Google-backed tech start-up Nothing is to launch the first British smartphone in half a decade, the company has announced.
The ‘Nothing phone (1)’ will be released in the summer and will run on a new in-house operating system, Nothing OS.
The phone will be designed in London and made in China, making it the first British-designed smartphone to launch since 2016.
Nothing recently hired ex-Dyson Head of Design & Product Experience Adam Bates as its design director. Bates helped oversee the creation of the Dyson Supersonic hair dryer and the Dyson Airwrap hair styling tool.
The new phone is expected to be cheaper than market-leaders Google and Apple but Nothing hopes to compete with the market leaders.
Nothing CEO and founder Carl Pei, who previously co-founded smartphone business OnePlus, said he wanted the device to “inspire people” and “bring optimism about the future and technology back.”
He criticised rivals for “unimaginative bland design.”
The last British company to launch a smartphone was London-based Wileyfox, whose ‘Swift’ device, manufactured under license in China in 2015, was marketed as a high-quality phone that was substantially cheaper than rivals Apple and Samsung.
Wileyfox Europe went into administration in 2018, having never made a profit. In its last full year of trading, the company had sales of £14.5 million, equivalent to sales of 130,000 of its smartphones. The company’s failure was “in part attributed to the collapse of the company’s bankers in Russia,” according to a document filed with Companies House.
Full details of Nothing’s phone specs and its price will be released later in the year.
Investors have poured over £100 million into Nothing since its launch in 2020. High-profile backers include Google Ventures, iPod inventor Tony Fadell and Twitch co-founder Kevin Lin.
In 2021 the company launched its first product, ‘Nothing ear (1)’, a pair of wireless earbuds designed to rival Apple’s AirPods. It has sold over 400,000 pairs to date.
On its website, the company promises to “remove barriers between people and technology” with “no confusing tech-speak” and “no silly product names.”
