Tech Reviews May 30, 2025

Nothing says it’s killing a key design feature that sets its phones apart

What you need to know

Nothing Phone 3 will apparently not come with the company’s signature Glyph lights.
The company took to X to confirm that it has “killed the Glyph Interface,” sharing a video of the Phone 1’s rear lights sort of fading away, in the X post.
Speculation points to a new interactive dot-matrix display on the rear, hinted at by previous Phone 3 teasers.

Nothing has been dropping several hints on X about its upcoming flagship Nothing Phone 3. In its most recent post, it suggested that its next flagship will not have the signature Glyph Light interface, or more commonly known as the rear panel lights.

In an almost straightforward post, the company announced the end of the Glyph Interface in an X video, captioned “we killed the Glyph Interface,” where the Phone 1’s lights dramatically blink out to black.

This could potentially mean that its next flagship device, Nothing Phone 3 may not show up with those rear light, a feature that drew several people to buy the Nothing phones in the first place. The lights gave Nothing phones a more interactive element, which other major flagships didn’t have.

We killed the Glyph Interface. pic.twitter.com/wlLHNzzc72May 29, 2025

While being aesthetically pleasing, these lights had their own set of functionality as well. The most popular ones are its use with notifications — users could assign custom Glyph patterns and sounds to different contacts or app notifications when the phone is in “Flip to Glyph” (face-down) mode. These lights can also serve as a timer, charging indicator, and backfill lights while capturing photos or videos.

That said, if the company takes away the one thing that sets it apart, what would its rear panel actually look like? Some speculate that the phone could come with a “dot-matrix display” on the back. The teasers of Phone 3 had videos featuring the same dot-matrix pattern, showing a pixelated “3” or Pac-Man-style animations with dots, majorly hinting at a change in visual design.

However, these are still speculations, and it remains unclear what Nothing plans on replacing the Glyph lights interface with. However, we’re hoping it will be something much more interactive, offering more utility than just plain light strips. The wait to see what’s coming won’t be long, though, as the Nothing Phone 3 is set to launch in July.