Nothing Phone (2a) to launch next year? New invitation adds fuel to rumours

Since the Nothing Phone (2) arrived this summer the London-based brand has been flat-out in launching all manner of products: from a sub-brand, CMF, to a new clothing line-up. And the rumour mill has been choc-full of suggestions that the brand is gearing up to launch a Nothing Phone (2a) – a Google Pixel 7a-style more affordable and more entry-level product. 

To add further fuel to that fire, I've just received a 'save the date' invitation from Nothing (image embedded below), scheduling an evening event for early next year, on 27 February 2024. Those in the industry will know that date coincides with Mobile World Congress (or MWC for short), an industry mobile event where the big names in the biz gather to show off their latest and greatest. 

Clearly, however, this isn't confirmation that the event will be a Nothing Phone (2a) launch. Indeed, the 'Nothing to see' header in said invitation could be taken at face value – but I'm reading it as quite the opposite and think there will very much be 'Something to see'. Whether that'll be a Phone (2a) or something altogether different we'll have to wait and see. 

In terms of schedule, if I wind back to summer 2022 when the original Nothing Phone (1) was revealed, that was back in July of that year. It was available just days after its reveal, too, so for a February launch to deliver a Nothing Phone (3) would be too accelerated in my opinion. A halfway house Phone (2a), on the other hand, that could indeed have merit. 

The rumours don't seem unfounded either, as T3 previously reported, a Nothing handset had been spotted "moving through a certification process". It's claimed the device, codename AIN142, will feature a 6.7-inch OLED display on the front and, but of course, Nothing's light-up Glyph elements on the rear. I'll be interested to see what else shows up between now and February, as Nothing is on quite the roll at present...