Hands-on: Nothing Phone (4b) is a better budget phone at an impossible price [Video]

Ben Schoon | Jul 7 2026 - 3:31 am PT

The Nothing Phone (4b) is here and, with it, what feels like a better attempt at building an even-cheaper budget phone than what came before, though it is a lot more expensive this time.

Nothing’s journey in smartphones brought it to the release of Phone (3a) Lite last year, which was a pretty confusing and, frankly, messy launch. The device was a rehash of the cheaper CMF Phone 2 Pro, with the notable downside of including lockscreen ads that were strange, to say the least. “Lock Glimpse,” as we reported, existed to send users to a truly bizarre and sketchy blog of what appeared to be AI-generated clickbait found across a host of different websites, with a questionable privacy policy to top it all off.

Related: Nothing Ear (3a) debut for $99 with ‘Audio Snapshot’ storage and call recording [Gallery]

Nothing has largely walked back lockscreen ads and, on Phone (4b), they’re not in place at all (at least on our review unit), and that’s just the start of what feels like a better attempt as a lower-market budget phone from Nothing.

The Nothing Phone (4b) is a pretty simple step down from Phone (4a). It has a 6.77-inch 120Hz AMOLED display (2344×1088) that looks good in person, a Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 chipset that feels fast enough in general use, 8GB of RAM, 128GB or 256GB of UFS 2.2 storage, and a 5,200 mAh battery (except in India, where it’s 6,000 mAh), all with Android 16 out of the box (with 3 years of OS updates and 6 years of security updates – not bad at all).

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Cameras include 50MP primary, 8MP ultrawide, and 16MP selfie shooters.

All in all, it’s pretty good. In using the device, I’ve been perfectly satisfied with its performance and build. The blue color is gorgeous in person – this is easily my favorite blue since Google’s “Really Blue” on the original Pixel – and by no means does this feel like a “cheap” phone.

That’s probably because it’s not.

Nothing Phone (4b) will sell for £299 / €329. That’s £50 / €80 more than the Phone (3a) Lite, and merely £50 / €20 less than Phone (4a). With so little in between these phones in price, it becomes harder to accept the downgrades. Phone (4a) has three rear cameras including a 50MP telephoto, a better selfie camera, a higher-resolution display, a faster processor, faster storage, and more water resistance.

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

But, that’s probably not what the goal was. “RAMageddon” has put tons of products like this in an impossible situation, all trying to find impossible prices. Nothing publicly acknowledged this just a few weeks ago regarding the cancellation of a new CMF device. Phone (4b) was going to have a tough time finding a real spot in the lineup, no matter what Nothing tried to do about it.

It leaves Nothing Phone (4b) in such an impossible place.

There’s virtually no reason for anyone to buy this device, at least in markets such as Europe. Promotions and sales – and an increasingly inevitable Phone (4a) price hike – will surely make this device more attractive than it is today, but it’s in a tough spot right now. I like the device, just not the place it’s been forced into – thanks AI companies.

Nothing Phone (4b) won’t be sold in the US, with Phone (4a) Pro remaining the brand’s most affordable device in the States.