Nothing Beats Rivals to the Punch with Stable Android 16 Rollout
Nothing just beat Samsung to the Android 16 punch. The London-based upstart began pushing the stable version of Nothing OS 4.0 (built on Android 16) to users yesterday, leaving titans like Samsung and their One UI in the dust. The update started hitting devices on November 21, 2025, making Nothing one of the first non-Google OEMs to get the new OS out the door.
The OTA signal went out at 10:00 UTC for Phone (2) and Phone (2a) owners across Europe, North America, and India. By this morning, November 22, Nothing’s internal trackers showed about 15% of eligible phones had already grabbed the update. If you haven't seen it yet, sit tight: the global rollout wraps up by November 25, with Asia-Pacific markets coming online tomorrow, November 23.
Early Adoption and Performance Gains
This isn't just a cosmetic facelift. The speed boost comes from the Android 16 core itself. 9to5Google ran the numbers, finding a 12% jump in app launch speeds and a 15% drop in idle power consumption compared to the old Android 15 build.
You’ll need some space and juice for this one, though. The file is chunky—roughly 1.2 GB for the Phone (2) and 1.1 GB for the (2a)—and won't install unless you're at 50% battery. Adoption is moving fast; Nothing’s community analytics claim over 250,000 users updated in the first 12 hours alone. If their estimate of 2.5 million eligible devices holds water, that’s a serious uptake rate.
Key Features and Differentiators
Stock Android 16 does the heavy lifting, but Nothing OS 4.0 adds the usual dot-matrix flair. The focus here remains on minimalism, avoiding the feature-creep often seen elsewhere.
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AI Tools: The new "Nothing Gallery" sorts albums via AI, plus you get real-time object removal for photos.
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Glyph Tweaks: The Glyph Composer is more granular now, offering finer control over those unique LED strips on the back.
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Battery Savers: New eco-modes lock the refresh rate to 60Hz to save power—likely the main reason for that 15% reduction in idle drain.
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Privacy: It ships with the November 2025 security patch and updated privacy dashboards, which is basically mandatory for GDPR compliance these days.
Regional Nuances and Initial Feedback
Nothing knows where its bread is buttered. With India making up over 40% of sales as of Q3 2025, that market got special treatment: localized Hindi AI support and better payment app integration dropped immediately on the evening of November 21 IST.
For a company of Nothing's size, beating the legacy giants to a major Android version is a flex. Now the question is whether the stability holds up once the update hits the remaining 85% of users over the weekend.