Why the Nothing Phone 3’s surprise chipset is great news

Yesterday, Nothing confirmed a key specification for the Nothing Telephone 3: its chipset. Nothing has made it very clear that the Nothing Telephone 3 might be a high-end flagship launch, going out of its approach to check with the telephone as a “true flagship.” As such, many people anticipated the Nothing Telephone 3 to get Qualcomm’s present flagship chip, the Snapdragon 8 Elite.

Nonetheless, that’s not the case.

It’s now official that the Nothing Telephone 3 will use Qualcomm’s newer, however barely much less highly effective, Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 chipset. It’s nonetheless a robust piece of silicon, nevertheless it’s not Qualcomm’s biggest and strongest. As such, some of us are (rightfully) upset that Nothing’s “true flagship” smartphone gained’t have a flagship chip.

I perceive the frustration, however I believe utilizing the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 as an alternative of the Snapdragon 8 Elite is a probably nice transfer.

Evaluate the 2 Snapdragon chips side-by-side, and you’ll simply level out the variations between them. As a substitute of Qualcomm’s Oryon CPU discovered within the 8 Elite, the 8s Gen 4 makes use of the older Kyro CPU. The Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 additionally has a 35% decrease CPU clock pace, a barely slower GPU, and an older 4nm design (versus the 3nm Snapdragon 8 Elite).

There are different compromises, too. The Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 doesn’t help 8K recording or 4K/120fps slow-motion video. It additionally lacks mmWave 5G. All of these issues, in the meantime, are available on the Snapdragon 8 Elite.

The Kyro CPU isn’t Qualcomm’s latest design, however the configuration within the 8s Gen 4 continues to be spectacular, that includes one Cortex-X4 prime core clocked at as much as 3.2GHz and 7 Cortex-A720 cores (three at 3.0GHz, two at 2.8GHz, and two at 2.0GHz). The result’s a chip that’s 31% sooner than the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 and 39% extra environment friendly. Plus, because it’s a singular setup that options all large cores and no little cores, it may even outperform the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 in multi-core efficiency.

There’s extra to love, too. GPU efficiency is 49% higher on the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 in comparison with the 8s Gen 3, and there’s on-device ray tracing. The chip additionally helps 4K/60fps video recording, Wi-Fi 7, and Bluetooth 6.0.

We’ve but to make use of a telephone with the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4, however primarily based on its spec sheet alone, I can’t have a look at the chipset and be upset that it’s the one Nothing selected for the Nothing Telephone 3. Is it the primary strongest Qualcomm chip that Nothing may have used? No. But it surely’s additionally foolish to faux that anybody however essentially the most hardcore customers will discover it missing in energy.

There’s one other upside to the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4, and it’s maybe crucial one. Because it’s a much less highly effective chip than the Snapdragon 8 Elite, that additionally means it’s cheaper, which makes it much more probably for Nothing to ship its “true flagship” smartphone expertise at a lower cost than the competitors.

Nothing has confirmed that the Nothing Telephone 3 will price £800 within the UK, whereas rumors have suggested a $800 price in the US. With the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 confirmed, it turns into extra probably that the $800 US value is correct. And with Nothing saving some money on the chipset entrance, that theoretically provides the corporate extra wiggle room to make sure it delivers on different points of the telephone, comparable to its design, cameras, battery, software program, and many others.

Might Nothing have swung for the Snapdragon 8 Elite and nonetheless hit the rumored $800 MSRP? Positive. Samsung does exactly that with the Galaxy S25, however as we’ve seen with that telephone, this additionally comes on the expense of bland designs, outdated digital camera sensors, and mediocre battery and charging specs.

There’s nonetheless so much that’s unknown concerning the Nothing Telephone 3, however the affirmation of the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 means we’re probably certainly one of two outcomes. On the one hand, it’s completely attainable that Nothing gained’t do something particular with the remainder of the Telephone 3, and we may get a handset with a compromised chipset for no actual profit.

However alternatively, Nothing may nonetheless ship on the “true flagship” promise. It could have seen the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 as a approach to provide flagship-like efficiency whereas making certain it will probably execute a flagship digital camera, lengthy battery, quick charging, and wonderful software program at a lower cost than if it had gone all out with the Snapdragon 8 Elite. That’s the best consequence, and it’s the one I wish to assume we’re headed towards.