Nothing announced that its next phone will be the Nothing Phone (2a) Plus, a first for the company.

The introduction of the Plus model originally came after Nothing posted an image of a Pokémon Mega Aerodactyl followed by the Plus symbol on social media. For reference, Nothing has used the Pokémon name as a codename for its upcoming phones, and the codename for the Nothing phone 2a was Aerodactly. This led to speculation that Nothing was teasing a new Plus version of the 2a, but new posts on social media confirm this.

The post in question does not say much about the new device. All it says is “Plus. more. extra ‘ and ’ Get ready for Phone (2a) Plus on 31 July.” As noted above, this is the first time Nothing has released a Plus version of an existing phone, so there is not much material to compare potential features, but it will have a larger screen than the 6.7-inch Nothing 2a and otherwise maintain similar hardware specs There is no doubt that it will have a larger screen and otherwise maintain similar hardware specs.

In our review of the Nothing 2a, we praised it as one of the outstanding phones available for under $500. We noted excellent battery life, a memorable design, a good camera and a great display. The only weaknesses were erratic GPU performance and disappointing low-light camera results; we hope the Nothing Phone 2a Plus addresses these issues and stays under $500.

This is not the only new device from Nothing, the company recently announced plans to release three products for its budget-oriented sub-brand CMF. These three products, the CMF Phone 1, CMF Watch Pro 2, and CMF Buds Pro 2, are all under $200. The phones alone feature interesting hardware, including a 6.67-inch Super AMOLED display with 120 Hz adaptive refresh rate and a Sony 50 MP primary camera sensor.

Releasing a Plus version is not great news, especially after the April Fool's micro-post, but the company should make sure to keep the device under $500. If that happens, we have no doubt that this phone could be high on our list of best budget phones.