Tech company Nothing has confirmed it will launch the first British smartphone for more than five years on July 12 – over a month later than expected.
Earlier in the week, anticipation had been mounting for an announcement scheduled for ’11:30 on Wednesday’ by the secretive London firm.
But all Nothing revealed was the date of a launch event, July 12, which will finally reveal everything there is to know about the device.
The launch event, dubbed ‘Return to Instinct’, will be held in an as-yet-undisclosed location in London, although it will also be streamed on Nothing’s website.
Nothing has already confirmed that the smartphone will have a ‘minimalist design’, a frame made from recycled aluminium and transparent glass on the back.
Price, release date, photos and further details about phone (1) will be revealed at 4pm on July 12, although there are already artistic renders of what it could look like.
The launch event, dubbed ‘Return to Instinct’, will be held in an as-yet undisclosed location in London, although it will also be streamed on Nothing’s website
A mysterious technology firm that calls itself ‘Nothing’ is teasing the first British smartphone for more than half a decade. Rather than Android, the device will run on a new in-house operating system called ‘Nothing OS’. Pictured are fan photos of what the phone may look like
Phone (1) is technically only British in design; it will be made and assembled in Asia, just like its many of its rivals.
According to New Delhi-based smartphone tipster Yogesh Brar, production will ‘start soon’ in India.
Nothing will be hoping its device fares better than the last British smartphone, which was made by another London-based firm, called Wileyfox.
Wileyfox released three generations of phones between 2015 and 2016, but the company never turned a profit and went into administration in 2018.
Nothing has been gradually drip-feeding information about phone (1) to keep the media and the public’s interest ever since it revealed it was working on a smartphone back in March.
It’s already said the phone will be ‘defined by iconic design’ with an operating system that will ‘deliver a fast, smooth and personal experience’.
‘A coherent interface, the hardware seamlessly integrates with software through bespoke fonts, colours, graphical elements and sounds,’ Nothing says on its website.
Phone (1) will also not force customers to have several preloaded apps on the devices, unlike rivals such as Apple and Samsung. Pictured are images of the Beta software
According to New Delhi-based smartphone tipster Yogesh Brar, production will ‘start soon’ in India
Last year, Nothing released a pair of wireless headphones, called ‘ear (1)’, but phone (1), as the name suggests, will be its first smartphone.
Phone (1) will also have no ‘chin’ – the little strip of black at the bottom of a phone’s display that can infuriate some users.
Chins can be considered a nuisance because they take up space that could otherwise be part of the screen’s display.
The device will also run on a new in-house operating system called ‘Nothing OS’, powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor.
Nothing OS will not force customers to have several preloaded apps on the devices, unlike rivals such as Android and Apple’s iOS.
O2 will be the network partner for phone (1) in the UK. Nothing has also signed with Germany’s Deutsche Telekom and Indian online retailer Flipkart to market the phone.
The price of phone (1) is still under wraps but Carl Pei, the firm’s co-founder and chief executive, has said it will be ‘competitive’.
Pei is a Beijing-born Swedish entrepreneur who co-founded Chinese consumer electronics firm OnePlus back in 2013.
Nothing boss Carl Pei (pictured) claims the Nothing phone will be ‘the most compelling alternative to Apple’s ecosystem’
Nothing will be hoping its device fares better than the last British smartphone, which was made by another London-based firm, called Wileyfox. Pictured is the Wileyfox Swift 2 X
He claims the Nothing phone will be ‘the most compelling alternative to Apple’s ecosystem’.
‘For too long, the smartphone market has been dominated by the same players and that’s led to unimaginative, bland design across the board,’ said Pei.
‘These players have created closed-off ecosystems that lock people in, limiting their choice about the products they can access and use. This is what I want to change with Nothing.’
According to Pei, the UK has a strong track record of creating software companies, but not hardware.
Nothing has already released a pair of wireless headphones (called ‘ear (1)’, pictured), which has transparent parts ‘to highlight and celebrate the craftsmanship underneath’
Nothing has a 15-strong team to bring the phone to the market, although it’s expecting to have 35 employees by the end of the year.
Among them is Adam Bates, formerly head of design and product experience at Dyson, the vacuum business best known for its sleek designs.
Nothing recently announced it raised $70 million (£53 million) in a fundraising round, bringing total investments to $144 million (£109 million).
The firm is privately owned and has backing from investors including GV (formerly Google Ventures), Kevin Lin (co-founder of live streaming service Twitch) and Steve Huffman (co-founder and CEO of Reddit).
