Former OnePlus man Carl Pei has had a pretty successful time since leaving OnePlus back in 2020, having set up Nothing. Nothing has so far launched just one product, the Nothing Ear (1) transparent earbuds, but if the rumours are true, Pei will also be launching a Nothing-branded smartphone very soon.
According to a TechCrunch, Nothing has been working on a smartphone for over the past year now, and they are set to reveal it some time in April. Pei has also reportedly shown off early working prototypes of the Nothing smartphone with other industry leaders during the recent MWC 2022 event, and was also seen hanging out with Qualcomm’s executives. Qualcomm by the way has been a key partner for Nothing, having entered a partnership with them back in October of last year. Rumours have also been swirling when last month Pei tweeted that he has switched back to Android, perhaps an indication that he’s using the Nothing prototype smartphone.
Furthermore, Nothing had acquired the Essential smartphone brand and their intellectual properties back in 2021, though it is understood that Pei bought them when he was considering the name Essential. Essential’s employees have also since launched their own company OSOM who themselves plan to launch a smartphone later this year.
As for Nothing, it seems as though their smartphone will come with a similar design philosophy found on their Ear (1) earbuds. This means that we could see elements of transparency on their smartphone, like their earbuds. If Nothing does end up launching their own smartphone, it could be as big of a game changer as the original OnePlus One. It would fit the Nothing brand so far too, with their Ear (1) earbuds deemed a solid pair of earbuds at a pretty good price. A transparent smartphone has been done before of course, such as the Xiaomi Mi 8 Explorer Edition, though that didn’t actually show the guts of the device.
We’re perhaps especially excited to see another entrant into the smartphone scene. The likes of HTC and LG often had interesting designs and ideas in their devices, but have since either dwindled or left the smartphone business altogether. OnePlus fans could also be excited to see a Nothing smartphone, seeing as OnePlus has since been merged with Oppo.
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