Naturally, most would assume that the brand would choose the current-gen Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, given the fact that it is the latest and one of the most powerful SoC available. But if its first smartphone serves as any indication, this might not be the case. As you may recall, Nothing went with the Snapdragon 788G Plus on its Phone (1) instead of Qualcomm’s then-current Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, and there’s a reason behind this. As explained by Pei, the reason behind this is because the company prioritises on featuring the most optimised hardware for its inaugural offering for the smartphone market. This applies to the chipset and also the imaging system that are equipped on the Phone (1), both of which the CEO said are the “most balanced choice”.
— Enrico Salvatori (@E_Salvatori) February 28, 2023 And with that in mind, there is a chance that the Phone (2) may instead feature a Snapdragon 8 or 8+ Gen 1, as either chip has already been tried and tested for a good period of time now. Of course, this is merely speculation, so don’t take our word for it. Nevertheless, featuring a Snapdragon 8 series also means that the company is finally dipping its toes in the high-end smartphone market, but whether it can actually go toe-to-toe with competitors in terms of performance still remains to be seen. So far, the chipset has been the only detail that’s officially confirmed by Nothing in regards to its second smartphone, while other components such as battery, camera and so on are still being kept under wraps. Meanwhile, on the unofficial side of things, rumours are suggesting that the Phone (2) could feature a 120 Hz OLED display, up to 12 GB of RAM, 256 GB of storage, and a 5,000 mAh battery. Lastly, it is also believed that the device would inherit its predecessor’s iconic Glyph lighting system. (Source: Twitter [1] [2])