‘They’re scared of us’: Nothing launches major new assault on Apple, Samsung domination

There’s a stylish new kid on the block in the smartphone world, and its colourful CEO has grand ambitions that has the giants worried.

“Companies that are 150 times bigger than us are scared of us. I’m sure they’re annoyed and that makes me happy.”

These of the fighting words of a tech CEO whose company is emerging as a force to be reckoned with inside the smartphone space race.

Carl Pei is just 35 and his company Nothing has just 0.2 per cent of the global market share of smartphones at the moment, but his ambitions could see him bring down a duopoly that has dominated the space for so long. We are of course talking about Apple and Samsung.

Many start-up challengers to the big two have come and gone, but Mr Pei is determined that this time, with his company, it’s different.

One factor swinging in his favour is his personality. He has become almost a cult figure within the tech world, as he does things that no other CEO would be seen dead doing.

His brutally honest YouTube videos — in which he reviews the latest iPhones or responds to the reviews of his products — have seen him amass millions of views.

And while a market share of 0.2 per cent may sound small, we’re talking about a device that almost everyone on the planet now owns. In revenue, Mr Pei says Nothing has now made over $1 billion.

This month Nothing’s journey hit a new milestone as it released its first flagship smartphone and its first over ear headphones — Phone (3) and Headphone (1), respectively.

They were presented with much fanfare in London — where the company is headquartered — last week, and news.com.au had the chance to sit down with Mr Pei, and pick his brains.

In his presentation of the new products, he said the world had changed — as the cost of living and artificial intelligence (AI) had changed the how people thought about technology.

“Progress is being met with real scepticism,” he said. “AI might steal our jobs. Social media is draining our attention, and tech today feels more like a trap than a tool.

Carl Pei is not your average CEO.

“That’s the environment we stepped into four years ago. We looked around and saw three big problems. Design got boring, products felt more and more similar, and there was no reason to upgrade anymore.

“In the last couple of years, we saw upgrade cycles go from one year up to three years. Operating systems were stuck. It didn’t really change. In the last 20 years, we’re still stuck on tapping on apps, on lock screens, on home screens.

“Also, tech made people feel passive. Smartphones have become these engines for doom scrolling. But technology was supposed to make us more capable and creative. It’s now doing the opposite. We remember what tech used to feel like, fun, optimistic and full of possibility, and asked, ‘What if it could feel that way again?’”.

That has been Mr Pei’s philosophy since starting the company — trying to make tech exciting and fun again.

Nothing’s previous phones have come in at a cheaper price point to the big dogs, without losing any of the firepower. Galaxies and iPhones tend to retail upwards of $1000. Nothing’s previous phone, Phone (3a), only sets you back $600.

They have also stood out from the crowd with the way the phones look.

They feature clear glass backs that reveal the intricate mechanisms within and a series of panels made to look like the actual circuit boards and ribbon cables are enclosed beneath.

But the biggest difference is the flashy features. The Phone 3(a) for example had a circular camera bump surrounded by three strips of LED lights that make up what Nothing called the device’s ‘Glyph interface’.

The dancing lights came to life in innovative ways that mean you can put your phone face down and on silent while still getting visual cues so you don’t miss anything.

For example, specific glyph patterns light up to your ringtone so you can set certain patterns to flag when important contacts are calling without having to look at your screen.

The new Phone 3 is taking this a step further with a Glyph Matrix display — like a tiny LED display on the back of your phone — which opens up a whole world of possibilities.

The Glyph matrix display on the top right is a feature on the Phone (3).

There are a handful of Glyph “Toys,” as Nothing calls them, like the Spin the Bottle game, rock, paper, scissors, and the Magic 8 Ball, which was created via Nothing’s community — where phone users can suggest and create new features for the Glyph interface in the future.

Mr Pei said that while some see these features as a gimmick, the feedback from customers is that 80 per cent of them have the Glyph Interface enabled on their phones.

Mr Pei said it’s all a conscious decision for Nothing stand out from a “boring” crowd.

“I grew up at a time when technology was really exciting,” he told news.com.au. “I still remember getting the first iPod and the first iPhone, and those products, to me, were so kind of groundbreaking, and each iteration just got a lot better. So that got me really excited about this industry.

“My entire career I’ve been in the smartphone industry, and I think it was those early products that made me aspire to take a career here in this industry.

“But over the last couple of years, things got very different. It was no longer this feeling of optimism and inspiration, it was more it just got boring, and I felt like I had the experience already.

“I mean, the designs got very stale, like each new product looked very similar to the previous one. I think on the software side, there’s some new features, but it’s not really groundbreaking.”

He said it felt like the promise of the original smartphones was not being fulfilled.

“Like we’re spending so much time on social media just doom scrolling our feeds,” he said. “So I just felt like I had built the experience, I had a team, and I had the resources to take a shot at this, and I wanted to see this company exist, and it didn’t feel like anybody else was going to do this, because other people have tried in the last 10 years, they haven’t been able to sustain it.

“It might sound a little bit arrogant, but I felt like if we didn’t take a shot at this, nobody else would and tech would be boring and dystopian for a very long time.”

Nothing also launched its first over ear headphones.

He said being a small player actually gave Nothing an advantage.

“We can move faster, we can take a more opinionated approach on our products, which we’ve done,” he said.

“I think people are really resonating with the differentiation we’ve created with our design and also with our software. So I just think that it’s a structural issue with our industry. There’s no start-ups, and that’s why it’s gone a bit stale compared to other industries.”

The gamble, he says, is paying off so far as Nothing sales increase — including in Australia where the company has recently struck deals with JB Hifi and Optus.

“Actually, last year we more than doubled sales,” he said. “This year we’re on track of almost doubling sales again. We’re available in more than 40 different countries. We’re growing in all our markets, Australia, being a recent one, I heard we’re doing really well there.”

Young people, he says, are a key driver in Nothing’s success so far.

“Today, we captured, I think, the youngest user base out of all the brands, our average age is around 26 for our users, we try to be really transparent,” he said. “For instance, on our YouTube channel, where we go through the thought process of building the product, why we’ve made certain decisions, we even have a video admitting to a failure, like a product that we were planning to launch but ultimately didn’t launch.

“So we hope to be that positive force in a society that’s a little bit scared of what’s gonna happen in the future.”

AI is a part of that future that Mr Pei said the general population is wary about — as debate continues about it replacing our jobs.

James Majoos at Nothing Tech hosted its first Australian keynote event at Carriageworks, Sydney to celebrate the launch of their first true flagship phone, Phone (3) and their first venture into over ear audio category, Headphones (1) on Tuesday 8. Picture: Supplied

DJ Tyoow spins decks at the event. Picture: Supplied

“I see it as the opposite (of a threat), he said. “I think different companies approach it differently, but for us, it’s really important that we use all the latest technology to help people be better. Help people like not replace people, but help them accelerate. Help them do more.”

One of the features in Nothing’s new phone is called Essential Space which is an AI-powered hub for notes, ideas, and inspirations.

Mr Pei described it as being like a “second brain” — as the phone uses AI to gather and organise this information into one space for you and to set reminders.

Phone (3) also has something called Essential Search that allows users to quickly find contacts, content, and information, as well as get real-time answers.

“We’re still very early on that roadmap, so you haven’t seen a ton of features yet, but I hope that Essential Space and Essential Search gives you a glimpse of what that looks like,” Mr Pei said. “Like with essential search, just get the answer like you don’t have to go through all the steps. So we’re just all about empowering people, not about using AI to help corporations.”

Phone (3) will launch in Australia on July 15. It will retail between $1,509 –$1,743 and will be available from JB Hifi.

The Nothing Headphone (1) is set to be released on July 15. It will be available for purchase at retailers like JB Hi-Fi and Optus. The price is AU$549.

To find out more visit the Nothing website.

Originally published as ‘They’re scared of us’: Nothing launches major new assault on Apple, Samsung domination