Nothing’s $399 Phone 2a Plus hits the US through a beta program | TechCrunch
Nothing on Wednesday announced that its budget-focused Phone 2a Plus is now available stateside. As has been the case with the London-based firm’s other handsets, however, there are a few hoops required to purchase the device in the U.S.
The world’s third-largest smartphone market has been notoriously difficult to break into for decades now. Carrier control is one of the biggest issues restricting smaller and upstart brands from cracking in. Even as more users have opted to purchase handsets unlocked and off-contract, carriers continue to play an outsized role in bringing devices to market.
While Nothing founder Carl Pei’s previous company, OnePlus, had remarkable success breaking through the U.S. red tape, much of the newer company’s strategy in the country has relied on its beta program to disseminate handsets in the market.
Among other things, the approach to disseminating the device both maintains the company’s interest in limited-edition drops, while continuing to cultivate the kind of devoted fanbase that was foundational to OnePlus’ rise.
The device maintains Nothing’s familiar transparent aesthetics and Glyph lighting interface at an affordable $399 price point — a significant discount off the Phone 2’s $699 mid-tier entry point.
The Plus is a fast follow to the 2a, which only hit the market back in March of this year. The upgraded handset is $50 more than its predecessor, while still staying below the $400 mark (if only just barely). Most of the specs are the same across the devices, but the $50 bump delivers an upgraded CPU and GPU, which claims to bring 10% and 30% speed bumps, respectively.
Wireless charging speeds have improved, and there have been improvements made to the selfie camera.
The 2a Plus also hit the market in India on Wednesday, starting at ~$335.
The $79 K2 has long been one of Keychron’s best-selling mechanical keyboards. As with all of the company’s K-line boards, it offers a relatively no-frills experience, but provides all of…
Facebook creators are being given a new option that will help them avoid jail — “Facebook jail,” that is — upon their first violation, and at various times after. In…
Featured Article
A comprehensive list of 2024 tech layoffs
The tech layoff wave is still going strong in 2024. Following significant workforce reductions in 2022 and 2023, this year has already seen 60,000 job cuts across 254 companies, according to independent layoffs tracker Layoffs.fyi. Companies like Tesla, Amazon, Google, TikTok, Snap and Microsoft have conducted sizable layoffs in the…
Hiya, folks, welcome to TechCrunch’s regular AI newsletter. This week in AI, OpenAI lost another co-founder. John Schulman, who played a pivotal role in the development of ChatGPT, OpenAI’s AI-powered…
As has been the case with Nothing’s other handsets, there are a few hoops required to purchase the device in the U.S.
Digital transformation — the process of transforming outdated apps and processes with cloud technologies and digital workflows — can be a risky undertaking. In 2023, Harvard Business Review reported that…
Napkin wants to use generative AI to make turning text into visualizations as easy as clicking on a button and customizing the results.
Security researchers found a dozen vulnerabilities in 5G baseband chips found in phones made by Google, OPPO, OnePlus, Motorola, and Samsung.
Most startups are looking to solve a problem inside a business, but Bandana, a New York City-based startup, has a different goal. It wants to help people at the lower…
Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s (HPE) planned $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks is one step closer to completion — the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has confirmed that the deal…
Ride-hail giant Lyft will pilot a new feature called Price Lock that will let a rider purchase a monthly subscription “that caps the price for a specific route at a…
Audible, the audiobook company owned by Amazon, announced on Wednesday that it is testing an AI-powered search feature to assist users in narrowing down their audiobook search. Starting today, select…
In a sign that big tech companies are ready and willing to shell out cash for database tech, Neon, a startup building an open source alternative to AWS Aurora Postgres,…
The ex-Clubhouse, Netflix employees raised $1.65M for an app that combines social media, networking, and dating.
New York-based fintech Payoneer has acquired Skuad, a Singapore-based global HR and payroll startup, for $61 million in cash, the company exclusively told TechCrunch. Payoneer said it could also pay…
Elon Musk’s X is being taken to court in Ireland for using Europeans’ data to train AI models without asking for their consent.
Automattic, the owner of WordPress.com, has launched a new AI tool designed to help bloggers write more clearly and succinctly.
Cybersecurity remains a white-hot space for investors. In the latest example of that demand, EQT has bought a majority stake in Acronis, a security company that specializes in data protection,…
The ICO issued the provisional fine in “failing to implement appropriate security measures prior to the attack.”
African e-commerce company Jumia is selling 20 million American depositary shares over the next couple of weeks, TechCrunch has learned. The at-the-market transaction is to take advantage of strong results…
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky suggested on Tuesday’s Q2 earnings call with investors that the company will soon expand into new products and services, including co-hosting, a relaunch of Airbnb’s “experiences,”…
Reddit users will soon see AI-generated summaries at the top of search results. Reddit co-founder and CEO Steve Huffman told investors during its earnings call on Tuesday that the company…
Rivian’s financial losses have crept up as it pushed out the last of its first-generation R1 trucks and SUVs in favor of newer, more cost-efficient versions — a sign of…
With new Pixel devices just over the horizon, Assistant’s days on Android may still be numbered. For the time being, however, it still has a place on the home.
Amazon has released an upgraded version of its in-house image-generating model, Titan Image Generator, for AWS customers using its Bedrock generative AI platform. Simply called Titan Image Generator v2, the…
X (formerly Twitter) appears to be making progress on its upcoming payments system, bringing it closer to Elon Musk’s vision of turning X into an “everything app.” According to a…
Dawn Aerospace’s rocket-powered aircraft soared to new heights in its latest test campaign, as the company looks to build what could be the highest-performance aircraft to take off from a…
Google unveiled the Nest Learning Thermostat 4 and Google TV Streamer. It’s expected to announce four Pixel devices, including the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro.
Waymo, the Alphabet-owned self-driving car company, is adding another 10 square miles to its robotaxi service area to include cities surrounding San Francisco. The move, which adds Daly City, Broadmoor and…
