Nothing Phone 3 will be future proofed to 2032, but it’s missing one flagship feature
The Nothing Phone 3 will get seven years of updates, ensuring the handset remains fully operational until at least 2023.
While the Nothing Phone 3 launch is set for July 1, the firm has been steadily revealing information about its next flagship phone, and it’s dropped two more nuggets of information for us.
First up, it’s been confirmed the Phone 3 will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 chipset. Even though the handset is being billed as the firm’s “first true flagship” this chipset is a step below the top-of-the-line Snapdragon 8 Elite which you find in rival flagships such as the Galaxy S25 series, OnePlus 13 and Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro.
One reason why Nothing may have opted for the 8s Gen 4 over the 8 Elite could be to do with cost, as the top-tier chipset is an expensive addition to any phone. Yet Nothing co-founder and CEO, Carl Pei, has previously confirmed the Phone 3 will cost around £800 (which might mean $799 in the US), which is a flagship price.
Nothing co-founder, Akis Evangelidis has addressed why the company didn’t opt for last year’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 flagship chip, noting it “has a weaker GPU, NPU, connectivity and ISP – and default software support is 4 & 4”. With the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4, Nothing is able to provide longer software support.
Years of life, but not quite market leading
As Evangelidis notes in his tweet (below), the 8S Gen 4 chipset allows Nothing to offer ‘5 & 7’ support to users. What does this mean? Well, let me tell you.
8 Gen 3 has a weaker GPU, NPU, connectivity and ISP – and default software support is 4 & 4. Phone (3) will have 5 & 7.
— Akis Evangelidis (@AkisEvangelidis) June 17, 2025
The first number relates to the years of software updates a device will receive, while the second number refers to the years of security updates which will be made available.
So for the Nothing Phone 3, users can expect five years of major Android software updates and seven years of security updates. That means the phone will be in line for new features all the way through to 2030, and will remain up to date with the latest security protections through 2032.
According to Statista, the average replacement cycle length of smartphones in the United States is 2.67 years, which should mean the Nothing Phone 3 can hit the second hand market in the years to come and still offer users new updates.
The ‘5 & 7’ support is a strong offering from Nothing, but it’s not quite marketing leading. Apple’s new iOS 26 is coming to the six year old iPhone 11 series, while Samsung’s Galaxy S25 series and Google’s Pixel 9 range will receive seven years of both Android OS and security updates.
While the Nothing Phone 3 isn’t quite matching these flagships in terms of software updates (and if some cases chipset), it appears to be getting pretty close to them. We’ll find out just how close the Phone 3 can get, come its July 1 launch.
