Carl Pei teases a new Nothing with a Pokémon: Is that the Phone 2a?

“New Year, New Me… New Year, N… New Y… New Phone”

That’s how Carl Pei starts 2024. Judging by his impetus and his actions so far, he’s going to actually deliver on his promise and not forget his New Year’s resolutions like the rest of us.

With the above X/Twitter post, Carl Pei is officially confirming something that everyone hopes it’s nothing other than the Nothing Phone 2a: a budget-friendly mid-ranger that offers the same unique design as the flashy Nothing Phone 1 and the Nothing Phone 2.There’s a cut-out silhouette in Carl Pei’s X/Twitter post – many fans claim that’s a Pokémon, named Aerodactyl, which is sort of a dragon. What does a flying Pokémon dragon have in common with the alleged Nothing Phone 2a is not yet revealed, and maybe there’s no need to dive deep into it, as 2024 is the Chinese Year of the Dragon.

The Nothing Phone 2a (any similarity with Google’s budget-friendly Pixel ‘a’ line is… well, decide for yourself if it is deliberate or not) is set to make an appearance soon, and it’s causing quite the stir. Rumor has it that this gadget will cost half the price of its VIP sibling, the Nothing Phone 2. The tech soothsayer Roland Quandt says there’ll be available two variants – a not-too-shabby 8/128GB and a slightly more posh 12/256GB.

If the stars align and Nothing Phone (2a) comes to the US market under $400, it will be quite the deal with a MediaTek Dimensity 7200 chipset under the hood, a dual-camera setup of two 50-megapixel sensors on the back, alongside a rather generous 32-megapixel front camera. Display-wise, it’s strutting a 6.7-inch FHD+ AMOLED screen with an expected butter-smooth 120Hz refresh rate.

The grand unveiling is rumored for MWC 2024 on February 27, at the curiously named “Nothing to See” event.