Nothing from Phone 2 will come to the US later this year, says CEO Carl Pei

Nothing Phone 1, the first smartphone from the British brand, led by OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei, was unveiled in global markets except the US in July last year. The successor, Nothing Phone 2, is reportedly getting an official US release this year. In an interview, Nothing CEO Carl Pei said he confirmed that Nothing Phone 2 will arrive in late 2023 and that the company sees the United States as a priority market. The upcoming Nothing Phone 2 is being touted as a premium offering over the Nothing Phone 1 and software will be a major area of ​​focus for the company, the report says.

In an interview with Inverse, Carl Pei has reportedly confirmed that Nothing’s next smartphone, the Phone 2, will get an official US release later this year. “We have decided to make the United States our No. 1 priority in terms of markets,” Pei reportedly said. “When you make a smartphone for the United States, you have to work with the carriers on certification and adapt some of their features to your operating system,” he explained, adding that “we didn’t have the resources for that before and now we have them”.

“We couldn’t do it sooner because we were only in our second year and our hands were tied to build the team while we built the products. Now that we are on more solid foundations, we can take a step forward,” he said.

Pei reportedly said the company has grown from 200 people in 2021 to 400 today and has more resources to work on carrier certification, quality assurance, marketing, retail logistics , etc. It claims that revenue has increased significantly from $24 million (about Rs. 196 crore) in its first year to $200 million (about Rs. 1,633 crore) in 2022.

The Nothing Phone 1 didn’t get a US release, but the company recently announced a beta program for US buyers that allows them to test the handset in the country. Joining the program costs $299 (around Rs 24,400) and includes a black version of the Nothing Phone 1 with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of inbuilt storage. T-Mobile is the only carrier to support 5G on the handset, while AT&T and Verizon users will have limited 4G connectivity.

Nothing currently offers its TWS headphones in the United States and the country accounts for a third of sales. Pei estimated that by not launching our phone in the US, the company is potentially leaving a third of the volume on the table.

Nothing Phone 2 is teased to be a more premium offering than Phone 1. Pei said the company is investing heavily in software for Phone 2. “When we launched Phone 1, we only had about five engineers in the mobile team. the work had to be done by other companies,” he said. “Now our team has nearly 100 people on software, and I’ve brought in a lot of people I used to work with before in my past life.” The next model might feature a more premium version and a new SoC compared to the Snapdragon 778G+ SoC on Phone 1.

Apart from expanding in the United States, the company is also reportedly looking to open more retail stores in other regions. They are also said to be considering a store in the United States.

The Nothing Phone 1 was unveiled in July last year with a starting price of Rs. 32,999 for the base 8GB RAM + 128GB storage variant. Later, nothing increased the price by Rs. 1,000 in August.

The Nothing Phone 1 specs include a 120Hz refresh rate display, a 50MP dual camera setup with a 16MP selfie sensor and up to 256GB of inbuilt storage. It has a Snapdragon 778G+ SoC under the hood paired with up to 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM. It is backed by a 4,500mAh battery that supports 33W wired charging, 15W Qi wireless charging, and 5W reverse charging.