Another Apple alternative? ‘Ok, what’s new here?’ Well, Nothing

“Ok, what’s new here?” That’s what I thought after hearing Carl Pei, now co-founder of the London-based consumer tech brand Nothing, present his company’s future plans. The message that Pei wanted to send: Smartphone innovation is dead, but Nothing will shake things up with an open ecosystem and its upcoming Nothing phone (1). More importantly, they want to build the “most compelling alternative to Apple,” to quote Pei.
Except that this idea of building the next Apple is not new. It didn’t make me go ‘oh wow’ that’s ambitious. My reaction was more, ‘Ok if you say so.’ While it is easy to dismiss this as cynicism and being overly critical, there’s very little evidence to show that the Apple model has been replicated successfully others.
Google — with all its financial and engineering might — is still trying. The Pixel is in no way a challenger to the iPhone. There’s no solid Android tablet that takes on the iPad. While Chromebooks have become popular during the pandemic, Apple’s MacBooks powered the company’s own M1 series are far ahead of the competition in terms of everything they offer. And let’s not forget all the Apple Watch and AirPods clones flooding the market at every single price point.
In fact even Google knows this ‘integration’ between Android and other devices — that Pei referenced — needs to happen, and it is trying. But there’s very little clarity on the full scope and breadth of how and when this will take place. Yes, even Samsung has some variation of this ecosystem integration across its premium range of Galaxy devices.

But none come close to offering Apple’s convenience. As an Apple user, I can seamlessly transfer photos from my iPhone to my Mac using AirPlay, setting up a new iPhone is painless thanks to iCloud. Now there’s the new Universal Control feature, which lets you drag files from the iPad to the Mac. Even teens don’t want to leave the blue bubbles of Apple’s iMessage system.
This is not to say that a closed ecosystem is our only hope for innovation and convenience, but rather to stress that breaking the current system is not easy. Apple controls it top-down to bottom from the hardware to software and no doubt an open ecosystem would be better. But the harsh truth is that once users enter the Apple world, the switch is difficult to make. Convincing users that they need to dump their iPhones for an upcoming brand’s Android phone, is easier said than done.
So where and exactly how will Nothing phone (1) change the narrative? That part just was not clear and felt like a state secret that Pei didn’t want to reveal. This is not to say Pei — best known as the face behind OnePlus — didn’t make any compelling points in his presentation. He’s right that smartphone ‘innovation’ is dead and all we’re getting are new iterations each year with a bigger display with different camera placement. But just how Nothing would change this grim narrative is not clear.
For one, Nothing’s phone (1) will be powered and built on Qualcomm Snapdragon platform, which sounds the same as any other phone in the market. Just what is the innovation here? And yes, it will run the company’s own Nothing OS with less bloatware and minimal design. Groundbreaking? Not really. The phone could feature what might be a unique design, but that’s a ‘could’ at this point.
After lening to the presentation, I felt that Nothing’s take on innovation might end up being the same pitch I’ve heard from countless tech executives before. Of course, Nothing could well live up to the hype cycle they have created and prove cynics like myself entirely wrong. But while terms like ‘rethinking the smartphone’ might seem like a cool new trend, I’ll believe it when I see it.