Nothing is a brand that relies heavily on the word of mouth hype train. It worked very well for the company’s Phone (1), a mid-range Android device that wasn’t officially available in the U.S., but did have cool exterior LEDs. Now, Nothing CEO Carl Pei has come out and offered a small glimpse of when we could expect the company’s successor, the Phone (2), though he’s not keen to share much else.
In an interview with Forbes from last week, Pei said that the phone should see a global release, including in the U.S., some time in July. That’s only a few short months away, a real eye blink for the tech world especially when the company has not made any big, official announcement as of late. He was so hesitant to drop additional details that he wouldn’t explicitly say whether the company would be bringing back those eye-catching glyph LEDs from the previous phone.
The one other nugget we got was that the phone’s battery should be bigger than the Phone (1) by a fair margin. The new device should have a 4,700mAh capacity compared to the last iteration’s 4,500. It’s a sizable battery for other mid-range devices, though it doesn’t give us an idea of how fast it could charge. The Phone(1) was good enough, both in battery lifespan and charging speed, though its battery life was shorter than other phone makers’ flagship devices. A 4,700mAh puts it above something like the $500 Pixel 7A but below something like the high-end Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra’s 5,000mAh. Though, of course, if the Phone (2) keeps its sub-$500 price point from the previous phone, it will be a sizable step up.
There’s still the question of whether the Phone (2) will want to compete in the mid-range or the high-end categories. In March, a Qualcomm exec said that the Phone (2) would have a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip, which is a major step up from the Phone (1), given that it powered many of 2022’s more-expensive devices. At the same time, it’s not like Nothing is going top of the line with this latest release. Pei confirmed the phone would be using the Snapdragon 8+, further implying they would be able to push the chip to its limits like they claim they did with the Phone (1)’s Snapdragon 778G+.
The CEO did not offer any other real details to go off of with the upcoming release. Pei, who once headed up OnePlus, obviously knows the market, and his guerilla marketing has proven effective enough to create a bubble around his company’s devices. But other than that, the Nothing head has yet to offer anything of substance beyond these easy-to-digest snippets. He told Forbes that while the U.S. is a “very Apple dominated market” there’s “no real option for people looking for an alternative.” While Apple is truly a dominating force in the U.S.—and to a large extent the entire world—Android users still make up nearly 45% of the entire North American market.
So if Pei wants to be coy about whether there will be glyphs LEDs on the Phone (2), then at this point you can just assume there will be. The company’s already released some pretty quality budget earbuds with the Nothing Ear (2). If Nothing could just stick to releasing high-quality mid-range phones to compete with devices like the 7A and avoid all the other maddening hype, consumers would probably be better off by knowing exactly what they’re getting.
Want more of Gizmodo’s consumer electronics picks? Check out our guides to the best phones, best laptops, best cameras, best televisions, best printers, and best tablets. If you want to learn about the next big thing, see our guide to everything we know about the iPhone 15. Click here to save on the best deals of the day, courtesy of our friends at The Inventory.
Nothing is a brand that relies heavily on the word of mouth hype train. It worked very well for the company’s Phone (1), a mid-range Android device that wasn’t officially available in the U.S., but did have cool exterior LEDs. Now, Nothing CEO Carl Pei has come out and offered a small glimpse of when we could expect the company’s successor, the Phone (2), though he’s not keen to share much else.
In an interview with Forbes from last week, Pei said that the phone should see a global release, including in the U.S., some time in July. That’s only a few short months away, a real eye blink for the tech world especially when the company has not made any big, official announcement as of late. He was so hesitant to drop additional details that he wouldn’t explicitly say whether the company would be bringing back those eye-catching glyph LEDs from the previous phone.
The one other nugget we got was that the phone’s battery should be bigger than the Phone (1) by a fair margin. The new device should have a 4,700mAh capacity compared to the last iteration’s 4,500. It’s a sizable battery for other mid-range devices, though it doesn’t give us an idea of how fast it could charge. The Phone(1) was good enough, both in battery lifespan and charging speed, though its battery life was shorter than other phone makers’ flagship devices. A 4,700mAh puts it above something like the $500 Pixel 7A but below something like the high-end Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra’s 5,000mAh. Though, of course, if the Phone (2) keeps its sub-$500 price point from the previous phone, it will be a sizable step up.
There’s still the question of whether the Phone (2) will want to compete in the mid-range or the high-end categories. In March, a Qualcomm exec said that the Phone (2) would have a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip, which is a major step up from the Phone (1), given that it powered many of 2022’s more-expensive devices. At the same time, it’s not like Nothing is going top of the line with this latest release. Pei confirmed the phone would be using the Snapdragon 8+, further implying they would be able to push the chip to its limits like they claim they did with the Phone (1)’s Snapdragon 778G+.
The CEO did not offer any other real details to go off of with the upcoming release. Pei, who once headed up OnePlus, obviously knows the market, and his guerilla marketing has proven effective enough to create a bubble around his company’s devices. But other than that, the Nothing head has yet to offer anything of substance beyond these easy-to-digest snippets. He told Forbes that while the U.S. is a “very Apple dominated market” there’s “no real option for people looking for an alternative.” While Apple is truly a dominating force in the U.S.—and to a large extent the entire world—Android users still make up nearly 45% of the entire North American market.
So if Pei wants to be coy about whether there will be glyphs LEDs on the Phone (2), then at this point you can just assume there will be. The company’s already released some pretty quality budget earbuds with the Nothing Ear (2). If Nothing could just stick to releasing high-quality mid-range phones to compete with devices like the 7A and avoid all the other maddening hype, consumers would probably be better off by knowing exactly what they’re getting.
Want more of Gizmodo’s consumer electronics picks? Check out our guides to the best phones, best laptops, best cameras, best televisions, best printers, and best tablets. If you want to learn about the next big thing, see our guide to everything we know about the iPhone 15. Click here to save on the best deals of the day, courtesy of our friends at The Inventory.