Nothing Phone (3) may get a non-flagship processor
By ForGeeks Nothing is preparing to unveil its new smartphone as early as July 1. Despite the ongoing intrigue, most of the device’s specs have already leaked online. A new rumor sheds light on the most important component, the processor, and it looks like the Phone (3) might not be as flagship as we’d like it to be.
It’s a Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 inside, not a top-of-the-line chip
Well-known insider Yogesh Brar has revealed that the Nothing Phone (3) will feature a Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 chip. Previously, it was speculated that the choice could fall on this processor or the more powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 «Elite» (the one that the Galaxy S25 Ultra was rumored to get). However, a new leak confirms that the bet is on the more affordable option.
Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 isn’t a slow chip. It still belongs to the flagship category and delivers high performance. But it lacks some of the features of the top-end solutions. In particular, it doesn’t use the latest Oryon cores and doesn’t support mmWave 5G or 8K video recording.
The chip’s CPU configuration includes a single Cortex-X4 core (3.2GHz), three Cortex-A720 cores (3GHz), two A720 cores (2.8GHz), and two at 2GHz. As you can see, there are no weak (efficient) cores at all. That may make the chip not as power efficient, but it should be pretty good at multitasking – even better than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 from last year’s Galaxy S24 Ultra.
AI and graphics are the chip’s strengths
The Adreno graphics processor in the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 is based on the same architecture as the more expensive Snapdragon 8 Elite, but uses a two-segment design instead of three. And the onboard NPU, a neural processing unit, is 44% faster than the previous generation.
So, in AI-related tasks, the new product could prove to be quite a performer, especially if Nothing bets on AI features in the UI and camera.
Snapdragon 8 Elite’s design has been upgraded from the previous generation.
A flagship without 8K and mmWave isn’t really a flagship?”
The Nothing Phone (3) probably won’t get support for 8K video recording, 4K/120fps slow motion, and ultra-fast mmWave 5G. All of this may not be critical for most users, but details like these affect the perception of the device as a “full-fledged” flagship.
If the rumor is confirmed, the Phone (3) will occupy a niche between the mid-range and upper segments, competing with models like the Pixel 8 rather than the Galaxy S25 Ultra or iPhone 16 Pro.
The Nothing Phone (3) could get a non-flagship processor was first published on ITZine.ru.
