Nothing's Qualcomm teaser might signify a budget SoC for the Phone 3a

What you need to know

• Nothing teased a return to Qualcomm SoCs on X today (Feb 13) with a teaser image of the chip in question.
• The company's CEO Carl Pei also formally announced the return to Qualcomm for the Phone 3a, stating the device will receive a 25% boost in CPU speeds.
• It seems that the chip being teased is the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3, a budget chip with loads of AI support.
• Nothing confirmed the Phone 3a will launch on March 4 at 5 am ET.

Nothing is continuing to place its next (a) series phone on people's minds as its newest teaser encompasses its chipset.

Nothing posted an image teaser on X about what consumers can expect, capability-wise, out of the budget Phone 3a. The image was simple, yet marked the return to Qualcomm's SoC with the statement "Hello Snapdragon!" Beneath, the provided image is of a Snapdragon SoC with a specific white and red chip image.

Nothing adds, "Our perfect match for elite performance. Now powering up the (3a) Series."

On Qualcomm's side, the company quote-reposted a quick video from Nothing's CEO Carl Pei discussing the Phone 3a. Pei announced the return of Qualcomm's Snapdragon series chips on the next-gen (a) series phone, while also detailing some notable improvements. According to Pei, the Phone 3a will boast a 25% increase in CPU speed and a 72% quicker NPU compared to the Phone 2a Plus.

That device features the MediaTek Dimensity 7350 Pro.

Additionally, Pei says the company has worked to improve the Phone 3a's camera, based on user feedback. The device's cameras will reportedly be more "efficient" than before.

While neither side has confirmed the chip for the Phone 3a, many users in the replies believe it to be the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3. This could be true, mainly because the official images of this chip, when it launched, looked the same as what Nothing teased today (Feb 13). Furthering this is a leak from December concerning the Phone 3a in the IMEI database.

The listing showed the device supported by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 7s Gen 3, a chip designed for budget phones, but with loads of AI capabilities. The chip was also stated to deliver a better camera and gaming experience while also supporting the Baichuan-7B and Llama 2 AI models.

There's also that leaked memo from Nothing's CEO Carl Pei that suggested it could take bigger strides toward on-device AI.

That aside, at the end of January, Nothing confirmed that the "Phone 3a Series" was launching on March 4 at 5 am ET. Users can sign up to stay in the loop about the phone via nothing.tech, so you're ready for launch (and pre-orders if interested). The company recently teased a hardware change for the Phone 3a by way of a physical camera button.

It seems users will be able to take photos without tapping their screens, similar to what Apple did with the iPhone 16.