The Nothing Phone (2a) stands out as a brilliant sweet spot in South Africa’s mid-range market. Built specifically to deliver Nothing’s most loved features—like the eye-catching transparent design and clean software—at a much more accessible price point, it has quickly become a go-to choice for tech-savvy buyers who want maximum value without sacrificing a shred of personality.
Here is a breakdown of its pricing dynamics, extensive local retail footprint, and the standout features that make it a massive disruptor.
In South Africa, the Nothing Phone (2a) lands in a highly competitive bracket, with pricing starting from approximately ZAR 8,500.
When planning your purchase, keep these localized market factors in mind:
The Baseline Choice: The ZAR 8,500 entry price typically applies to the model featuring 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal storage. If you are a heavy media user or multitasker, a step up to the 12 GB RAM / 256 GB storage variant can occasionally be found for closer to ZAR 10,000.
Regional & Retail Promos: Pricing can fluctuate across different provinces depending on localized independent merchant promotions or online sales. It pays to check local digital tech catalogues to see who is offering bundled extras like protective covers or power adapters.
Network Financing: If you prefer to avoid a single large cash payout, the Phone (2a) is highly popular on monthly contract upgrades (spanning 24 or 36 months) via local network providers, making the hardware incredibly affordable when bundled with data.
Nothing has deeply penetrated the South African commercial landscape. You can track down the Phone (2a) cash upfront or secure it on a cellular plan across all major online and brick-and-mortar storefronts nationwide:
Online Platforms & Tech Specialists: Takealot, HiFi Corp, and Hi Online.
Cellular Networks & Mobile Outlets: Available on plans or contract upgrades through MTN, Chatz Connect, Cellucity, and 4U.
Major Hypermarkets & Department Stores: Makro, Game, and Foschini.
Everyday Convenience & Value Stores: Mr Price, PEP, and Ackermans.
The Phone (2a) skips unnecessary marketing gimmicks to master the core fundamentals that matter most to users daily.
The Iconic “Eyes” Design & Glyph Interface: The back panel features a unique transparent plastic design that subtly showcases the phone’s internal architecture. The dual rear cameras are centered inside the NFC coil—creating an asymmetric, character-driven look nicknamed “the eyes.” Surrounding this are three distinct Glyph LED light strips that flash for custom silent notifications, track volume changes, or act as a visual timer countdown.
Vibrant, Symmetrical 120 Hz AMOLED Display: Moving to the front, the phone features a beautiful 6.7-inch flexible AMOLED screen framed by perfectly uniform, symmetrical bezels on all four sides. Supporting a fluid 120 Hz adaptive refresh rate and peaking at a brilliant 1,300 nits of brightness, it ensures outdoor legibility under bright local sunlight is effortless.
Clean, Uncluttered Nothing OS: Running on top of a modern Android framework, Nothing OS delivers an incredibly smooth user experience. It is entirely free of the annoying pre-installed junkware apps or bloatware typical of mid-range competitors. The signature monochromatic widgets help streamline your day and keep your home screen neatly organized.
Dual 50 MP TrueLens Camera System: Nothing completely ditched low-quality filler lenses. The dual rear array pairs a heavy-hitting 50 MP primary camera with physical Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) to stop hand-shake blur, alongside a highly capable 50 MP ultra-wide camera. Backed by Nothing’s TrueLens Engine (co-developed with Google), it handles high-contrast, low-light photography beautifully.
Custom Dimensity Power & Massive 5000 mAh Battery: Driven by a custom-engineered MediaTek Dimensity 7200 Pro processor (4nm process), the phone effortlessly balances gaming and multitasking with great power efficiency. This efficiency, paired with a huge 5,000 mAh battery, allows the phone to comfortably coast through up to two days of standard use while recovering rapidly via 45W fast charging.
Note: The Nothing Phone (2a) features full out-of-the-box compatibility with Google Mobile Services, ensuring seamless functionality for all major South African banking apps, food delivery networks, transport applications, and global social media platforms.
| Brand | Nothing Phone |
| Model | Nothing Phone 2a |
| Announced | 05 March, 2024 |
| Released | 12 March, 2024 |
| Status | Available |
| Price | ZAR 8,500 |
| Type Design Type called form factor refers to a mobile phone's size, shape, and style as well as the layout and position of major components of phone. There are three major form factors seen in mobile phones => bar phones, folding phones and sliding phones. | Bar |
| Dimensions | 161.7 x 76.3 x 8.6 mm (6.37 x 3.00 x 0.34 in) |
| Weight | 190 g (6.70 oz) |
| Protection | IP54 - splash, water and dust resistant |
| Colors | Black, White, Milk, Blue |
| 2G Network | |
| 3G Network | |
| 4G Network | |
| 5G Network | |
| SIM SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) is a small card that contains mobile network subscriber's account information. This allows the phone using the card to attach to a mobile network. The SIM card is most commonly associated with GSM and UMTS mobile networks. Moving a SIM card from one phone to another allows a subscriber to switch mobile phones without having to contact their mobile network carrier. SIM cards can also be used by a phone to store limited amounts of data, such as phone numbers and text messages. | Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by) |
| Display Type Display Technology => A number of display technologies and types used in mobile phones => TFT (Thin Film Transistor), IPS (In-Place Switching), OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode), AMOLED (Active-Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode), Super AMOLED (an even advanced version of AMOLED), Resistive Touchscreen (Resistive touchscreens contain two layer of conductive material with a very small gap between them which acts as a resistance), Capacitive Touchsceen (Capacitive touchscreen technology consists of a layer of glass coated with a transparent conductor) | AMOLED, 1B colors, 120Hz, HDR10+, 700 nits (typ), 1100 nits (HBM), 1300 nits (peak) |
| Size | 6.7 inches, 108.0 cm2 (~87.6% screen-to-body ratio) |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2412 pixels, 20:9 ratio (~394 ppi density) |
| Display Protection Display Protection => Gorilla Glass is a special alkali-aluminosilicate glass shield with exceptional damage resistance that helps protect mobile displays from scratches, drops, and bumps of everyday use, It is always better to go for a smartphone with Gorilla Glass for that added protection and peace of mind. | Corning Gorilla Glass 5 |
| Audio Playback | |
| Video Playback | |
| FM Radio | No |
| Ring Tones | |
| Loudspeaker |
| Main Camera Camera is able to capture photographs and usually videos, The most important characteristics of a camera are the resolution (measured in megapixels), lens focus type (fixed or automatic), higher megapixel cameras are known to capture higher quality photos, but not always a good measurement of the photos quality. |
50 MP, f/1.9, (wide), 1/1.56", PDAF, OIS 50 MP, f/2.2, 114˚ (ultrawide), 1/2.76", 0.64µm |
| Camera Features | HDR |
| Video | 1080p@60fps |
| Selfie Camera | 32 MP, f/2.2, (wide), 1/2.74" |
| Camera Features | HDR |
| Video | 1080p@60fps |
| Operating System OS => Every computer system run on a base software called Operating System (OS). Operating System controls all basic operations of the computer (such as smartphone, PDAs, tablet computers and other handheld devices). The Operating System allows the user to install and run third party applications (apps), apps are used to add new functionality to the device. | Android 14 |
| User Interface UI or user interface of a device is the look and feel of the on-screen menu system. How it works, its color scheme, how it responds to button presses, all of these things are part of the user interface. | Nothing OS 2.5.5 |
| Chipset Chipset is a group of integrated circuits designed to perform one or a more dedicated functions, often with real time computing constraints, Popular smartphones are equipped with more advanced embedded chipsets that can do many different tasks depending on their programming. | Mediatek Dimensity 7200 Pro (4 nm) |
| CPU CPU (Central Processing Unit) mostly known as processors, CPU processes instructions in order to carry out certain functions that make your device operate properly. Processors are often described as the brain of computers, smartphones and tablets, Smartphones and tablets rely on processors to carry out their every task, Processors are an incredibly important factor in selecting any type of computing device, including your smartphone. | Octa-core (2x2.8 GHz Cortex-A715 & 6x 2.0 Cortex-A510) |
| GPU GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) is a single-chip processor designed to rapidly manipulate and alter memory to accelerate the creation of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display, This includes things such as lighting effects, object transformations, and 3D motion. | Mali-G610 MC4 |
| RAM (Memory) RAM (Random Access Memory) is a type of computer memory that can be accessed randomly, any byte of memory can be accessed without touching the preceding bytes that allows information to be stored and accessed quickly from random locations. RAM is the most common type of memory found in computer systems, smartphones, tablets and other electronic devices. | 8GB/12GB |
| Internal Storage Internal Storage is a data storage space (flash memory) mostly used in smartphones, tablets and other electronic devices where operating system, apps, music, photos, videos, files and other user data Is stored. | 128GB/256GB |
| Card Slot Memory Card Slot is a special slot for inserting a memory card. Memory cards allow you to expand the phone's built-in memory, A memory card (sometimes called a flash memory card or a storage card) is a small storage medium used to store data such as text, pictures, audio, and video, for use on small, portable or remote computing devices such as mobile phones, mp3 players, digital cameras. | No |
| Sensors Sensors are electronic components that detects and responds to some type of input from the physical environment. The specific input could be light, heat, motion, moisture, pressure and location, The output is generally a signal that is converted to use in computing systems, a location sensor, such as a GPS receiver is able to detect current location of your electronic device. | Fingerprint (under display, optical), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass |
| Bluetooth Bluetooth is a wireless communications technology for exchanging data between mobile phones, headsets, computers and other network devices over short distances without wires, Bluetooth technology was primarily designed to support simple wireless networking of personal consumer devices. | 5.3, A2DP, LE |
| Wi-fi Wi-Fi is a popular wireless networking technology using radio waves to provide high-speed network connections that allows devices to communicate without cords or cables, Wi-Fi is increasingly becoming the preferred mode of internet connectivity all over the world. | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct |
| Wi-fi Hotspot | |
| USB | USB Type-C 2.0, OTG |
| Positioning GPS The Global Positioning System is a satellite-based radio navigation system, GPS permits users to determine their position, velocity and the time 24 hours a day, in all weather, anywhere in the world, In order to locate your position, your device or GPS receiver must have a clear view of the sky. | GPS, GALILEO, GLONASS, BDS, QZSS |
| NFC NFC (Near field communication) is a set of standards for smartphones and similar devices to establish peer-to-peer radio communications with each other by touching them together or bringing them into proximity, usually no more than a few inches. |
| Battery Type Battery Type => Cell phones run on various kinds of batteries depending on the manufacturer, phone size or shape and features. There are basically four types of cell phone batteries => Lithium Polymer, Lithium Ion, Nickel Metal Hydride and Nickel Cadmium. | 5000 mAh, non-removable |
| Charging Wireless Charging (Inductive Charging) uses an electromagnetic field to transfer energy between two objects. This is usually done with a charging station. Energy is sent through an inductive coupling to an electrical device, which can then use that energy to charge batteries or run the device. | 45W wired, 50% in 23 min, 100% in 1 hour (advertised) |
The information contained in this post is for general information purposes only.