Nothing’s Phone (4b) Lands at £299, Just £50 Below the Better 4a

Nothing’s Phone (4b) launched in London on July 7, 2026 at £299 with a 5,200mAh battery and a Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 chipset. The phone sits above the CMF Phone and below the Phone (4a) in Nothing’s lineup, and lands just £50 below that better-equipped sibling.

A new ‘b’ tier, wedged between CMF Phone and 4a

The Phone (4b) sits in the middle of Nothing’s smartphone lineup. TechNave’s announcement coverage places the new phone above the CMF Phone and below the Nothing Phone (4a) series. At £299 (€329), the 4b costs £50 less than the Phone (4a) in the UK and €20 less in Europe.

Nothing is offering the phone in Blue, Black, and White, with a UV-treated unibody rear panel inspired by the Phone (4a) Pro. The chassis carries an IP64 rating for dust and water resistance, according to TechNave. A Royal Challengers Bengaluru cricket edition will be sold in a red finish at Nothing’s Bengaluru flagship on launch day, in a tie-up celebrating the team’s IPL title. RCB Edition Bengaluru drop details cover the local event.

Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 and Nothing’s biggest battery

The Phone (4b) runs on the Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 chipset (Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 mobile platform page), one notch below the 7-series silicon in the 4a. Nothing claims 15% faster CPU performance, 25% faster graphics, and AI processing up to 240% faster than the previous generation. The phone ships with 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM and either 128GB or 256GB of UFS 2.2 storage.

Nothing calls the 5,200mAh cell the largest it has shipped in any phone. CNET describes the 5,200mAh capacity as the biggest ever battery of any Nothing phone. Nothing rates the cell for 46 hours of calls, 34 hours of music playback, or 22 hours of video streaming per charge. Wired charging tops out at 33W and reaches 50% in under 30 minutes.

A 4,400mm² cooling system sits underneath the chassis, with Nothing claiming heavy-workload temperatures drop by up to 2°C. The 1,000Hz touch sampling rate targets mobile gamers. A Safe Cell battery design protects the cell per TechNave’s spec sheet. Android Central reports Nothing claims the battery retains 90% of its capacity after 1,200 charging cycles. The Snapdragon 6 Gen 4’s on-device AI handles voice recognition and photo enhancements locally rather than through the cloud.

In India, the phone ships with a larger 6,000mAh battery instead of the 5,200mAh unit sold elsewhere. CNET’s coverage calls the 5,200mAh Nothing’s biggest battery to date, even though the 4b costs less than the 4a. Key specs at a glance:

• £299 starting price in the UK (€329 in Europe)
• 5,200mAh battery (6,000mAh in India)
• 6.77-inch Super AMOLED display at 120Hz
• Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 chipset with 8GB of RAM
• 50MP main rear camera with OIS

Display, cameras, and what got trimmed

The display checks most midrange boxes: a 6.77-inch Super AMOLED panel with a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate, 2,000 nits of peak brightness, and HDR10+ support. Resolution sits at 2344×1088. A pixel-level micro-shifting system targets OLED burn-in over time. The panel supports a 1,000Hz instant touch sampling rate for gaming responsiveness, per Android Central’s coverage. The display carries 1,200 nits of outdoor brightness, per TechNave’s spec sheet.

The rear camera array drops a lens compared with the Phone (4a). It carries a 50MP main sensor with optical image stabilization, paired with an 8MP ultrawide covering a 119° field of view. Nothing’s TrueLens Engine 4 combines 12 RAW frames per shot for Ultra XDR processing.

Video tops out at 4K at 30fps with AI anti-shake. Dual video capture allows simultaneous front and rear recording. The selfie camera is 16MP, with facial detection and skin tone optimisation trained on over 10,000 faces per Nothing’s spec sheet. Against the Phone (4a), the 4b drops specific hardware:

• Telephoto camera: gone, while the 4a keeps a 50MP telephoto
• Selfie camera: a step down, per the 9to5google hands-on
• Display resolution: lower than the 4a’s higher-resolution panel
• Chipset: a step below the 4a’s faster processor
• Storage: slower than the 4a’s faster storage
• Water resistance: IP64 trails the 4a’s stronger ingress protection

Glyph Bar returns, simpler but 40% brighter

Nothing has kept the rear LED notification system alive on the 4b. Nothing’s Phone (4b) product page describes the simplified Glyph Bar as 40% brighter than the one on the Phone (3a) Pro. TechNave’s spec sheet lists 45 individually controlled mini-LEDs with up to 3,500 nits of peak brightness. The strip surfaces timers, delivery updates, charging status, and caller-specific patterns. A red recording light signals video capture in progress.

The unibody chassis carries an IP64 rating for dust and water resistance, with Nothing saying the build can withstand up to 20 minutes of water exposure. The transparent camera bump at the top reveals a hint of the inner mechanics. Nothing’s London Studio designed the phone in cleanrooms that meet medical manufacturing standards. The phone carries a 54.7 kg CO₂e carbon footprint and over 99% plastic-free packaging.

Essential AI tools and a six-year software window

The Phone (4b) ships with Nothing OS 4.1, built on Android 16. Nothing’s support promise covers three years of Android version updates and six years of security patches. The same support window applies across the Phone 4 lineup.

A physical Essential Key on the side of the phone opens Nothing’s AI toolset. ChatGPT and Google Gemini are both integrated into Nothing OS, alongside Circle to Search. Nothing’s Playground hosts community-built apps, Glyph Tools, EQ Profiles, and camera presets. The Phone (4b) community launch thread lists the full Nothing OS 4.1 release notes. Essential Apps Builder turns plain-language descriptions into working apps.

Four Essential AI tools handle the core day-to-day work. They capture, find, remember, and create, per Nothing’s framing. The full toolkit lives inside Nothing OS 4.1. The breakdown:

• Essential Voice: turns speech into ready-to-send writing, with tone adjustment and 12-language translation
• Essential Space: stores screenshots, photos, and voice notes, then surfaces summaries and to-do lists
• Essential Search: searches the phone or Essential Space, translates text, and answers quick questions
• Essential Apps: lets users describe an app idea in plain words and generates a working app from it

The £299 question, and what reviewers said

The £299 price point is where the Phone (4b) runs into trouble. The phone costs £50 more than the Phone (3a) Lite in the UK and €80 more in Europe, while landing £50 below the Phone (4a). For that £50 saving, buyers give up the 4a’s telephoto, faster storage, faster processor, higher-resolution display, better selfie camera, and stronger water resistance. The pricing leaves the 4b competing against two siblings that flank it on either side. Neither flanking phone makes for an easy comparison.

It’s impossible to recommend buying Phone (4b) when Phone (4a) is better for basically the same price.

That sentence is from 9to5google’s Ben Schoon, who called the 4b a ‘better attempt at building an even-cheaper budget phone than what came before’ but concluded Nothing had been forced into ‘an impossible place’ by what he called ‘RAMageddon’ pricing pressure on memory and storage. Nothing had publicly cited the same pricing pressure a few weeks earlier when cancelling a new CMF device. On the positive side, the Phone (4b) drops the lockscreen-ad approach that dogged the Phone (3a) Lite launch.

UK first, India with a bigger battery, no US launch

The Phone (4b) lands first in the UK and India. Nothing’s own retail stores in the UK take stock from July 11, 2026, with online sales through nothing.tech opening July 17. In India, the phone launched on July 7 alongside the Ear (3a), with the RCB Edition drop at the Bengaluru flagship. India launch and livestream details cover the local event.

The Phone (4b) will not be sold in the US, where the Phone (4a) Pro remains Nothing’s most affordable device. Nothing has not announced a Malaysia launch date. Indian buyers get the larger 6,000mAh battery instead of the 5,200mAh unit sold elsewhere. The RCB Edition ships in red with custom branding and collector’s packaging, per Android Central. TechNave estimates the £299 UK price translates to roughly RM1629 in Malaysia.

Both phones launched simultaneously in London and India on July 7. Nothing’s UK store drops begin July 11, with online sales opening July 17 through nothing.tech. The rollout at a glance:

1. July 7, 2026: Phone (4b) and Ear (3a) launched in London and India
2. July 7, 2026: RCB Edition went on sale at Nothing’s Bengaluru flagship
3. July 11, 2026: First UK stock drops at Nothing’s retail stores
4. July 17, 2026: UK online sales open via nothing.tech

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I buy the Nothing Phone (4b) or the Phone (4a)?

For UK shoppers, the Phone (4b) at £299 saves £50 over the £349 Phone (4a). The trade-off is six specific cuts 9to5google catalogued: telephoto camera, higher-resolution display, faster processor, faster storage, a stronger selfie camera, and stronger water resistance. 9to5google’s verdict is to pick the 4a at that gap.

When does the Nothing Phone (4b) launch in Malaysia?

Nothing has not announced a Malaysia launch date for the Phone (4b). The phone launched in the UK on July 7, 2026 and begins shipping through Nothing’s UK stores on July 11. UK online sales open July 17.

Will the Nothing Phone (4b) work in the US?

Nothing is not selling the Phone (4b) in the US. The Phone (4a) Pro remains Nothing’s most affordable option for American buyers.

Does the Nothing Phone (4b) get a bigger battery in India?

India receives the Phone (4b) with a 6,000mAh battery, while the rest of the world gets the 5,200mAh version.

How long will the Nothing Phone (4b) get software updates?

Nothing OS 4.1 ships on Android 16 with the Phone (4b). Nothing has promised three years of Android version updates and six years of security patches for the device.