Nothing Phone (2) Set to Launch This Year in the US

Heison Ho/Hypebeast

4,254 Hypes

Nothing CEO Carl Pei has officially confirmed that the company’s new smartphone, the Phone (2) will be released in the U.S. later this year. When Nothing’s debut Phone (1) first launched, the U.S. market was starved of an official release due in part to supply chain constraints and lackluster support from carriers. Now with over a million products shipped and more than $200 million USD in revenue last year, the company is in a position to properly roll out in the U.S. which it says is its new number 1 priority in terms of markets.

“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,” said Pei in an interview with Inverse.

With Apple and Samsung collectively dominating nearly 75% of the U.S. smartphone market, Pei sees it as an opportunity for niche companies to experiment and innovate, creating differentiated devices that larger companies may be afraid to entertain for fear of alienating their customer bases.

When asked to reveal more details about the Nothing Phone (2), Pei treads carefully sharing only that it will be “more premium” and more “software focused” than its predecessor. Starting off with just five engineers on the mobile team when developing the Nothing OS for Phone (1), the team now has close to 100 people on software which will be working on a new Android 13 beta. Pei further stresses that while the Phone (2) will be a step up, both the Phone (2) and Phone (1) are flagship offerings.

Stay tuned for more details in the coming months.