Nothing’s brand chief is fed up of ‘boring and generic’ smartphone ads

Charlie Smith attends Nothing Technology’s New York City launch event at Hero on September 28, 2026 in New York City. (Credit: Photo by Craig Barritt/Getty Images for Nothing Technology))

Nearly two decades after the first iPhone, most smartphones still follow Apple’s template.

“Consumer tech’s becoming pretty boring,” says Charlie Smith, chief brand officer at Nothing, the London-based upstart which is aiming to break the mold. “Everyone just copied the success of Apple, which was about minimalism, aluminum, and glass. [Tech] really lost a lot of its personality.”