Nothing Phone 4b launched: Unique design for all, big battery for some

Nothing has been teasing the Nothing Phone 4b for a while now, and it’s looking like one of the more interesting cheap Android phones of 2026. The waiting is finally over, though, as Nothing has now fully launched the new phone.

The Nothing Phone 4b features a distinctive design, as you’d expect from the upstart manufacturer. The phone has a wide camera island for the two rear cameras, complete with a vertical light bar. This new Glyph light bar consists of 45 mini-LEDs and lights up for notifications, charging progress, video recording, and “personalized” alerts.

The camera bump also has visible screws and metal-like bits, while a CMF-like circular indent punctuates the lower half of the plastic rear cover. Expect an IP64 rating here, which means it’s sealed against dust but is only splash-resistant. In saying so, Nothing claims the phone can be immersed in 25cm (~9.8 inches) of water for 20 minutes.

Nothing Phone 4b: What’s under the hood?

Digging into the core specs, the new phone has a 6.77-inch 120Hz OLED screen (1,200 nits of outdoor brightness), a Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 chipset, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB or 256GB of internal storage. That Snapdragon processor is still a squarely budget affair, but it does bring a claimed 11% performance boost over the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3. That’s in large part due to Qualcomm finally upgrading the CPU (4x Cortex-A720 and 4x Cortex-A520) after years of using aging cores. The new chip also delivers a 29% GPU performance boost and an NPU with INT4 support for more robust on-device AI features.

The Nothing Phone 4b gets a 6,000mAh battery in India, but there’s bad news for customers in other markets. The phone only has a 5,200mAh battery outside India, likely due to regulatory red tape. On the plus side, Nothing says the battery is rated for 1,200 charging cycles before hitting 90% capacity. This suggests impressive long-term battery health, as even Google and Apple only tout 1,000 cycles before hitting 80% capacity. Once you’ve depleted the battery, you can use 33W wired charging to get a full charge in 80 minutes. That’s somewhat slow by 2026 standards.

Switching to the cameras, the new phone has a 50MP main camera (1/2.76-inch) and an 8MP ultrawide camera (119-degree field of view). These rear cameras likely won’t wow you, but they should get the job done just fine. Otherwise, a 16MP camera is available for selfies.

Other features worth knowing include Bluetooth 6.0, dual stereo speakers, an integrated Essential Key, NFC support, an in-display optical fingerprint scanner, and Wi-Fi 6. In terms of software, the new device runs Nothing OS 4.1 atop Android 16. Expect software features like Essential Space, Essential Apps, and Essential Voice. Nothing is also offering three major OS upgrades and six years of security patches. That’s a decent (but not amazing) update policy for a cheap Android phone.

The Nothing Phone 4b starts at £299 (~$400) in the UK, €329 (~$376) in Europe, and Rs 34,999 (~$369) in India. For what it’s worth, the Phone 4a starts at £379 (~$507) in the UK. Either way, expect to find the new phone in Blue, White, and Black colors when general sales start on July 17.