Nothing reveals it’s working on the Phone 1, but you won’t be able to buy it anytime soon
Today’shighly anticipatedNothing event has come and gone, and the company announcedwhat we all expected: its first smartphone, the Phone 1. However, Nothing co-founder and former OnePlus mastermind Carl Pei hasn’t forgotten how to drum up excitement around a new company with a new product. While this is the first official acknowledgement of the phone today, it will only properly launch in the summer. You can invest in Nothing in the meantime, though.
Nothing Phone 1 and its broader ecosystem
Following theEar 1earbuds, the Nothing Phone 1 will be the second device to be sold by the company. So far, the company has only shared that the phone will be powered by a Snapdragon processor and that it will be “defined by iconic design,” so we expect a similar transparent product design approach as what we’ve seen with the Ear 1. All we got from Carl Pei today was this abstract-art masterpiece that’s supposed to resemble the phone:
We’re as confused as you, yes.
Carl Pei also talked about how Nothing had to fight a big conglomerate that wanted to prevent it from breaking into the market (he didn’t mean OnePlus and BBK Electronics, did he?), but that the company was able to work together with many other companies to make the phone a reality. Partners include Google, Samsung, Qualcomm, BYD, Sony, and Visionox.
Carl Pei continued, saying, “We’re building the most compelling alternative to Apple.” He acknowledges that Apple devices work best together, with consumers having no real alternative to Apple when they want to have seamless interconnectivity between devices. Nothing’s ecosystem will be the open answer to that, according to Pei. It’s supposed to be open, working together with other world-leading brands. He says it’s the start of an ecosystem of products. To underline this, integration and connectivity options with Apple AirPods and Tesla cars were teased during the presentation.
Nothing OS
Carl Pei has revealed that the Phone 1 will run Nothing OS, an Android skin that “will effortlessly connect and integrate Nothing products and products from other world-leading brands.”
Much like OnePlus’ initial approach to OxygenOS, Nothing OS is supposed to only consist of the best features from “pure” Android, and “the hardware seamlessly integrates with software through bespoke fonts, colours, graphical elements and sounds.” This seems like a lot of marketing speak to say that it will be close to stock Android, all while staying true to the company’s distinct style.
We can also tell as much from the images that were shared during the event, which reveal an At a Glance-like widget at the top of the home and lock screen, detailing an upcoming event. There’s a collection of standard Google apps rather than custom-made applications, a practice many other manufacturers have long switched to. Carl Pei further says that the OS is focused on minimizing distractions, so it’s using fewer animations and will introduce more focus-centered features.
Nothing promises three years of software updates and four years of security updates for the Phone 1. That’s still not as great as Samsung’s four-year promise, but almost right on par with thePixel 6and6 Pro’sthree years of OS updates and five years of security patches.
Nothing is additionally offering to give people a first glance at its OS by offering its custom Nothing launcher for select smartphones. It will be available from April.
Investing and outlook
Additionally, Nothing has announced a $10 million allocation for a new equity-based community investment round, similar to what the company previously did before launching the Ear 1, where it raised $1.5 million from fans. Investors will be able to access the company’s community which will give them not further specified “exclusive benefits” and “insights into the company.” If you want to become part of the company, you can pre-register for the investment round. It will go live on April 5.
True to the early OnePlus marketing shenanigans, Nothing will trickle-feed us more information about the Phone 1 over the coming months.
Overall, I very much expected Nothing to donothingbut tease the phone in this launch event, given that the company previously followed the same scheme for its ear (1) launch. The initial presentation surrounding the earbuds was only a teaser for the product, complete with a call to invest in the company to help fund the ear (1).
Still, it’s a shame that Nothing hasn’t actually shown us anything just yet, not even the broad hardware design. Carl Pei sure knows how to drum up excitement and leave his audience longing for more.
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