We’ve already heard plenty of rumors about the upcoming Nothing Phone (2), and even the company revealed new pieces of information bit by bit over the past few weeks and months. As we approach the July 11 announcement date, we’re now hearing a new rumor that claims to have the official pricing for the smartphone for the European market.
Dealabs reports that the Nothing Phone (2) could receive an over 50% price hike. Now, it’s worth noting that the report is written in French, and it specifically claims the price for France, and it’s not yet clear how much the smartphone could cost elsewhere in the UK, other European countries, and even in the US.
The report claims that the Nothing Phone (2) base model could be equipped with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, while a higher-end model could have 12GB of memory and up to 512GB of storage. The base unit could retail for €729, while the higher configuration could be sold at €849. That’s ~$800 and ~$930, respectively. It’s also worth pointing out that the price could vary in different regions.
For comparison, the Nothing Phone (1) was sold for €469 in Europe, and the €729 starting price could be a significant increase. However, the price hike might not be completely unreasonable since the Phone (2) is expected to be powered by the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 flagship chipset instead of the midranger Snapdragon 778 used in the Phone (1).
The premium chip could provide faster and more reliable speeds, higher performance, better efficiency, and process more detailed images. There are a lot of benefits from Nothing using a flagship chip. Still, it’ll take some work to convince users to pay a higher price that’s more competitive than other well-established and popular phone makers such as Apple, Google, OnePlus, and Samsung.
Can the Nothing Phone (2) compete with other flagships at the rumored price tag?
If we assume the $800 and $930 price tags for the Nothing Phone (2), we can see that Nothing might have a tough job convincing its users to pick the company over other competing brands. The Google Pixel 7 Pro retails for $900, the Galaxy S23+ for $1,000, and the iPhone 14 at $800. Given that most users in the US purchase their devices through carrier plans and deals, Nothing will have to offer some incentives to make their device more appealing – and it might need more than bright LED lights on the back.
The Nothing Phone (1) was a great success for the company as Nothing managed to stand out among the competition with a great price, unique design, and great specifications for the price. The LED lights on the back and the unique user interface made the phone more distinctive and special, and it was one of a kind that hadn’t been seen before on other devices.
Nothing revealed that its Phone (1) would receive three years of OS upgrades and four years of security patches, which is impressive for a device that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. Google is one of the other brands that offer similar support for its Pixel devices, but even the online giant provides five years of security patches, most of which are usually arrive at the start of the month. Nothing, considering its size, is expected to delay some, although the company has so far delivered on its promises without any major issues.
So far, it looks like the price increase is inevitable, given the higher specifications and hardware improvements. It remains to be seen how the Nothing Phone (2) will be advertised, and what kind of perks the company and its partner carriers will offer to consumers to sweeten the deal. Whatever the case is, Nothing is doing an excellent job building up hype and advertising its device, despite it not even being available just yet. We look forward to getting our hands on the upcoming flagship and can’t wait to put it through our usual tests.
Nothing Phone 1
Nothing Phone 1 comes with a 6.55-inch 120Hz OLED display with slim bezels, a custom Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G+ processor, 900 LEDs on the back, dual 50MP shooters, wireless charging, and more.
