Highlights

• Nothing Phone (2) will launch in late 2023.
• Carl Pei said the company is looking at the US as a priority market.
• Nothing Phone (2) will be more premium than the Phone (1).
• Nothing Phone (2) launch date has not been set yet but the brand is reportedly eyeing a late 2023 release for the device in the US.

Nothing Phone (2) Launch

Nothing CEO and co-founder Carl Pei has confirmed to Inverse that the company will make a significant push into the U.S. with its next flagship Android phone, the Phone (2), launching later this year. “We decided to make the U.S. our No. 1 priority in terms of markets,” Pei says.

“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. Now as we’re on a more solid footing, we can take a step forward.”

The important thing to know about Nothing is that it’s not just a company creating new gadgets.

When you buy into the brand and its eye-catching transparent product designs, you’re going on a journey with the company.

It’s a bit like building a ship as it sails across the sea. Supporting Nothing is risky because there’s no guarantee that things will pan out.

Any number of unforeseen circumstances could crop up along the way. You have to be okay with the company starting from scratch, and patient as it builds teams at every level.

Even with a veteran like Pei, who co-founded OnePlus and helped grow it into a global brand and powerhouse, that means understanding that Nothing is still figuring stuff out as it goes.

In several conversations over the past year, Pei has explained why Nothing had to build toward the Phone (1) with wireless earbuds first, and why they couldn’t just launch the phone in U.S.

It really comes down to the numbers and logistics. For a startup, the Ear (1) was in many ways a test to gauge demand.

“We did almost 10x the revenue last year [in 2022 globally] compared to [2021], Pei says. “We did more than $200 million USD last year; the first year we did something like $24 million USD. We’re growing quite quickly. We shipped over a million products already.”

The astronomical growth in revenue and unit sales in regions with less red tape to launch products has provided two important things for Nothing.

One: Proof that there’s demand for its products. And two: The volume has given the company more leverage with component suppliers and production factories that previously refused to work with them in the early days.

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.” 

The keyword here is resources.

Pei adds that the company doubled in size last year, growing from 200 people in 2021 to 400 today.

More people means more brains to work on stuff like carrier certification, quality assurance, marketing, retail logistics, etc. It’s basic Business 101.

“We’re really excited about the U.S. market because it’s a big country. If you look at our earbuds sales, about one-third comes from the U.S. And by not launching our phone in the U.S., we’re leaving potentially a third of the volume on the table.”

Is it any surprise that Nothing’s next Android phone will be called the Phone (2)? While Pei confirmed the smartphone name and its launch “later this year” he didn’t share Any information on what the device would look like.

Nothing Phone (2) launch reportedly in the works, will be “more premium” than Phone (1)

“We’re developing a smartphone that’s more premium than the Nothing Phone (1) and software will be a big focus area for us,” Pei says.

I tell him that “more premium” sure sounds like a smartphone that competes with the iPhone Pros and Samsung Galaxy Ultras and pixel pros.

Expected specs like Qualcomm’s top-of-the-Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset opposed to the mid range one in the Phone (1). I draw parallels between the Phone (2), a premium phone that could potentially undercut the competition on price, and past OnePlus phones that offered flagship specs without the flagship pricing.

I think the market and the industry have moved a lot since those days.

For us, the Phone (1)’s spec sheet was pretty usable in terms of user experience,” Pei says. “Mobile chipsets have really improved over the last 7–9 years.

That’s why I want to avoid calling the Phone (2) a flagship because that would mean that the Phone (1) was not a flagship.

Within our own portfolio of smartphones, the Phone (1) was very much a flagship in terms of the amount of care we put into the product.

That’s why I used the word ‘premium’ [to describe the Phone (2)] instead, which signifies that it’s a more premium step up, but it’s still a flagship just like the Phone (1).”

Nothing Phone (2) Design

It’ll likely build on the transparent industrial design established by the Phone (1) and the rest of Nothing’s product lineup.

I’d also bet that the Glyph Interface the customizable LED system on the backside of the Phone (1) — makes a return on the Phone (2), this time perhaps with an API that’ll allow third-party developers to configure for it.

Nothing Phone (2) Software & Hardware

Distinct hardware remains core to Nothing’s identity, but the company is also investing heavily in software for the Phone (2).

“When we started Phone (1) we only had about five engineers on the mobile team so a lot of the work had to be done by other companies,” Pei says about the outsourced Nothing OS Software.

He added that the team is close to 100 people on software, and they have brought in a lot of people that he used to work with before in his past life.”

He says he’s “confident” that the beefed-up software team can create a “really fast and smooth experience based on Android now, which aligns with what I look for in software.” Hmm, where have I heard fast & smooth before? Android 13 beta “completely made in-house” Pei says. “People really feel like the Android 13 beta that we released is a step up from the previous Nothing OS that was half in-house and half outsourced.”

Now that Pei has confirmed that the Nothing Phone (2) launch is officially in the pipeline, we should hear more about the phone’s design and specifications in the coming months.

We should also get a better idea about the company’s plans to launch the device in India.

Nothing Phone (2) Key Specifications

Performance