Nothing is making a giant deal out of the Cellphone 3, and for good motive; will probably be a substantial improve over the Cellphone 2 that debuted two years in the past. I like what Nothing is doing with the software program, and utilities like Important Area give its telephones a definite benefit.
Forward of the July 1 unveil, Nothing is constructing curiosity within the machine by slowly teasing particulars, such because the internals and design. The Cellphone 3 is confirmed to run the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4, a 4nm chipset that makes use of the Cortex X4 and A720 cores. Whereas it’s a good platform in its personal proper — Nothing is touting heady features over the 8+ Gen 1 within the Cellphone 2 — it is not the very best that Qualcomm has to supply.
That honor nonetheless belongs to the Snapdragon 8 Elite. Having used two dozen telephones that function the chipset, I can say with some confidence that it’s quicker than absolutely anything else on Android, and it even holds its personal in opposition to the A18. Curiously, Qualcomm went with an all-new customized core design this yr, and the swap to the 3nm node means it has higher effectivity. You miss out on each upgrades on the 8s Gen 4; it makes use of common Cortex cores and is manufactured on a 4nm node.
The Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 debuted on the iQOO Neo 10 final month, and having used it, I got here away with the impression that it’s a strong alternative — for a mid-range machine. That is why Nothing’s determination to apply it to the Cellphone 3 is puzzling; the producer is clearly positioning the upcoming cellphone as a flagship, nevertheless it is not together with a flagship chipset.
Nothing is probably going going to promote the Cellphone 3 within the neighborhood of $800, and never together with the very best silicon places the Cellphone 3 at a drawback in opposition to all of the Snapdragon 8 Elite-powered gadgets of 2025, together with the Vivo X200 Extremely, Xiaomi 15 Extremely, OnePlus 13, POCO F7 Extremely, Magic 7 Professional, and iQOO 13. Each the iQOO 13 and POCO F7 Extremely price considerably lower than $800, and with both machine accessible in areas Nothing is concentrating on (India and the U.Ok.), I do not see how the Cellphone 3 can stand out.
With such intense rivalry within the high-end section, any vulnerabilities are going to be magnified, and Nothing’s option to go together with the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 may probably have an effect on the machine even earlier than its launch. It is not simply in regards to the cores both; the ISP makes a giant distinction today, and with the Cellphone 3 touted to ship higher cameras, going with Qualcomm’s finest ISP would have made the machine that a lot stronger.
And as a lot as I dislike generative AI options, that is clearly a key level of differentiation with most producers today, and having the very best NPU would’ve made the Cellphone 3 stand out. Nothing counts fanatics as a key portion of its person base, and it’s this viewers that cares in regards to the spec sheet greater than most.
In fact, a cellphone is rather more than its specs, and Nothing has proven previously that it is ready to ship gadgets with good optimization even with out utilizing the very best {hardware}. However I can not assist however really feel that the model is being a bit disingenuous by calling the Cellphone 3 a real flagship — that clearly is not the case.
I loved utilizing the Cellphone 2 when it got here out, and the funds Cellphone 3a and 3a Professional this yr. I am intrigued by what the Cellphone 3 has to supply; I will reserve judgement till I take advantage of the cellphone, however I wished Nothing to ship a tool that is on the identical traces as different flagships, and it is annoying that we do not get that.
