The Nothing Phone (3) Is the Perfect Example

When I first saw the Nothing Phone (3), I thought it was hideous. Then I saw it again, and it kind of grew on me. I'm still not sure that I like it, but I'm glad it looks the way it does. It’s a phone that, if nothing else, is distinct.

There are a few key factors contributing to why many don’t find the Nothing Phone (3) to be love at first sight. Primarily, the cameras feel scattered about almost at random. They aren't arranged in a neat line, nor are they contained within a box.

To make matters worse, Nothing has abandoned other aspects of its own design language. This does not look like a better, more high-end version of the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro. It almost looks more like the CMF Phone 2 Pro—though there's a case to be made that the latter looks better, and it’s a quarter of the price.

The Nothing Phone (3) also does away with its trademark glyph lights in favor of a small dot matrix screen that, while nifty, doesn't feel as different from those found on phones like the Unihertz Titan 2. There’s so much not to like here, but that’s also sort of the point.

Nothing Is a Fashion Brand

Nothing isn’t just another phone maker trying to sell you a high-end flagship phone. In fact, the company knows it can’t out compete Apple or Samsung in producing the most durable slab phone with a gorgeous screen and the most powerful CPU. After all, Apple and Samsung both have the clout to make their own chips, and Samsung produces the best screens not only for its own phones, but Apple’s as well (Yes—Apple, Samsung, and Google are all more like frenemies than rivals, all mutually invested in each others’ success). Since Nothing sells fewer phones, it has to pay more for the components that go into each phone that it ships. The economies of scale favor the bigger players.

This is why Nothing distinguishes itself by being a fashion brand. These are phones you don’t buy because they’re the best. You don’t even necessarily buy them because of what they can do. You buy them because you like how they look.

In order to be a phone you buy based on looks alone, the phone needs to look different from everyone else. And if it’s going to look different, then by definition, not everyone is going to like it.

Standing Out Is What Matters Most

What matters for any company going this direction is that each new phone is attention-grabbing. If the latest model looks like a refinement of the last, then the design language starts to grow familiar and, quite possibly, stale.

By making a bold change, Nothing gives people a reason to talk about its latest phone. That, ultimately, is what fashion is about. High fashion makes a statement. It looks distinct in a way that a lot of people simply don’t get. It’s not merely another well-fitting suit or blouse. It’s something that crosses over into art.

That’s not to say there isn’t a place for conservative fashion choices. A good-looking watch and a fitted vest will continue to look good on the next generation of wearers just like it did two generations ago. And I personally continue to feel like the Galaxy S25, which is about as basic as a phone gets, is also exactly how I want a slab phone to look.

But I don't want every phone to be a Galaxy S25, nor could many companies survive all trying to sell essentially the same phone.

A Look I Could Learn to Love

The Nothing Phone 3 still isn’t my favorite-looking Nothing phone, and I don’t think it ever will be. Nonetheless, it has a certain cyberpunk funk that I appreciate. It’s not a look I'd want to love with forever, but it’s one I can imagine carrying for a few years, then looking back on with some nostalgia once I’ve moved on to something else. That’s more than I can say for certain other phones, like the Asus Zenfone 8 that I completely forgot I ever owned.

The Nothing Phone (3) reminds me of another striking design on a phone that was immensely more niche, the LG Fx0, which was arguably the best-looking phone running Firefox OS ever made . The Verge still has some photos up if you, like virtually everyone, never heard of that pretty rare device (kudos if you even remember Firefox OS at all). The Nothing Phone (3) is a device many of us will remember many years from now, even if all that comes to mind is how much we disliked it. That’s something I’ve come to love about this phone, even as I have no intentions of buying it.

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The Nothing Phone (3) is a phone of contradictions. It’s a flagship that doesn’t feel like one. It’s an expensive phone from a company whose fanbase values how cheap Nothing phones have been. It’s a stylish phone that many, frankly, just consider ugly.

My feelings toward it are similarly contradictory. I don’t think it’s a looker, and yet I’m a bit happy it looks the way it does. It’s a bold look that I can appreciate—yet I also hope the Nothing Phone 4 looks nothing like it.