Nothing's Phone 3 Isn't Even Out Yet, but It's Already Frustrating Users

Nothing’s Phone 3 hasn’t officially launched yet, but thanks to what looks like a major leak from Android Headlines, the internet—as it often does—is having some discourse. Just like with Nothing’s incoming Headphone 1, leaks suggest that the company is taking a pretty big swing on the design for its flagship phone, and I’m not sure if that swing is quite connecting.

Name a bigger downgrade pic.twitter.com/f3k2SBl69b

— Noah Cat (@Cartidise) June 26, 2025

One of the biggest changes is that the Glyph Interface is dead. Last month, Nothing posted on X: “We killed the Glyph Interface.” That design feature—a bunch of LED lights on the back of the phone that flash for notifications and timers—will be replaced with a small dot matrix display in the phone’s top right. If the new “Glyph Matrix” is as capable as its predecessor is anyone’s guess, but it definitely has much smaller footprint. Just take a look for yourself:

When light becomes language.

Introducing the Glyph Matrix.

Phone (3). 1 July. pic.twitter.com/YtlPDIlMO6

— Nothing (@nothing) June 19, 2025

Nothing cofounder Akis Evangelidis also posted the following on X, showing a “Glyph Mirror” feature, which might hint at using the dot matrix as a way to frame selfies.

Phone (3) Glyph Mirror ✌️📸 pic.twitter.com/bQYHAzXYIG

— Akis Evangelidis (@AkisEvangelidis) June 27, 2025

With that shift away from a large Glyph Interface, there also seems to be a big aesthetic tweak to how the phone’s backplate looks. For some devices, switching up the backside of the phone might not be a big deal, but Nothing has made something of a name for itself with its “transparent” design, so it’s only natural that fans might react strongly to any tweaks. And react strongly, they have…

Honestly, I’m at a loss for words. I haven’t seen a design downgrade this disappointing in a long time.

It’s almost as if a 10-year-old was handed a puzzle and while all the pieces fit together, the end result just doesn’t look right at all.

Credits: https://t.co/xyJP9Y88tq pic.twitter.com/H6MbxPxTZo

— Chandan (@that_chand) June 26, 2025

For the record, it’s not 100% confirmed if this is truly what the Phone 3 will look like when it’s released early next month, but if it is, it’s certainly going to polarize fans. To me, it looks a lot like the Phone 3a, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but maybe a strange choice if you want to differentiate your flagship phone from your more midrange-focused device. The element that seems to be dividing everyone is how the periscope zoom lens (that’s the one shown in the upper left corner of the leaked images) is misaligned with the main and ultrawide lenses. Why is it off-kilter? It looks like a design mistake. In portrait or landscape orientation, it just looks… strange. And think about what kind of weird-ass cutout cases will need to have to protect around the three camera lenses. To be fair, the Phone 3a Pro also has a misaligned periscope zoom lens that turned heads but also turned people off. Nothing’s always found creative—and sometimes cringey—ways to build up buzz for its new product launches, and by going with such a bizarre camera lens design, it’s definitely generated a lot of opinions on both sides of the spectrum.

One thing I will say is that I really don’t love the camera system. Like the Phone 3a Pro, the Phone 3 appears to include a periscope camera, which is great for enhancing optical zoom but also juts out slightly from the device. Personally, I find its presence in a camera system kind of annoying—I said as much when I reviewed the Phone 3a Pro when it came out. I’m not saying solid optical zoom isn’t nice to have—it is—but for me, the footprint that it leaves on a phone or camera module is too great to justify the benefits.

But hey, different strokes for different folks. I’ve seen some evangelists out there, too, so it’s too early to say whether this thing is really going to rub people the wrong way, though there is a pretty vocal chorus of critics right now.

Unpopular opinion but I absolutely love the design of the Nothing Phone (3).

I feel that the Glyph Matrix will be more useful. The camera setup looks unlike anything else. Flat metal sides & thin bezels are good too. #Phone3 pic.twitter.com/PwFjQtsHd2

— Ishan Agarwal (@ishanagarwal24) June 27, 2025

I guess we’ll find out soon whether it’s a hit or a miss, so if you’re not a fan, try and save some of that heat for the phone’s official reveal on July 1. If you love this thing, then get ready to defend it or just put your money where your mouth is and buy one at what’s expected to be flagship pricing.