Nothing Phone 2 will be released this year, including in the US. A “more premium”device than the Phone 1.
Carl Pei, CEO and co-founder of Nothing, confirmed that the Phone 2 will go on sale before the end of this year in the US and most likely in France. This device is described as a “more premium”flagship than the Nothing Phone 1, which has already impressed.
The Nothing Phone 2 will be released this year, including in the US.
In an interview given by Inverse, Carl Pei revealed some of the details. The US launch of the Ear 1 served as a barometer for demand in the US market. “We are very excited about the US market because it is a very large country,” he explained. “If you look at our headphone sales, about a third is in the US. And by not launching our phone in the US, we are potentially saying goodbye to a third of that.” Therefore, Carl Pei describes the launch of this phone 2 in Uncle Sam’s country as a priority for Nothing this year.
He also suggests that the decline in mobile device sales is evidence that the US market is ready to innovate. “From a business standpoint, [Apple and Samsung] can’t go too far and try too different things because they might alienate their current users. This is where small companies like us can come in and try something new. It’s not that we’re smarter and they can’t be, it just doesn’t make sense to them.”However, while this stagnation may play a role, supply issues, inflation and a still very unstable global economy remain the most important causes.
A “more premium”device than the Phone 1
Carl Pei also clarified that if Nothing has not launched the Phone 1 in the US, it is because US carriers are requesting many adaptations and pre-installed apps from Android device manufacturers, which requires a lot of resources. But the company’s rapid growth and ability to adapt now gives it the means to do so. “When you make a smartphone for the US, you have to work with carriers to certify and adapt some of their features to your OS. Previously, we did not have the resources for this, now we have them.” Carl Pei adds that Nothing has grown from 200 employees in 2021 to 400 today.
While the man did not reveal any details regarding the Phone 2 during this interview, he hinted at a more upscale design than its predecessor. “We are developing a more premium smartphone than Nothing Phone 1 and software will be one of our main concerns.” However, he recalls that Phone 1 was also a flagship. “Mobile chips have come a long way in the last seven to nine years. That’s why I don’t want to call the Phone 2 a flagship, because that would mean the Phone 1 wasn’t. In our catalog of smartphones, the Phone 1 was the flagship in terms of the care and attention we gave to this product. That’s why I used the word “premium”instead [to describe phone 2], which means it’s even more premium,