Nothing Phone 2 proves the most exciting $600 Android flagship in 2023 might not be Pixel 8 by making the Pixel flagship Google keeps failing to make.
Yes… Everyone seems to be focusing on the price of the Phone 2, and that’s understandable, since the successor to the Phone 1 is now roughly €200 more expensive, starting at $599/£579/€649. And, by the way, as you can tell by the official US pricing, the good news is that the Phone 2 is now available in the United States!
Anyway… Of course, 200 bucks is a big price increase in the world of phones – in fact, it’s one we see quite rarely in the industry, but you know what? I think it makes total sense. Why? Well, because of three main reasons…
For one, the Nothing Phone 2 now looks a lot more like a flagship phone – something the Nothing Phone 1 never was. That’s because it’s running on the flagship-grade Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip; it has an upgraded primary and selfie cameras with flagship specs; a new, larger, and much brighter display that refreshes from 1-120Hz to save energy; a bigger battery with faster charging, and even a slight upgrade to the water-resistance, which is now IP54.
This is indeed a big spec upgrade that comes at a cost but there’s so much more going on with the Nothing Phone 2 that the bump in specs might not show you:
But in case you’re wondering why this story will focus on how the Nothing Phone 2 would stack up specifically against the Google Pixel, well… As I predicted a while ago, the Nothing Phone 2 now costs basically the same as the Pixel 7 in the US, UK, and Europe. And although Carl Pei might not admit the Phone 2 is meant to be a direct Pixel competitor, I believe Nothing’s pricing speaks for itself.
The other reason I look at the Nothing Phone 2 as a potential Pixel-killer is the fact that it can basically give you the Pixel’s clean software experience (if that’s what you want) but in a package (read: design) that stands out above (literally) every other phone on the market. Or if you find the Pixel’s clean Android to be a little too dull and boring, Nothing OS 2 is ready to give you a completely unique, yet tastefully put together Nothing UI that (IMO) only Apple and HTC ever managed to deliver.
Is Nothing Phone 2 a better version of the Pixel 7? For starters, if you look at both spec sheets, and our Nothing Phone 2 review, and Nothing Phone 2 vs Pixel 7 comparison what’s quite interesting to see is that the Nothing Phone 2 beats the Pixel 7 in several important categories of the smartphone experience…
Nothing Phone 2 runs on a noticeably faster chip compared to the Pixel 7 – the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 has proven itself as one of smoothest, most reliable processors in recent years, (Carl Pei even said that was the reason he decided to use this particular chip over anything else)
Nothing Phone 2 has a more advanced, and outright better display than the Pixel 7, which is stuck at 90Hz, has a lower peak brightness, and doesn’t support LTPO, which makes it less efficient
Nothing Phone 2 has a much wider ultra-wide camera than the Pixel 7, which also doubles a macro shooter thanks to having auto-focus, as well as a 32MP selfie cam that can produce a lot more detail than the Pixel’s 11MP snapper – check out our Nothing Phone 2 review to decide if the specs make a difference in actual photo/video quality
Nothing Phone 2 has a noticeably larger battery than the Pixel 7, and it charges at 45W as opposed to the 18W on the Pixel; that means you can expect the Nothing Phone 2 to last 1-2 hours longer than the Pixel 7, and charge noticeably faster, taking about an hour to get from 0-100% – the Pixel takes twice as longAs you can see, the higher $599/£579/€649 price of the Nothing Phone 2 makes a lot more sense when put into context.
