700mAh Li-ion cell in the Phone (2). The company claims up to two days of usage. Fast charging also sees an upgrade to 65W, alongside 15W wireless and reverse wireless charging. We will have more to say on the phone’s battery life in our full review, after we have spent a few days testing the phone in real-world usage.
The Nothing Phone (3) starts at Rs 79,999 for the 12GB+256GB model, and goes up to Rs 89,999 for the 16GB+512GB version. With discounts, the effective pricing comes down to Rs 62,999 and Rs 72,999, respectively.
At this price point, the Phone (3) is taking the fight to the iPhone 16 and Samsung Galaxy S25. It is pricier than the likes of the OnePlus 13, Vivo X200, and Xiaomi 15. The Nothing Phone (3) will need to impress across the board, especially in performance, imaging, and software experience, to truly stand out. It’s all or nothing for Nothing!
Based on my brief hands-on time, the Nothing Phone (3) feels like the company’s most complete product yet. Stay tuned to our full review to know whether the hardware, software, and quirky features justify the price tag.
Disclosure: The writer is attending the Nothing Summer Event in London on Nothing India’s invitation.
