Nothing Phone 2 confirmed for US launch this year, Carl Pei says it’ll be ‘premium’
After two years of growing Nothing into something,Carl Peiis ready to make everything about one thing: the United States. The co-founder of this fashion-forward consumer tech upstart has confirmed plans to bring the sequel of theNothing Phone 1to American shores sometime “later this year.”
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“We couldn’t do it earlier because we were only in our second year and our hands were tied building the team as we were building the products,” Pei told interviewer Raymond Wong. “When you make a smartphone for the U.S., you need to work with the carriers on certification and adapting some of their features into your OS. We didn’t have the resources for that before and now we do.”
Pei also says that one-third of Nothing’s earbuds sales originate from the United States. Combine that with his assessment that smartphone owners here are “quite bored and indifferent” to the choices they have right now and you can tell that this decision to mount an American campaign was only a matter of time.
As for the Nothing Phone 2 itself, the 33-year-old entrepreneur was careful to describe the Phone 1 as a brand “flagship” while also lending a more “premium” label to its successor. In addition to adapting to wireless carriers' whims, he’s also interested in stepping up what the company has to offer both in features and long-term support. There isn’t much more detail here than the last time the man gave an interview inDecember, but we’ll take what we can get.
Building credence for the software effort, Pei mentions the “close to 100” of the 400 or so people he now employs dedicated to it as well as positive feedback on thePhone 1’s Android 13 Betawhich improved on the original “half in-house and half outsourced” Nothing OS.
In a late-game curveball, Pei also said Nothing’s London storefront is “paying for itself operationally,” but needs more premium products to sell to make a return on the full investment. The CEO is also looking for ripe opportunities to offer in-person, hands-on marketing experiences like Supreme does in the United States if the right property comes online at the right price.
It seems as though Carl Pei has a lot of old tricks in the playbook that he used during his time at OnePlus — especially when we’re talking aboutsoftware experienceandretail presence— that he’s eager to bring out again for Nothing. For his fans not just in the US, but around the world, they seem excited to see them come back.
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