In summary:
- Tech Advisor reports that Nothing confirms no new flagship phone will launch in 2026, with the Phone (3) remaining their top-tier device.
- The company plans to focus on the Nothing Phone (4a) and headphones instead, emphasizing quality over quantity in their release strategy.
- The leaked Phone (4a) Pro features significant upgrades including a 5,080mAh battery, 63-hour usage time, and improved IP65 water resistance rating.
British brand Nothing has revealed its plans for 2026, and it won’t involve a new flagship phone.
Nothing CEO Carl Pei has appeared in a lengthy video talking about the company’s plans for the next 12 months.
After a recap of the brand’s 2025 (TLDR; $1 billion in lifetime sales reach, $200 million dollars raised), Pei gets into a discussion about the brand’s plans to level up in “phase two”, as well as for a new London HQ and new physical stores.
Then we get to the good stuff: the products. There’s a brief mention of the company plans to double down on headphones after the apparent success of the Nothing Headphone (1), followed by the bombshell news: There will be no Nothing Phone (4) in 2026.
“Phone (3) is our flagship for 2026”, says Pei. That’s the Nothing Phone (3) that launched in July of 2025.
“We’re not just gonna churn out a flagship phone every year just for the sake of it, to be on that schedule or calendar,” he elaborated. “We want every upgrade to feel significant”.
Given the brand’s previous warnings that its phones were going to have to get more expensive (which Pei discusses further here), that makes a certain amount of sense.
That’s not to say that the company won’t release any new phones in 2026. The Nothing Phone (4a) is set to launch, and Pei promises that it will be even closer to a flagship experience than previous models in every department, including the materials, design, screen, camera, and overall performance.
We’re particularly intrigued to see what the Nothing Phone (4a) will look like, with “bold experimentation in terms of colour” and a general sheen of newness promised.
Nothing Phone (4a) Pro leak
In related news, the Nothing Phone (4a) Pro has leaked via the EU’s energy labelling website (via 9to5Google).
From it we learn that the new premium mid-ranger will pack a slightly larger 5,080mAh-rated battery (up from 5,000mAh), which will likely result in a final capacity of 5,100 to 5,200mAh.
The Nothing Phone (4a) Pro is here rated for 63 hours of use on a single charge, up from 43 hours in the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro.
An IP65 rating is also mentioned, which is yet more progress from its IP64-rated predecessor.
Author: Jon Mundy, Contributor, Tech Advisor
Jon is a freelance journalist who got his start covering mobile games at the dawn of the App Store. He has since covered everything from smart home tech and laptops to food and culture, but always seems to return to his fascination with smartphones.