After a brief hiatus with the numbered series, Nothing has finally pulled the curtains on the much-anticipated (and heavily leaked) Nothing Phone (3). Wrapped in a new skin, it’s yet another Nothing smartphone that flaunts its design, but this time with a few changes to its glyph lighting interface. The Phone (3) now comes with a Glyph Matrix — a coin-shaped dot matrix display on the top-right corner of the back panel, and it’s actually quite an interesting approach. Besides this, it’s packed with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 and comes in two variants. While all that sounds amazing, the Nothing Phone (3) starts at Rs 79,999 in India, making it the most expensive phone from the brand and also entering the big leagues. I spent a few minutes with the smartphone and here’s my initial take-away.
The Nothing Phone (3) comes in 12GB+256GB and 16GB+512GB storage variants. Nothing is also bundling a couple of exchange and bank offers, which, as per the company, could potentially bring down the starting price of the phone from Rs 79,999 to Rs 62,999. We will get more clarity on the specific bank and card offers in the coming days.
Design, Build Quality and Display
Nothing’s DNA comes screaming out in the Phone (3), but with a couple of twists. Initially, the design made me question a lot of things, especially its existence, but I think it’s starting to grow on me after spending some time with it. It’s undoubtedly the boldest design on the market right now. The Phone (3) is available in two shades: Black and White, and the back panel continues the transparent look and geometrical shapes that have been their DNA since its inception. It makes way for the camera island and instead provides an offset placement for all three cameras, with the periscope lens occupying the top left corner. The ultra-wide and primary camera occupy the below section, while the flash (also coin-shaped) sits right next to the new Glyph Matrix.
While all these are interesting, I found the toggle button to be a good addition to the entire package. It’s a pressure-sensitive button on the back panel called the Glyph Button, and it’s camouflaged quite well. Rest, you get the usual suspects like the USB-C port and speaker grilles, individual buttons for the volume rocker on the left frame. But, it does introduce the Essential Key on the numbered series for the first time, something that was introduced with the Phone 3a lineup.
The overall build quality is a blend of glass and metal, giving it a premium feel, and weighing in at 218 grams. The Phone (3) is also IP68 rated for water and dust resistance.
The design of the current phone represents a significant departure from the Glyph Lighting that we are accustomed to from the original Nothing Phone (1). It’s a much more subtle approach than what Nothing is used to, but I’m actually intrigued by it. It’s essentially a small disc of individual LEDs, 489 to be precise.
Its main purpose is to provide information at a glance. It can display call notifications that can be customized according to your contact list, and more. Besides this, Nothing has also implemented something called Glyph Toys. It’s essentially a hub where you can tinker around with the Matrix. It features items like a Glyph Mirror, Spin the Bottle, a digital clock, and a battery indicator, which can be quite helpful. It also has a stopwatch preset, a solar clock, a leveller and more stuff. So, it does have some practical uses besides just for attraction. And, all this is mapped to the Glyph Button for functionality.
There are no major upgrades in the display department, as it was already great in the first place. However, the bezels are shaved off a bit more compared to the Nothing Phone (2), making it about 18% slimmer.
It uses a flexible AMOLED panel with 1.5k resolution and can go all the way up to 120Hz refresh rate. Nothing uses a flat panel here, without any curvature. The display can go all the way up to 4500nits of peak brightness — we will be testing these claims shortly in our full review.
Camera
The Nothing Phone (3) comes with a triple camera setup at the back, all of which are 50-megapixel shooters. The primary and periscope lenses use OIS and EIS, while the ultra-wide shooter opts for EIS and comes with a 114-degree FOV. The periscope lens can go up to 3x optical zoom, 6x in-sensor zoom and 60x super zoom, which basically uses AI to sharpen the details for a better output.
And, it also doubles up as a macro camera for close-up shots. The Nothing Phone (3) can shoot videos at 4K 60fps and slow motion videos at 1080p 240fps. This time around, the selfie camera also gets an upgrade to 50 megapixels. I’m yet to test the cameras fully, so stay tuned for the full review coming soon on MySmartPrice.
Performance
The Nothing Phone (3) comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen4, a chipset also found on the iQOO Neo 10 and the Poco F7 — both of which cost almost half the price of this phone. It comes with up to 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. While the global variant of the Nothing Phone (3) gets a 5150mAh battery, the Indian variant gets a 5,500mAh pack, and this time around, Nothing has opted for a Silicon Carbon battery. Additionally, the Phone (3) also supports 65W fast wired charging using any PD charger. As for wireless charging, it can take up to 15W.
The Nothing Phone (3) runs on NothingOS 3.5 based on Android 15. The company promises 5 years of updates and 7 years of security patches.
Final Thoughts
The Nothing Phone (3) is quite an interesting product and definitely a big upgrade from the Nothing Phone (2) as an overall package. The new Glyph Matrix is a great addition, moving away from the light strips, which were distracting after the initial excitement. The camera upgrades to the front camera are also quite decent, and the overall look and feel of the phone are premium
That said, at a starting price of Rs 79,999, the Phone (3) is quite a costly phone for what it offers. Moreover, it faces tough competition from other phones like the Samsung Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus, iPhone 16 and 16 Plus, Xiaomi 15, OPPO Find X8, and more. All of which are capable of offering a deeper flagship experience. So, it may not aim for perfect symmetry in design, but the Nothing Phone (3) tries to keep things balanced. And while it does manage that balance as an overall package, it tilts just enough in India’s pricing landscape to feel, well, asymmetrical.
