Nothing is building up hype for the March 23 release of its mysterious Series B product. Most people believe that the launch will be a cellular telephone, but what if it is not.
Clues:
Nothing launched in 2021 selling the Ear 1. These are transparent, carbon-neutral, and minimalistic earbuds that are also very small. The earbuds stems are extremely short and the entire height is only 1.31 inches. The charging case is also transparent and they charge via USB-C.
Nothing also partnered with Qualcomm for Nothing's new product categories. Qualcomm is a chip manufacturer that makes Snapdragon chips for cellular telephones, tablet computers, smartwatches, wearables, and ARM-based laptops.
In a quote “The successful launch of our first product, ear (1), proved that there is room for a new challenger brand to emerge and disrupt today’s sea of sameness. Users deserve better products that are simpler to use, accessible, yet look amazing,” -Carl Pei (Emphasis TheTechBoy)
Nothing also is crowdfunded and has community boards and chat rooms. This allows for there to be enough people interested in buying a Nothing device that it carves out a small percentage of the market share just like OnePlus.
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| https://pixabay.com/users/user1462590383-2525906/ |
Carl Pei, one of the founders of OnePlus left OnePlus to start his own company, Nothing. Nothing's official launch is on March 23, the OnePlus One launched on April 23. This could draw interesting parallels to build hype. This is basically how OnePlus advertises, building hype via competitions and allowing there to be an open community of OnePlus fans.
Analysis:
Quote: "There is room for a new challenger brand to emerge and disrupt today’s sea of sameness."
- One of the complaints of the Smartphone industry is that all phones are 'glass sandwiches' All of them look the same and most of them are iterative upgrades with a few camera and speed improvements.
This could mean that Nothing is planning to build a smartphone and because of its partnership with Qualcomm, this could be likely. What has not been rumored is the possibility of a Nothing Watch.
This falls right into the ecosystem category, and Qualcomm makes chips for smartwatch companies such as Fossil and Mobvoi. A smartwatch can also be made carbon neutral because of its diminutive size. Also, smartwatches could be interpreted to become stagnant because of the limited space options (circle or rectangle) and lack of a camera. However, smartwatches are a niche market and they are still constantly upgrading features.
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| https://unsplash.com/@16bitspixelz |
If Nothing is creating a Smartphone that is pretty ambitious but not unprecedented. OnePlus was formed in December 2013 and launched a phone in 2014. Also, there have been leaks of Carl Pei showing a phone to Qualcomm, but the phone looked nothing like the transparent rumors and it looked like it had one camera.
Carl Pei does not want technology "getting in the way." Having a smartphone may 'get in the way' of life, from one interpretation. Maybe a smartwatch would be less in the way and would allow you to focus more on life. AR glasses are also a niche wearable market, but because Nothing is a small company this is possible but not probable.
Breakdown:
If Nothing is creating a phone they are doing it right. Generating hype why providing the press nothing substantial is very smart, and it works. (I'm writing about it aren't I)
If Nothing releases a watch then that's a good move before they create bigger and better products. This allows them the generate mindshare and more community input.
If Nothing does make a phone I would expect it to be:
-carbon-neutral
-not have a charging brick in the bok
-not the best (S22 Ultra) camera experience
-Under 1000 dollars
-Stock Android™
-Under 6.5 in
-Breath life into the smartphone market.
I would expect at least a dual-camera array, all-screen design, and great battery life. Carl Pei does not want technology "getting in the way." Having slick software allows for your camera application to load quickly and capture the moments you love. A phone under 1000 dollars makes money not get in the way. A small phone allows for screen size and joint pain not to get in the way. Being carbon neutral allows for your beliefs about the environment not to get in the way.
If Nothing makes a phone, they will have to carve out a niche in the Android market. If they want to Gain Market Share on Samsung, Apple, and Xiaomi, Nothing will have to do more than Never Settle™, they will have to make tech so seamless and easy it feels like nothing.
Do you think Nothing will make a Phone, a wearable, or something else? Vote and let us know in the comments.
Tech Talk To You Later!!
Sources:
https://us.nothing.tech/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OnePlus_One
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OnePlus
https://www.qualcomm.com/snapdragonwear
https://us.nothing.tech/products/ear-1
Please make the comments constructive, and vulgarity will not be tolerated!