The Nothing Phone (2a) is the company’s first mid-ranger, so some changes to the design had to be made. The original Phone (1) and the higher end Phone (2) have aluminum frames sandwiched between sheets of Gorilla Glass on the front and back. The (2a) has Gorilla Glass 5 on the front and an aluminum mid-frame, but the back is plastic.
Does that make it less durable? A drop test by PBKreviews shows that the phone is tough as nails, even though it’s not made of nails – it’s made from 100% recycled aluminum, over 50% of the plastics are recycled as well. In fact, the Phone (2a) uses left over materials from the manufacture of the Nothing Ear (2) buds.
There you have it, several drops later and there is no more damage than a few scuffs and scratches. The Gorilla Glass 5 on the front is not the most recent formulation (it was released way back in 2016), but it aced the test.
And while the mid-frame may be aluminum, it’s covered up in paint (especially on the white version). The paint held up very well. And even the plastic back shrugged off its collision with the pavement.
Head over to our review of the Nothing Phone (2a) for more on the promising mid-ranger.
