Confirmed! Nothing Phone 2 Is Headed To The US To Disrupt The Android Marketplace
In a recent chat with Nothing co-founder and CEO Carl Pei, Inverse reported that the company is serious about prioritizing the US market in 2023. The Nothing Phone (1) made a splash in the summer of 2022 when it brought tried-and-true mid-range innards, competitive pricing, and tacking on Nothing's take on phone industrial design. Probably the biggest attraction was the transparent rear battery cover with the rather unique Glyph lighting and notification scheme. The saddest part about this whole story is that we never got the phone Stateside (unless you include the $299 beta program that essentially gave you the phone, albeit hampered by no 5G on Verizon and AT&T).
According to Pei (who was a co-founder of OnePlus back in 2013), while the Phone (1) never made it to the US market, the company used the launch of the Ear1 earphones as a gauge for US demand. He did stress the reason the Phone (1) wasn't sold in the US was due to a couple of factors, namely the significant cost requirements by American carriers for their respective adaptations, as well as the limited resources Nothing has had as a smaller start-up.
“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,” Pei says. “We didn't have the resources for that before and now we do.”
Moreso, Nothing found that consumers were bored of current phone designs and the lack of innovation, which has led to a sharp decline in smartphone sales. Pei suggests that his company has the financial strength, leverage, and niche to make a difference. He says that, "From a business point of view, [Apple and Samsung] shouldn't go very niche and try something completely different because they might alienate current users. That's where smaller companies like us can come in and try and do something different."
Always the secretive front man who loves to build suspense, Pei confirmed the phone's launch to be later this year, but was mum about what the Phone (2) could looks like. He did state that this new phone will be more premium with an improved software experience.
