Inside (2a) Plus - A Teardown

Rob ⚡️ · 2024-08-27T09:00:00+00:00

![](https://s3-nothing-prod.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/2024-08-23/1724404896-834806-teardown-unlabelled.png "banner") After the success of[ our last teardown post](https://nothing.community/d/10032-nothing-ear-teardown) here on the community, we’re back with another! This time we’re taking a look inside **Phone (2a) Plus**, our latest smartphone. With a fresh look on the outside and some meaningful upgrades *inside*, what better way to explore what’s new? Once again, with some help from our colleagues on the manufacturing side of the business, we bagged ourselves a pre-dissected Phone (2a) Plus in the new grey colour, saving us from *most* of the fiddly disassembly. We worked with London-based photographer, [David Wilman](https://www.davidwilman.com/), a maestro of macro, to capture some closeups in as much detail as possible… ‎ **External surfaces:** Kicking things off, let's talk about the largest components - those that you’ll be touching whenever you use your smartphone… ![](https://s3-nothing-prod.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/2024-08-23/1724427590-696867-displayrear.png "banner") 🔵 **Display** On the front of Phone (2a) Plus you’ll find a 6.7” AMOLED display, but in this image we flipped it over for a new perspective … the rear features a large heat spreading copper surface. Note the selfie camera and proximity sensor cutouts at the top and the slanted square cutout near the bottom for the in-display fingerprint sensor to see through. You’ll also spot the display connector in the bottom right corner, which feeds through a hole in the midframe and connects to the motherboard via a flexible printed circuit (FPC). 🟡 **Midframe** The midframe brings everything together - the true skeleton of (2a) Plus. The cavities and shapes in this part help to illustrate how everything slots together. You can see the volume and lock button connectors leading away from the sides of the frame and heading to the top to join the motherboard. What you can't see is the antennas which are embedded within the midframe to ensure great reception. 🔴 **Rear Cover** With the rear cover of Phone (2a) Plus removed, it easier to see where grey colour is added and how it contributes to the overall device design. You’ll also spot cutouts for the rear cameras, flash and the venting hole. ‎ **Motherboard (Top)** Now on to the motherboard, the most intricate part of any smartphone. In the image below you’ll see the topside of the board as it would appear in a new device, with a layer of heat-spreading copper and metal shields covering the integrated circuits (ICs) beneath; interesting, but we can go deeper… ![](https://s3-nothing-prod.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/2024-08-23/1724427666-884964-mb-unlabelled.png "banner") After using a hot air gun and some careful tweezing, we’ve removed all of those shields (and some thermal paste) to reveal all of the chips beneath. You may spot that some of the components look a little toasted after the hot air treatment…worth it though 😏 There’s almost *too* much to label here, so to keep things simple we’ve labelled some of the larger components for you: ![](https://s3-nothing-prod.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/2024-08-23/1724427650-450506-mb-2.png "banner") 🟡 MediaTek Dimensity 7350 Pro SOC - the star of the show in Phone (2a) Plus - the MediaTek Dimensity 7350 Pro 5G processor is a world exclusive to Nothing. Featuring TSMC 4nm Gen 2 technology, with 8 cores running up to 3.0 GHz – nearly 10% faster CPU than Phone (2a). It’s supported by an ARM Mali-G610 MC4 GPU clocking at 1.3 GHz, which is 30% faster when gaming than Phone (2a). 🔴 UFS2.2-256GB Storage + LPDDR4X-12GB RAM 🟠 Charging IC 🔵 NFC Controller IC 🟣 RF PA IC 🟤 Proximity and ambient light sensor 🟢 RF transceiver IC ‎ **Motherboard (Rear)** The other side of the motherboard is equally as intricate with a load more IC’s. We also find a series of connection points that link all of the other components around (2a) Plus to the motherboard, everything from the cameras to the Glyph LED's. ![](https://s3-nothing-prod.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/2024-08-23/1724427747-119183-mb-1.png "banner") 🔴 Daughterboard connector 🟣 Camera connector 🟡 Display connector 🔵 USB C connector 🟠 NFC connector 🟢 Power connector - battery 🟤 Glyph connector ⚫️ Camera flash connector ‎ **Phone (2a) Plus Camera System** (2a) Plus features our first triple 50 MP camera system, with all three sensors supporting HDR photo capture and 4K video recording. Phone (2a) Plus’ selfie camera captures 4K video at 30 FPS, a notable upgrade from Phone (2a)’s 32 MP sensor. You’ll notice the bigger footprint of the primary camera, owing to its integrated optical image stabilisation (OIS). ![](https://s3-nothing-prod.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/2024-08-23/1724427775-591706-camera.png "banner") 🔵 Primary - 50 MP: Samsung, f/1.88, 84.5º - 1/1.57" sensor 🟡 Ultra wide - 50 MP: Samsung, f/2.2, 114º - 1/2.76" sensor 🔴 Front Facing/selfie - 50 MP: Samsung, f/2.2, 81.2º - 1/2.76" sensor ‎ **Lower Device Components** There’s an assortment of small but significant components towards the bottom of Phone (2a) Plus. Most of these link to the daughterboard and connect to the motherboard via an FPC (flexible printed circuit): ![](https://s3-nothing-prod.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/2024-08-23/1724427804-340856-components.png "banner") 🔴 Dual SIM Tray 🟣 Daughterboard including SIM tray and bottom firing mic 🔵 Speaker assembly 🟡 Linear haptic motor 🟠 In-display fingerprint sensor 🟢 USB-C port - Phone (2a) Plus has rapid 50W Fast Charging, which means it can be charged to one day’s power in under 20 minutes, nearly 10% faster than Phone (2a). ‎ **The underside of the Glyph Interface** And finally, maybe *my* favourite arrangement from this photo series, a selection of components from the upper area of Phone (2a) Plus, including a look at the underside of the Glyph Interface. Note the copper for heat dissipation on the rear of the primary camera, the large earpiece speaker that helps to deliver stereo audio when listening to content and that big graphite tab that hangs below to transfer heat: ![](https://s3-nothing-prod.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/2024-08-23/1724427832-11029-glyph-underside.png "banner") 🔴 Earpiece speaker 🟣 Front facing camera 🟡 Rear cameras 🔵 Rear camera bracket 🟠 Camera Flash connector 🟢 Glyph segment C **⚫️** Graphite tab ‎ We hope you enjoyed diving into Nothing Phone (2a) Plus’ fresh look and internals with us - we had a lot of fun putting this all together for you! **Drop into the comments below and tell us about your favourite details from this teardown** **series for your chance to a Phone (2a) Plus, simply 'like' this post and leave 1x comment below ⬇️** > **[Giveaway now closed]** > > **T&Cs:** > The giveaway will end on **Tuesday, 10 September 2024** at **11am BST**. One community member who has ‘liked’ and commented on this discussion according to the criteria above will be selected at random and sent 1x Phone (2a) Plus in the colour of their choice. A member of the Nothing team will be in touch via DM here on nothing.community to notify the winner. The winner must respond to this DM within 48 hours to claim, or will forfeit their prize and a new winner will be selected. Please note, there are some regions we may not be able to ship to. Nothing staff and members of their family are not eligible to participate or win. Any spam accounts or accounts that we deem suspicious will be excluded from the random selection process. Nothing reserves the right to adjust the giveaway and its terms and conditions and entry requirements at any time. > > The winner will need to provide some personal data to claim their prize. Read our privacy policy for more information. You can familiarise yourself with our [privacy practices](https://nothing.tech/pages/privacy-policy?srsltid=AfmBOoqljqMoqLWasSTJQPEoqaScITiYmTF4FE1eYm-bmlqlSp491-VE), and contact us at **privacy@nothing.tech** if you have any questions.

M_Joseph

Motherboard top definitely !! Excited to see any other products teardown by nothing

Lostboy_

Motherboard top is my favorite, hats off for removing the thermal paste so clean!!!

MrBloodyHyphen-

My favourite part is the reason I like the 2a plus more than other smartphones in its price range. Being able to record 4k video from all cameras is not something most phones at the price range of the 2a plus can do. It’s the cameras. They’re always so fascinating. So small with tiny sensors (compared to pro grade cameras) yet they manage to produce results that look so good. My second favourite part would be the motherboard for similar reasons. It’s so tiny yet is basically your entire phone except for the speakers, battery etc. It controls everything on your phone, has the processor, RAM and Storage and yet is so tiny. It’s all very fascinating

Narensrivastav

Entire teardown part is fascinating but camera system is my favorite one 🙂

ErolJohnGrabato

Rob ⚡️ i was gonna buy the 2a plus cause it was an upgrade of 2a but it wasn’t available on the Philippines so i buyed 2a instead

Ozzie_Pete

Rob ⚡️ Being new to the Nothing Phone brand I only just discovered it and ordered a 2a a few days ago. This is a great post with the teardown showing what’s inside. Great reading and loved how it went in-depth. Can’t wait to delve into a world of Nothing.

Sticky_PRP 🇩🇪

Rob ⚡️ Great insight into “nothing”

AnnieLou

More of an aesthetically pleasing favourite, but I love how the copper is moulded to fit exactly on top of each element of the motherboard. I’d enjoy seeing a design that celebrated these shapes!

JimPeters

Rob ⚡️ My favourite part of the phone is the design language. It’s timeless and distinctively Nothing. It pays homage to older phones a d tech, while at the same time has a distinct and easily recognisable look that will be distinctively Nothing for years to come. Love my ear (a)s, phone 2a plus would be awesome to complete the collect!

mehmetakifcetin

Rob ⚡️

I think it’s a nice and detailed explanation, as well as visual product technical images 🙂

Also, I think the detail on the antenna parts and the motherboard connections are very good.

Ujishi

Seeing the inside of a phone without taking it apart is like getting a backstage pass to a concert without having to sneak in 😆

Hemant_jain

The whole thing is impressive choosing one is difficult but if I’ve to choose it would be The underside of the Glyph Interface is my favorite

Vincenzo

Rob ⚡️ My favorite detail is the usb connector separated from the motherboard. This is great news in terms of repairability of the phone, being one of the most stressed parts and easily worn out.

Neelkamal_

I will choose camera system that is my favorite in this entire teardown. 4k at 30 fps + integrated ois that’s cool !!!

LWood

My favorite detail is Lower Device Components type c with 50 w rapid charging

Mark89

Great insight, Camera system is my favorite one

R1shu

I like the chipset details MTK 7350 with UFS2.2-256GB Storage + LPDDR4X-12GB RAM, that’s make gaming smooth

Diljeet

Thanks for the detail insight my favorite is The underside of the glyph interface.

Continue this tear down series

CarminePerrone

Rob ⚡️ mediatek processor dedicated to this phone 2a plus is what I prefer!!

IriaJuarreroSanMiguel

My favorite detail of the phone is the camera system.

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