Home > Smartphone comparison > Phone (3) vs Phone (2) – which one to choose?

Nothing Phone (3) vs Phone (2)

79 out of 100
Nothing Phone (3)
VS
66 out of 100
Nothing Phone (2)
Nothing Phone (3)
Nothing Phone (2)

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.67-inch Nothing Phone (3) (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 4) that was released on July 2, 2025, against the Nothing Phone (2), which is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 and came out 2 years before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Memory
  1. Differences
  2. Review
  3. Specs
  4. Benchmarks
  5. Battery life
  6. Camera
  7. Comments

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Nothing Phone (3)
  • The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
  • 65% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (2371K versus 1436K)
  • Delivers 50% higher peak brightness (1508 against 1003 nits)
  • Has 50% more RAM: 12GB versus 8GB
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v6.0)
  • Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
  • Compatible with Wi-Fi 7 wireless networks
  • More recent OS version: Android 16 versus 15
  • 17% higher pixel density (460 vs 394 PPI)
  • The phone is 2 years newer
  • Supports higher wattage charging (65W versus 45W)
  • The front-facing camera can record video at 4K
  • Ready for eSIM technology
Reasons to consider the Nothing Phone (2)
  • Weighs 16.8 grams less

Review

Evaluation of Nothing Phone (3) and Phone (2) crucial features
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
Scores with a red asterisk (*) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate NanoReview Score
📱 Primary usage:

Value for money (Beta)

Should I update?
No 73% Yes
Yes, we think most users will notice the upgrade.
Updating from Nothing Phone (2) to Nothing Phone (3) makes sense and should feel noticeably better in daily use.
Main improvements: gaming, performance, and camera.

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests
Phone:
Phone (3)
vs
Phone (2)

Display

Type AMOLED AMOLED
Size 6.67 inches 6.7 inches
Resolution 1260 x 2800 pixels 1080 x 2412 pixels
Aspect ratio 20:9 20:9
PPI 460 ppi 394 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (60-120 Hz) Yes (10-120 Hz)
Max rated brightness 1600 nits 600 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 4500 nits 1600 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10+
Touch sampling rate - 360 Hz
Screen protection Corning Gorilla Glass 7i Corning Gorilla Glass 5
Screen-to-body ratio 88.5% 87.5%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DC Dimming		 - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DC Dimming
Display tests
RGB color space 95.5% 98.3%
PWM 90 Hz 90 Hz
Response time 4 ms 1 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
Phone (3) +50%
1508 nits
Phone (2)
1003 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 160.6 mm (6.32 inches) 162.1 mm (6.38 inches)
Width 75.59 mm (2.98 inches) 76.4 mm (3.01 inches)
Thickness 8.99 mm (0.35 inches) 8.6 mm (0.34 inches)
Weight 218 g (7.69 oz) 201.2 g (7.1 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP54
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber Vapor chamber
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Black White, Gray
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Repairability Good (3.34/5) -
Drop resistance Good (C) · 90 drops -
Screen-to-body ratio
Phone (3) +1%
88.5%
Phone (2)
87.5%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Nothing Phone (3) and Nothing Phone (2)
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1
Max clock 3210 MHz 3200 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 3 + 2 + 2) 8 (1 + 3 + 4)
Architecture - 2 cores at 2.02 GHz: Cortex-A720
- 2 cores at 2.8 GHz: Cortex-A720
- 3 cores at 3 GHz: Cortex-A720
- 1 core at 3.21 GHz: Cortex-X4		 - 4 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A510
- 3 cores at 2.75 GHz: Cortex-A710
- 1 core at 3.2 GHz: Cortex-X2
L3 cache 8 MB 6 MB
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Lithography process 4 nanometers 4 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon Hexagon
GPU
Graphics Adreno 825 Adreno 730
GPU shading units 1024 1024
GPU clock 1150 MHz 900 MHz
FLOPS ~2355.2 GFLOPS ~1843.2 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Nothing Phone (3) and Nothing Phone (2)
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Phone (3) +22%
2117
Phone (2)
1729
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Phone (3) +49%
6798
Phone (2)
4563
Compute Score (GPU)
Phone (3) +215%
18674
Phone (2)
5931
Compute Score (GPU) 18674 5931
Single-core score 2117 1729
Multi-core score 6798 4563
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
Phone (3) +65%
2371693
Phone (2)
1436634
CPU 707936 545410
GPU 802873 241847
Memory 376970 249651
UX 483914 399726
Total score 2371693 1436634
Samples [9 tests] [7 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Phone (3) +113%
1749
Phone (2)
823
Stability 61% 76%
Graphics test 13 FPS 6 FPS
Graphics score 1749 823
3DMark Solar Bay
Phone (3)
7966
Phone (2)
n/a
Graphics test 30 FPS -
Section 1 34 FPS -
Section 2 31 FPS -
Section 3 25 FPS -
Graphics score 7966 -
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
Phone (3)
14328
Phone (2)
n/a
Web score 13254 -
Video editing 6510 -
Photo editing 27186 -
Data manipulation 13887 -
Writing score 19394 -
AnTuTu 11 Ranking List (#179th place)
Submit your benchmark results

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Nothing Phone (3)
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-23 (Val)AnTuTu 122658288
📘 2026-07-15 (Leo)AnTuTu 112371693
📘 2026-07-10 (Sumit Pandit)AnTuTu 112392977
📘 2026-03-14 (Michael)AnTuTu 112428616
📘 2026-02-01 (TheFunder)AnTuTu 112270521
Add View all (13)
Nothing Phone (2)
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-06-11 (Ramalama)AnTuTu 111375740
📘 2026-03-26 (meqvice)AnTuTu 111395466
📘 2026-02-07 (Skvizi)AnTuTu 111473702
📘 2025-12-31 (Kilian)AnTuTu 111436722
📘 2025-12-31 (Twister)AnTuTu 111436634
Add View all (10)

Memory

RAM
RAM size 12 GB 8 GB
Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR5
Memory clock 4800 MHz 3200 MHz
Channels 4 4
Storage
Storage size 256 GB 128 GB
Storage type UFS 4.0 UFS 3.1
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 16 Android 13 (Can be upgraded to Android 15)
ROM Nothing OS 4.0 Nothing OS 2.5
OS size 26 GB 28 GB
OS updates 5 years -
Security updates 7 years -

Battery

Capacity 5150 mAh 4700 mAh
Max charge power 65 W 45 W
Battery type Silicon-Carbon (Si/C) Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (15 W) Yes (15 W)
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) Yes, (wireless)
Bypass charging No -
Fast charging Yes (63% in 30 min) Yes (62% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:00 hr 1:04 hr
Battery cycles 1400 cycles -
Battery life tests
Web browsing 08:36 hr 10:12 hr
Watching video 13:19 hr 16:37 hr
Gaming 05:45 hr 06:07 hr
Standby 117 hr 91 hr
General battery life
Phone (3)
22:56 hr
Phone (2) +1%
23:16 hr
Add your battery life

Main camera

Matrix 50 megapixels 50 megapixels
Image resolution 8192 x 6144 8192 x 6144
Zoom Optical, 3x Digital
Flash LED LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording No No
4K video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 240 FPS (1080p) 240 FPS (1080p)
Angle of widest lens 114° 114°
Lenses 1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Telephoto: 50 MP
3) Ultrawide: 50 MP
1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Ultrawide: 50 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
Standard lens
Image resolution 50 MP 50 MP
Aperture f/1.7 f/1.9
Focal length 24 mm 24 mm
Sensor Omnivision OV50H Sony IMX890
Sensor size 1/1.3" (≈ 0.77 inch) 1/1.56" (≈ 0.64 inch)
Pixel size 1.2 micron 1 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus Phase autofocus
Stabilization Optical Optical
Telephoto lens
Image resolution 50 MP -
Aperture f/2.7 -
Sensor Samsung S5KJN5 -
Sensor size 1/2.75" (≈ 0.36 inch) -
Pixel size 0.64 micron -
Stabilization Optical -
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 50 MP 50 MP
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Sensor Samsung S5KJN1 Samsung S5KJN1
Sensor size 1/2.76" (≈ 0.36 inch) 1/2.76" (≈ 0.36 inch)
Pixel size 0.64 micron 0.64 micron
Stabilization Digital Digital
Samples - Photo samples of Nothing Phone (2) from DxOMark

Selfie camera

Megapixels 50 megapixels 32 megapixels
Image resolution 8192 x 6144 6528 x 4896
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.5
Sensor Samsung S5KJN1 Sony IMX615
Sensor size 1/2.76" (≈ 0.36 inch) 1/2.74" (≈ 0.36 inch)
Pixel size 0.64 micron 0.8 micron
Autofocus No No
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 1080p (Full HD) at 60 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No No

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be) Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display		 - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 6.0 5.3
Bluetooth features LE LE
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 2 2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG		 - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
DisplayPort No -
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* 2 2
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode Standby Standby
eSIM support* Yes No
Hybrid slot No No
LTE Cat* - 20
5G support Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos No No
Speakers test
Max loudness
Phone (3) +14%
93.2 dB
Phone (2)
81.9 dB

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced July 2025 July 2023
Release date July 2025 July 2023
Launch price (MSRP) $799 $599
Successor - - Nothing Phone (3)
Sensors - Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint		 - Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
Bundled charger Not included Not included
Further details
Notes on Phone (3):
    - The Indian model has a 5500 mAh battery, compared to 5150 mAh in the international one, (including the U.S. version).
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

After analyzing all the data, we think that the Nothing Phone (3) is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
69 (56.1%)
54 (43.9%)
Total votes: 123

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