Performance gains and AI features highlight the major update for Phone (2) series
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.
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.
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.
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.
