Last year, Nothing offered a worthy alternative to the usual flagship brands. Though the Phone (3) edged closer and closer to flagship-level prices, the smartphone is still a decent performer through and through. This year, however, a Phone (4) is not in the works.

Through a new YouTube video, Nothing’s Carl Pei has confirmed that the brand will not release a Phone (4) this year. The Phone (3) will still be the brand’s flagship option throughout 2026.

Pei did not reveal any explicit reason why they couldn’t make a new flagship this year. However, he does say that he wants every upgrade to be meaningful.

Despite the lack of a flagship, Nothing’s work will continue through the (a) series. The brand will release the new Phone (4a), for which Pei is promising a revolution. He says that there will be significant upgrades which will push the series closer to a flagship-like experience. It will also have new designs.

Unfortunately, the new phone might not come cheap. Along with the phone’s announcement, Pei confirmed that prices might increase this year, as a response to spiking RAM prices. It’s unclear how much it’s changing, though.

At the very least, the (a) series is usually priced competitively. However, if the increases affect the entire lineup, the flagship’s prices might go up to even more concerning levels.

SEE ALSO: Nothing will no longer lock screen ads on the Phone (3a) series

MediaTek has officially unveiled the Dimensity 9500s and Dimensity 8500 mobile processors built for flagship and premium smartphones.

These latest platforms are meant to propel performance, gaming, and efficiency on higher-end mobile devices, while also introducing improvements in AI, imaging, wireless connectivity, and more.

Dimensity 9500s

The Dimensity 9500s adopts a flagship 3nm process and an All Big Core architecture. Its octa-core CPU utilizes one Cortex-X925 ultra core with up to 3.73GHz of clock speed, three Cortex-X4 premium cores, and four Cortex-A720 performance cores.

Together, the system empowers devices to fully unleash powerful performance while staying energy efficient.

Moreover, the Dimensity 9500s integrates the Immortalis-G925 GPU for a full-frame, immersive experience for heavy mobile games. This includes support for advanced ray tracing.

In addition, adaptive game technology 3.0 and frame technology 3.0 improve energy efficiency significantly to prolong battery life.

Meanwhile, the flagship NPU in the processor is optimized for generative reasoning and multi-modal models for a more powerful flagship edge camera and greater content generation capabilities.

The chip supports high-frequency functions like post-processing of live photos, AI photo editing, AI content summarization, and more.

Lastly, the Dimensity 9500s is equipped with an advanced MediaTek Imagiq image processor, which supports real-time 30fps motion tracking and 8K full-focus Dolby Vision HDR video recording.

Dimensity 8500

Equally energy efficient is the Dimensity 8500, which has a 4nm process and All Big Core CPU architecture.

This is composed of eight Cortex-A725 cores with a frequency up to 3.4GHz. The chip supports accurate scheduling technology and DDR5 memory with higher transmission speed so users can enjoy smooth and long battery life for daily apps and multitasking.

With an integrated Mali-G720 GPU, the Dimensity 8500’s peak performance is improved by 25% compared to the previous generation. And yet, its power consumption is reduced by 20%.

For gaming, the processor can bring players a refreshing experience with full frame stabilization, rapid loading, and high energy efficiency.

Samsung has teased a “new layer of privacy” to shield users’ phones primarily from shoulder surfing.

Although there haven’t been any specifics yet, this “new layer” could be quite literal, as in an added display technology on Samsung devices.

Samsung says users can customize it to raise their guard with specific apps, or when entering access details for more private areas of their phones.

Moreover, there are multiple settings for adjusting visibility. This way, users can limit what others can see based on the level of privacy protection they need.

They can likewise choose to protect specific parts of the experience, such as notification pop-ups. In a way, it’s a tailored approach that lets users fine-tune or switch off entirely, rather than a blanket one.

It also eliminates the need to go through apps one by one and adjust settings, as in the case of notifications.

Samsung adds that the process took five years of engineering, testing, and refining, hence the careful and deliberate roll-out instead of a sudden one.

This process included studying how individuals use their phones, what they consider private, and how security should feel in everyday life.

The result, Samsung says, is a fusion of hardware and software expertly calibrated to protect users while on their phones.

This latest development is part of a series of Galaxy innovations to keep users safe. Samsung has been introducing topnotch mobile protection with Knox Vault, Knox Matrix, and more features.