• The design of the Nothing Phone 3 has leaked in full
• It’s an unconventional aesthetic that looks modular
• The phone could launch as early as next week

The Nothing Phone 3 is booked in for its grand unveiling sometime next month, and if you’re interested in spoilers for what it’s going to look like, a bunch of new, unofficial renders have now made their way online.

These pictures come from Android Headlines and tipster @MysteryLupin, and the design is certainly… unconventional. The back casing is covered with squares, and looks like a classic sliding block puzzle game, or like a phone made in partnership with Lego.

It’s also reminding me of the Project Ara prototype that Google developed during the 2010s, a modular phone that sadly never made it to production. The look here is all aesthetic though – you can’t actually move parts in or out.

There’s a little Glyph Matrix window up in the top-right corner on the back, as teased by Nothing itself. It looks like this could be used for some custom stylings, or perhaps to display unread notification counts or something along those lines.

Splitting opinion

The reactions I’ve seen on social media range from very positive to very negative, so however you feel about this design, you’re not alone. Personally, I like it – though admittedly it takes some getting used to.

It’s rare these days for a smartphone design to be in any way surprising or interesting, so whatever your opinion, you have to give Nothing some credit for that. It also looks as though some of those stylings on the back might be functional buttons.

Aside from the outside appearance, we’re also expecting some changes in terms of Nothing’s software too, which will once again be based on Android. Earlier leaks suggest the phone is going to go big on AI this year.

Nothing has said the phone is launching in July, and unconfirmed leaks suggest Tuesday, July 1 as the big day – so there’s not long to wait at all. No doubt we can expect a few more official teases and unofficial rumors between now and Tuesday.

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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.