Halfway into 2026, technology makers have definitely made one thing clear: costs are going up, and consumers are footing much of the bill.
There’s one clear culprit, as AI data centres squeeze the supply of memory and storage, which in turn has a knock on effect of making everything else cost more. You can see it in new phones and computers, even forcing one to get quite public about it.
That may mean we’ll all be holding onto our phones a little bit longer, because upgrade costs could become a little difficult to deal with.
But they don’t have to.
Nothing has just revealed two gadgets focused on keeping the costs down, as the Phone (4b) looks to deliver a mid-range offering that some how gets below the mid-range mobiles it offered earlier this year, as well as a pair of somewhat equally matched earphones, as well.
For the phone, the Nothing Phone (4b) appears to find a design point somewhere been the 4a and the 4a Pro, using the glyph approach of the less expensive 4a while focusing on a larger transparent design element of the 4a Pro, a model we reviewed only recently.
The 4b will be a little less expensive, marrying a plastic unibody design with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 chip, 8GB RAM, 128GB storage, and Nothing’s Android-based operating system, complete with AI built-in.
The screen is fairly large, supporting a 6.77 inch Super AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, while the two camera system aims to get enough capability in there with a 50 megapixel wide and an 8 megapixel ultra-wide.
Between this all, one of the more impressive aspects could be the battery, with Nothing using a 5200mAh, suggesting a good day or two of life should be possible, even though the price isn’t that high.
Australians can expect the Phone (4b) in stores soon for $629, a little lower than the $649 price of the Phone (4a) and the $949 cost of the Phone (4a) Pro.
While those prices might seem a little higher than other mobiles in the mid-range, there are also some earphones that seem more properly focused on those mid-prices.
The Ear (3a) is a slightly different take on Nothing’s earphone model, supporting high-res audio, active noise cancellation (ANC), and something surprising: built-in memory.
That may be one of the more unique inclusions for earphones, with the Ear (3a) allowing you to squeeze the controls on the stem and capture the sound around you.
Think of it as a moment in time recorded from the earphones, something Nothing calls an “audio snapshot”. It could be friends talking or a speech, or maybe just a part of a song you want to recall and Shazam later.
Audio snapshots will be synced to the Nothing X app, with logged in accounts supporting transcription, and the feature can also recording calls, too.
Overall, the Nothing Ear (3a) is expected to run for up to 6 hours of playback with ANC, supporting a good four charges for a total of 25 hours of battery life with the case.
Priced at $179, the Nothing Ear (3a) is definitely more of what we expect from the mid-range, though some of those features are definitely a little more interesting than yet another pair making their way out.
Like the phone, however, you can expect to find them shortly, though you can expect these online first, the Ear (3a) available now from Nothing’s website, while the Phone (4b) lands on July 17.
