Nothing Phone 2a renders are 'inaccurate,' says the site that leaked them

Earlier this week, we got our first look at what we assumed to be the Nothing Phone 2a, the brand’s upcoming budget-oriented device. The leaked renders came from reliable leaker Steve Hemmerstoffer, aka “@OnLeaks.” With Hemmerstoffer, accuracy is usually of little concern. Sure, some minor details might be off, but nine times out of ten, what Hemmerstoffer leaks is what we eventually get when the real thing launches.

Unfortunately, it appears the Nothing Phone 2a renders are the anomaly. According to SmartPrix — the publication Hemmerstoffer partnered with to publish the leaked Nothing renders — the design depicted in those renders is “inaccurate.” That means we must retract our confidence in the images. As of now, we don’t have any clue what the Phone 2a looks like.

If you want to learn more about what happened, continue reading.

Nothing Phone 2a source information ‘manipulated’

Usually, when Hemmerstoffer posts a set of leaked renders, the source for those renders is official design schematics from the manufacturing center where that product will be made (Foxconn, usually). Essentially, a person working at that manufacturer will provide Hemmerstoffer with the files, and he then uses his talents to create high-quality imagery of the product. That’s why his leaks are usually so accurate.

However, it seems the original source of these Phone 2a designs — i.e., the person at the manufacturing center — provided Hemmerstoffer with “manipulated” files. It seems the source based their files on a Nothing Phone design that was scrapped — you can see a very similar design in the images above, which come from a Nothing video clip going over rejected designs of Nothing products.

To his credit, Hemmerstoffer has admitted on X (formerly Twitter) that his leak was wrong:

The big problem here is that both Hemmerstoffer and SmartPrix failed to disclose in the original leak that these images weren’t based on rock-solid data. Usually, Hemmerstoffer will be clear when his leaks are based on anything but high-tier CAD files, so people can be more skeptical of them than usual. This time around, though, that didn’t happen, which is unfortunate.

Hopefully, this incident will push Hemmerstoffer and the brands with which he partners to be more transparent about the original source of his leaks.