Nothing Phone 3 Doesn’t Tick One Major Box for a True Flagship

I've been very excited about the Nothing Phone 3 as the manufacturer stated that the device is going to be its first true flagship phone. For an OEM that made its name in midrange devices, this was pretty exciting to me, as there's nothing I love to see more than healthy competition in the smartphone market.

While I am still excited about the device, a recent leak—and eventual confirmation from Nothing itself—has shown that the Phone 3 is going to miss out on one thing that'd make it an unapologetic flagship, and that's its choice of chipset. While it will be sticking with Qualcomm, the choice of Snapdragon processor makes things a little complicated.

The Nothing Phone 3 Will Use the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4, Not a True Flagship Chip

Less than 12 hours ago, reliable tipster Yogesh Brar stated that the Nothing Phone 3 was going to use the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 as its processor. For a lot of people, that wasn't the best news, considering that Nothing had raised our hopes by saying that the phone was going to be its first “true flagship”. With that in mind, I really expected a device that'd be able to compete directly with the Samsung Galaxy S25.

Of course, leaks should be taken with a pinch of salt, right? Well, not this one. The company has just confirmed that the Nothing Phone 3 will truly use the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4, and that certainly isn't going to go down great with prospective buyers. Admittedly, the Nothing Phone 3 will have more power than the company's existing devices. Compared to the Nothing Phone 2, you get:

• 36% improved CPU performance
• 88% improved GPU performance
• 60% improved NPU performance

But when a company makes a big deal of calling its next device a flagship, people expect no reservations on the spec sheet. If price was the issue, Nothing might have been better off going with a flagship MediaTek chip. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 won't be horrible in real-world use, but it is limited compared to current flagship SoCs.

The Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 Comes With Modern Tech But Limits the Nothing Phone 3 in Many Ways

The Nothing Phone 3 is rumored to start at $800. At the same price, the Galaxy S25 was able to fit in a Galaxy Edition Snapdragon 8 Elite, which is even more powerful than the average variant. But I'll let Nothing's decision slide for now. The question is, how much are you really losing out on with the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 compared to a real flagship chip, besides weaker CPU and GPU performance?

Well, here's the answer in a handy table below:

There are quite a few aspects in which the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 falters. For most people, these aren't enough to constitute a real dealbreaker, but they're a good example of why the device simply can't be considered a flagship in the most competitive sense of the word.