Nothing Phone (4b) sounds like the budget phone to beat in 2026 – does it render the Phone (4a) pointless?
The Nothing Phone (4b) seems like a solid start for the company's new 'b' (for budget) series of handsets
Nothing has announced the Nothing Phone (4b), which is the first of its new line of more affordable mid-range smartphones sitting below the flagship Phone and Phone (a) series.
The new Nothing Phone (4b) costs £299 and is available to pre-order in the UK. The company is not planning to offer the phone in the United States at present.
Nothing is bringing the phone into the public eye with its Glyph light bar, which is brighter than before, and will showcase different patterns for different app alerts. The London-designed unibody handset offers less of the visible transparency we’ve seen in previous releases, but it’s still a nifty-looking phone.
The phone offers a 6.77-inch AMOLED display with peak brightness of 2000 nits and a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate. That display offers a 1080 x 2344 resolution with 381 pixels-per-inch, and there’s an in-display optical fingerprint scanner for good measure.
The 8-core Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 is decidedly mid-range, while there’s 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. That’s compared to the newer Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 on the Nothing Phone (4a). However, it does promise to be Nothing’s longest-lasting phone ever. It’s actually the first time a Nothing Phone is advertised as lasting for two full days of usage.
Nothing Phone (4b) offers a dual camera, including a 50-megapixel main sensor combined with a 119-degree ultra-wide angle snapper, while also offering 4K video recording (30fps), and a dual capture feature that enables recording from the rear and 16-megapixel front-facing camera simultaneously. The Nothing Phone (4a) offers a triple camera.
There’s also a 5,200mAh battery that can be replenished at 33W wired charging. It also supports reverse wired charging at 7W. The phone is IP64 certified for dust and water resistance for up to 20 minutes. The Nothing Phone (4a)’s cell is 5,400mAh.
The phone is available in white, black and blue (web exclusive) and can purchased now. For some buyers, it might be a better option than the Phone (4a), given the rising costs of tech. The £299 Phone (4b) has better battery life and sounds very capable elsewhere. The Phone (4a) has better cameras and faster processors, but also costs £379. It’s a tough call.
Chris Smith
