First Nothing Smartphone Could Go Official This Year As CEO Showcases It Behind MWC Doors

Last Updated on March 4, 2022 by Anu Joy

One of the brains behind OnePlus, Carl Pei, left the brand in 2020, after seven years in the company to start his own venture called “Nothing“. The brand has already launched their very first product on the market, called the “Nothing Ear-1“. These are a pair of truly wireless earbuds that embody the company’s transparent philosophy. Released in 2021, the earbuds had shipped 400,000 units as of late January, according to the brand.

Much Ado About Nothing

We now know that the brand is actively working on a smartphone. According to TechCrunch, the Nothing founder, Pei, had organised a few closed-door meetings with industry leaders at this year’s MWC in Barcelona. Sources close to those who attended the meetings claim to have seen the first prototype of this alleged “Nothing Smartphone”. Insiders say that the phone follows the company’s transparent philosophy and could be launched by Q2 2022. Pei already has a background in building smartphone companies, which is evident from his brief stints at OPPO and then OnePlus.

Nothing has accrued about $70 million in funding, and they are already in a partnership with Qualcomm and Teenage Engineering. According to our sources, the rumoured “Nothing Smartphone” will be in the upper mid-range segment and will most likely be powered by a Snapdragon 800 series processor. Now, we will have to wait a little while for the exact processor info, but we suspect it to be the Snapdragon 870. Apart from this, Nothing had already swooped in and bought rights and patents from Essential Inc, Android Inc founder Andy Rubin’s startup that was also in the business of making smartphones, a while back.

The smartphone market has been bullish for a while, with the Chinese-originated BBK and their sub-brands dominating the scene, especially in the Asian market. Long-time leaders such as LG and HTC have fallen by the wayside in recent years, while even big names such as Google have found the industry to be an immense challenge. Players such as Apple, Samsung, Xiaomi, and OPPO are still dominating markets globally, and it will be interesting to see how Nothing breaks into this segment.