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Carl Pei’s Nothing phone might arrive as soon as April

Carl Pei, the founder of Nothing, recently teased the arrival of a new Android smartphone. Now, according to a new report from TechCrunch, the Nothing smartphone could be announced in April.

Citing a “source close to the company,” the publication claims that Pei has been showing off prototypes of the first Nothing phone at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. TechCrunch also claimed to have viewed a photo of one such meeting with Qualcomm’s chief executive. Nothing has been prepping to launch its first smartphone for over a year, through moves such as acquiring Essential, a smartphone startup that shut down in 2020 amid multiple controversies, and partnering up with Qualcomm in 2021.

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As of now, details regarding the Nothing phone are scarce. However, it is being reported that the upcoming smartphone will share a similar design language and “elements of transparency” seen in Nothing’s Ear 1 earbuds, which have seen fair success with 400,000 shipments as of late January.

With Pei having the experience of launching a new device and growing OnePlus over the years, we expect the Nothing phone to have a few surprises up its sleeve. While the company is just a year old, developing an Android phone shouldn’t be a problem for the ex-OnePlus executive’s company.

We also expect the Nothing phone to have some of the minimalist design elements we saw in the Essential Phone. Internally, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 seems like a sure bet for Nothing’s first smartphone. However, it is too soon to say or speculate anything about the cameras, but we think it will have at least one of the ultrawide-angle or telephoto lenses alongside the primary camera. You can expect to hear more details of the Nothing phone as we head toward the launch timeline.

Prakhar Khanna
Prakhar Khanna is an independent consumer tech journalist. He contributes to Digital Trends' Mobile section with features and…
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