You're Probably Not Getting That New iPhone 14 for Christmas ...

Smartphone Startup Nothing Raises $100 Million To Build The Apple Of Android

Carl Pei, the co-founder of Nothing, a smartphone start-up, is betting that his creative software design and bold hardware style will make you use his new phone—less.

That's right. In 2020, Pei, 33, along with Paul Yu and Jesper Kouthoofd, launched Nothing with the aim of creating earphones and smartphones with unique designs and user experiences to stand out in the gadget world, which they saw as a "boring sea of sameness."

Their first phone, which runs on the Android operating system, had a transparent casing to showcase its tech guts, used more sustainable materials, and featured LED lights on the back that lit up when receiving a call or playing music. Priced under $400, it won design awards and a cult following. For their second phone, simply called Phone (2), Pei has built a device that aims to help users focus, and exercise self-control, by sapping the addictive elements of their favorite apps.

Nothing CEO Carl Pei is brining brash style and design to the Android ecosystem

Nothing

While companies like Apple, Alphabet, Samsung, and other hardware giants are focused on developing phones to support and grow the estimated $208 billion (revenue) mobile app industry, Pei is going the opposite way. On July 11, Nothing, headquartered in London with factories in India and China, will launch Phone (2). The pitch is to simplify your digital life. "As a tech company, you have to help the consumer become faster at what they're trying to accomplish or solve a problem for them," says Pei, a Forbes Under 30 lister who made the Asia list in 2016 as a co-founder of phone maker OnePlus. "It's all about intentional smartphone usage, rewinding the clock a little bit, and getting tech back where it should be."

For Pei, this means building a device to de-gamify a phone's tempting tricks. Its operating system, Nothing OS, offers a minimal and monochrome user experience, stripping apps of their candy-color branding, relentless alerts, and brand name labels. "Color is very important for branding. Consumers are trained to go for Instagram's hot pink or Facebook's blue, says Pei. "But on the Nothing phone, it's all monochrome. You must be really intentional about which app you're trying to open and seek it out."

Other phones on the market have a plain back, Nothing's device features 900 LED lights arranged in geometric patterns that display key information when the device is face-down. Messages from select contacts cause a bar of lights to glow gold, and important callers set off unique LED patterns. Other sections can gradually fill with light to indicate when a timer is done or when your Uber driver or take-out dinner is getting close. Say Pei: "You can do more on your phone without needing to open apps and fall into the loops that get you addicted."

On July 11, Nothing will open pop-up shops in London and New York to hype its new gadget Phone (2)

Nothing

Some Investors are hooked. On June 28, Pei announced that Nothing has closed a $96 million funding round led by Highland Europe. Previous backers, including Google Ventures, Sweden's EQT, C Ventures, and music stars Swedish House Mafia, participated too. The latest round brings Nothing's total fundraising to $250 million. (While Pei didn't comment on the company's valuation, a source close to the deal says that it's below $1 billion.) "Look at the Android ecosystem today. There is very little design sensibility, and the product range lacks excitement and a sense of exclusivity like the Apple ecosystem," says Tom Hulme, Google Venture's head of Europe. "Nothing appeals to technophiles. The company is pushing the edge on operating systems, hardware, and attracting the younger generation."

Nothing remains niche. In 2022, the start-up sold 750,000 Phone (1)s and earbuds, generating an annual revenue of $200 million. In the same year, Bank of America estimated that Apple $205 billion worth of iPhones alone. With the latest round of funding, Nothing plans to develop new phones and earbuds to expand its slim lineup. "We've been so focused on engineering and shipping our products that we haven't had the chance to invest in long-term technology differentiation," says Pei. "This round allows us to do that."

Pei grew up in Stockholm, the son of two Chinese immigrant PhDs who moved to Sweden from Beijing to conduct Alzheimer's research. A gadget geek, Pei got the first-generation iPod at 11. A few years later, he was jailbreaking the original iPhone to make it work on the Swedish telecom system. After school, he created online sites covering music, video games, Japanese anime, and a fan page for Meizu, an MP3 player maker, which would later helped him break into the hardware scene. In 2008, he enrolled in the Stockholm School of Economics but never completed his thesis. "Arrogantly, I thought I'm not going to graduate, so the school can't take credit if I make it in the future," says Pei, shaking his head. "My parents couldn't understand this decision. They asked, 'What am I going to do with my life?'"

Pei started a strict daily routine of learning to code, getting in shape, and teaching himself guitar. In 2008, Meizu, the former MP3 company now in the smartphone market, offered Pei a marketing job in its Hong Kong office. He later moved to another hardware firm, Oppo, where he joined Pete Lau to launch OnePlus, a new phone brand that offered premium phones at a low price directly to young consumers. Pei handled sales, marketing, and product development for the international market. Initially focused on the young Chinese market, OnePlus soon saw two-thirds of its sales coming from Pei's international division.

Pei left OnePlus on his 30th birthday in 2020 and planned to take a six-month vacation. After ten days in Southern Italy, he grew bored and was soon back in Stocklhom raising $7 million from the Swedish entrepreneur community to launch Nothing.

Despite a decade of experience in the hardware industry, starting from scratch presented its challenges. The team had to learn finance and supply chain management on the go. Launching during a pandemic meant a lack of factory capacity and parts. Overburdened manufacturers were reluctant to take on a new, fly-by-night client in the complex and highly competitive gadget landscape. Pei explains, "We had to work with the one factory that didn't have any other customers desperate for business. And there was a reason why they didn't have any other customers." To keep production going, Pei housed fifteen engineers next to the factory, overseeing the process seven days a week.

Their micromanaging paid off. To date, Nothing has shipped more than 1.5 million phones and earbuds. Their rapid growth and established market presence attracted top factories to manufacture their new line of design-centric products. Says Pei: "We're not trying to be Apple 2023. We're trying to be the Apple of the 1980s."

The Zenfone 10 Is The One Android Phone That Could Pull Me Away From My IPhone 14 Pro

This article will be a love letter to the iPhone 13 mini, so just get ready for it.

When Apple came out with the iPhone 12 series, it revealed the world's smallest 5G phone: the iPhone 12 mini. As someone who never liked the size iPhone Pro Max and, honestly, the size of any iPhone since the iPhone 8, I was ecstatic. However, people trashed the battery life, so I decided to hold out for a year to see if Apple could fix it.

The era of the mini

Enter the glorious iPhone 13 mini. I immediately picked that phone up on launch day, trading in my iPhone 12 Pro. It took me about one day to get over the shock of having such a tiny phone again, and once I did, I fell in love with the mini. It was the perfect phone. It could do almost everything I cared for a smartphone to do, and I could actually reach the top of the screen holding the phone with one hand again. What a concept!

Apple had fixed the battery life issue, and I spent a year with the best iPhone I have owned in years. I personally have had every iPhone since the iPhone 3GS and can say that, with the iPhone 4 in a close second, the iPhone 13 mini was my favorite.

iPhone 13 Mini Colors Image source: Apple

So, when Apple announced that they wouldn't be abandoning the mini in favor of the Plus with the iPhone 14, I was heartbroken. While I could have hung on to the past, I decided to accept my fate and went back to the Pro model with the iPhone 14 Pro. It's been a great phone and, as someone who regularly hikes and camps, I appreciate the new Emergency SOS via satellite feature.

However, I keep thinking about the iPhone 13 mini and how much more — FUN — honestly, just fun it was to use than the iPhone 14 Pro is. Enter the Zenfone 10.

Would I actually switch to Android?

Today, Asus officially launched the Zenfone 10, the next generation of its tiny but mighty Android phone. I remember when reviews of the Zenfone 9 came out, and people basically made it out to be the iPhone mini of the Android world. I saw why then, but at the time, I was happy with my iPhone 13 mini and wasn't traumatized by it being killed off just yet.

With the Zenfone 10, and being stuck with my iPhone 14 Pro, I can't help but feel the pull to head back into the land of the tiny phone. Forget the specs — I mean, I know that the phone packs a lot of great features like the latest Qualcomm processor, some nice camera features, and a great screen — but it's the size and the size alone that makes the phone so magical.

iPhone 14 Pro Max in Deep Purple. Image source: José Adorno for BGR

I would love to get my hands on one, but as someone who is so deep in the Apple ecosystem at this point, dropping an Android phone in the middle of it would disrupt everything else. While the Zenfone 10 looks great, If anything, I could see it being another indicator that could get me to switch back from the Pro models to the iPhone 13 mini again.

I've been with the iPhone Upgrade Program since it launched years ago. This could honestly be the first time I think of abandoning the yearly upgrade and clinging to the past. The Zenfone 10 is just another reminder to me that we fans of small phones never had it better than we did for the last couple of years when the iPhone mini existed.

Maybe Apple will bring it back as the new iPhone SE. That's about the best hope we have right now. Until then, I'll stare at the Zenfone 10 and wish it was an iPhone.

Citi Begins New Coverage Of Apple At A Street-high Price Of $240

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