There aren’t a lot of mobile makers in Australia, and so if you’re after something different, you won’t always find it. But not everything is the same, and Nothing aims to show it, complete with a place to buy it locally.
If you’re in the market for a phone, there’s a good chance that you’re staring down the web browser looking at some familiar names: Apple, Google, Motorola, Oppo, and Samsung.
That is roughly it these days, though there are some other smaller brands popping up. Australia’s Aspera is one option, the recent challenger of AGM, and even a brand known for some clever transparent earphones known as Nothing.
For the past couple of years, Nothing has seen earphone offerings, though its phones haven’t really made landfall locally, forcing enthusiasts keen to see a mostly see-through phone to order a phone e online.
But that looks to change, as Nothing is set to arrive in JB HiFi stores across the country, launching with last year’s Phone (2) and this year’s addition, the Phone (2a).
Named simply as what the devices are called with their model variant in parentheses, the Nothing Phone (2) and Phone (2a) are the next models in its plays for a big Android phone.
While the Phone (2) was last year’s model focused on an affordable take on the high-end, the Phone (2a) is this year’s option with a more mid-range market in mind.
There’s a sizeable 6.7 inch AMOLED screen running at 120Hz, slim bezels, and a couple of cameras on the back found inside the NFC coil, not only giving the phone a unique look at the back with eyes, but also apparently making the phone sturdier, too.
Nothing is using a combination of aluminium, steel, glass, and plastic in the process, with the back of the phone sporting Nothing’s light-up “glyph” interface to let you see light patterns for notifications instead of needing to physically pick up the phone.
Inside is a MediaTek Dimensity 7200 Pro chip, either 8 or 12GB RAM, either 128 or 256GB storage, and Android 14 out of the box with the Nothing OS 2.5 overlay on top, which looks a little different from standard Android. It will reportedly receive up to three years of OS updates and four years of security updates, which isn’t quite up to the seven years in the Pixel 8 Pro, but is better than the none to one Motorola offers in a recent G-series line-up.
For the most part, it seems as though the Nothing Phone 2a is about delivering something different for the mid-range, especially for folks who mightn’t be enthused by either the Google Pixel 7a or the mid-range Galaxy A offerings making their way out from Samsung. Priced from $529 in Australia, we could certainly see why.
“This year is all about accelerating our progress, and Phone (2a) is our first big step forward,” said Carl Pei, CEO and Co-founder for Nothing.
“Phone (2a) is going to enable more people to experience the Nothing innovations that many have come to love, and we’re confident it will become our best selling product ever,” he said.
Certainly, Nothing’s push into retail with JB HiFi will likely help that, with the $529 8GB/128GB Phone (2a) clearly going after budget models, with the 12GB/256GB model for $599 providing that little bit more memory and storage for folks who need it.
Nothing notes both variations will hit JB HiFi stores locally from April 11 in black and white, while last year’s Phone (2) will arrive from $999 for 256GB and $1099 for 512GB at the same time, as well. Interestingly, the Nothing Ear (2) earphone model won’t be a part of the JB HiFi stock, with online the place you can still expect to find those.
