The anticipation is building ahead of the upcoming launch of the Nothing Phone (3), the brand's first true Android flagship, but a new update might have thrown a slight spanner in the works. According to an X post from Nothing co-founder Akis Evangelidis, the Phone (3) features a Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 chip rather than the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip some had anticipated, raising concerns about whether the phone can truly deliver flagship performance. However, it appears there's good reason behind the choice of processor.
For those who don't know, the Snapdragon 8 Elite is the chip inside two of the top picks from our guide to the best gaming phones, the Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro and the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. On paper, the 8 Elite chip offers much more in terms of gaming performance than the 8s Gen 4 alternative. However, according to Evangelidis, the use of the 8s Gen 4 means the Nothing Phone (3) can provide five years of software updates and seven years of security updates, a marked improvement on the Nothing Phone (2)'s three years of Android updates and four years of security patches.
While the choice of chip makes sense for most consumers, who are primarily looking for value for money and a phone that'll last them as long as possible, it's not great news for those who spend their free time playing the best mobile games. It also slightly makes me question just how much of a flagship the Nothing Phone (3) is, as the 8s Gen 4 is more of a mid-range chip, but I'm happy to reserve judgment until we get some performance benchmarks detailing the phone's potential.
Outside of the Snapdragon chip, everything else we know about the Nothing Phone (3) has us pretty excited about the phone's launch. Recent leaks have suggested the phone could come with a 6.77-inch AMOLED display, 12GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage, which is more in line with what we'd expect from a flagship phone. Fortunately, the launch is less than a month away, coming on July 1, so we'll have a full spec sheet before long.
Of course, we'll have to wait to get our hands on the Nothing Phone (3) to see just how much the brand's chip choice affects the performance of the phone. If you're looking for something with some serious gaming firepower while you're here, be sure to check out our guides to the best handheld consoles and the best gaming tablets, with plenty of options across a range of budgets. Or, see our Nintendo Switch 2 review to see how we got on with this year's most anticipated handheld launch.