Nothing

As our Nothing Phone 2a Plus review will tell you, Nothing phones are some of the most distinctive and unusual in terms of their design choices – all glyphs and swirls – and its next handset might go to a whole new level in this regard.

Check the brand’s social media and official website pages (via Android Authority), and you’ll see an update on the Community Edition of the Nothing Phone 2a. After several months of work, the new edition is going to come with a glow-in-the-dark back panel.

Nothing first encouraged its userbase to contribute ideas for a variation on the Nothing Phone 2a back in March, and the idea of a phosphorescent back – suggested by Kenta Akasaki and Astrid Vanhuyse – is the main one that’s been selected.

The idea “feels true to Nothing’s vision” Nothing says: it’s “playful, meaningful and just the right level of unexpected”. It’s certainly something your family and friends won’t be expecting the first time the lights go out and your phone is on show.

Mark your calendar

This upcoming Nothing Phone 2a Community Edition also features bespoke wallpaper designed by Andrés Mateos, packaging designed by Ian Henry Simmonds, and a marketing campaign designed by Sonya Palma.

All will be revealed in full on Wednesday, 30 October, at 11am GMT – that’s 3am PT / 6am ET / 9pm AEST. We will of course be covering all the news as it’s announced, including details on availability and pricing (the Nothing Phone 2a launched at $349 / £319 /AU$675).

It’s the first time Nothing has worked on a Community Edition phone like this, giving its fans a way of influencing future products. All of the people who’ve had their ideas picked for the phone are going to be at the launch, Nothing says.

As funky as a glow-in-the-dark phone chassis might be, we’d be very surprised if the same design showed up on the Nothing Phone 3. The next flagship phone from the brand is expected to make an appearance around July 2025 time.

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Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you’ll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.