Nothing Phone (1) will only get Android 13 in early 2023, Carl Pei explains why the long wait

The Nothing Phone (1) is probably one of the most talked about mid-range smartphones of the year and its biggest feature is the unique LED lights at the rear. As a newcomer, there’s still a huge question mark on its reliability especially when it comes to timely software updates.

Following the recent release of Android 13 for Google Pixel devices, Nothing co-founder and CEO Carl Pei was asked if there’s any official announcement on Android 13 for the Nothing Phone (1). He simply responded, “A product is more than just its specs, features, and version numbers”. That gave the impression that Nothing is taking its own time to deliver the latest Android operating system for its maiden smartphone.

During the global reveal of the Phone (1), Carl said during the live stream that “stability, quality and reliability are way more important than having a ton of flashy features”. He added that Nothing places more resources on testing, quality assurance and bug fixing than new feature development, and they have more than 500 engineers on Jira just closing tickets and fixing bugs. That itself sounds promising considering OnePlus users have been complaining about buggy software and inconsistent software updates.

Obviously, the tweet reply from Carl didn’t go down well for customers who are genuinely concerned about software updates. Some even retweeted saying this is why you shouldn’t touch anything made by the “OnePlus” gang even with a six-foot pole.

In attempt to address the criticism, Carl tweeted this afternoon clarifying that the Nothing team has been closely monitoring feedback and have pushed a total of 3 system updates which provided improvements for camera quality, battery life and new features. He explained that while they are working around the clock, they won’t rush on updates at the expense of user experience and this also includes Android 13.

Carl also finally provided an indicative Android 13 rollout timeline with the beta version targeted by the end of this year while the full release is expected to be pushed out in early 2023. To recap, the Phone (1) runs on Nothing OS based on Android 12. Nothing promises three years of major Android OS updates and four years of security updates for the Phone (1).

The Nothing Phone (1) with 8GB RAM + 256GB storage is priced at RM2,399 while the 12GB RAM + 256GB storage option is going for RM2,699 in Malaysia. If you’re interested, it is available on the official store on Lazada and Shopee. The Nothing Phone (1) is locally distributed by Zitron and they have seven collection points for service and warranty claims.

Related reading

• Nothing Phone (1) in Malaysia: Everything you need to know
• Nothing Phone (1) first impressions: Nothing more than hype?
• Need to service your Nothing Phone (1) in Malaysia? Here is the list of authorised service centres
• Nothing teases next product, are we looking at two new wireless earbuds?