At the MWC 2023, Nothing’s founder Carl Pei confirmed that the Nothing Phone (1) will be powered by Snapdragon 8 Series chipset, without revealing the exact model number. Many expected it to be Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 or its successor, since the phone is not expected until the end of this year.
However, in a LinkedIn post, Alex Katouzian, SVP and General Manager of Mobile accidentally confirmed that the phone will be powered by Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC before editing it to Snapdragon 8 Series.
Even though the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is faster, the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 is a flagship SoC, which supports LPDDR5 RAM, UFS 3.1 storage and Wi-Fi 6E support. The latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 supports LPDDR5X RAM, UFS 4.0 storage and Wi-Fi 7 support.
Opting for Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 instead of the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 should cut the cost of the phone, but it should be costly compared to Nothing Phone (1), which uses a mid-range Snapdragon 778G+ SoC. The company already said that the Phone (2) will be more premium.
OnePlus recently launched two phones, the flagship OnePlus 11 with Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC and a cheaper OnePlus 11R model with Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC. Still, phones launching this year such as realme GT3 / GT Neo5 still use Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC.
The Nothing Phone (2) is confirmed to be released in late 2023 in several markets, including the US, where the Phone (1) was not sold.