Leaked internal memo reveals that Nothing's first true flagship phone is coming this quarter
Photo shows the Nothing Phone (2a) Plus. | Image credit-PhoneArena
The phones released by Nothing up to now have all been mid-range models. But that is apparently going to change with the Nothing Phone (3). Originally scheduled to be released in 2024, the release of the Nothing Phone (3) was re-scheduled to the first quarter of this year by Nothing founder and CEO Carl Pei. Apparently, Nothing needed more time to develop the AI features that the new handset will include. As this is the AI era when it comes to the smartphone industry, such a delay was necessary.
It will be interesting to see what AI capabilities Nothing offers on the Nothing Phone (3). Even more exciting, the device will be the brand's first true flagship phone and none other than Carl Pei is letting the cat out of the bag. A leaked internal memo written by Pei to Nothing employees was posted on "X" by Hall of Fame leaker and one of the few truly deserving of the "leaker" title, Evan Blass.
In Pei's memo, the CEO explicitly calls the Nothing Phone (3) a flagship phone. While he doesn't reveal any specs, he does write that the phone will include "breakthrough innovations in user interface," and will be Nothing's first step toward an "AI-powered platform." The executive also revealed that even though the Nothing Ear (1) was the first product released by the company, "From the beginning we knew our key focus had to be on the most widely used product in the world; the smartphone." Pei points out that there are more than 4 billion smartphone users worldwide.
Leaked internal memo from Nothing CEO Carl Pei to employees. | Image credit-Evan Blass
The leaked memo includes an anecdote from Carl Pei about a Venture Capitalist (VC) who didn't put any money into Nothing back in 2020 because he felt that the odds of the company becoming a failure was 95%. The VC later apologized for not believing in the firm and said "from here on, we will support you however we can." Pei states that Nothing has "beaten the odds" and the size of Nothing's camera and software teams has been increased by 50%.
One area where the Nothing Phone (3), being a flagship, will certainly use a top-of-the-line component is under the hood where we might find the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset. There had been some speculation that the phone would use last year's Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. But this is the moment where Carl Pei is telling Nothing employees that they are not in Kansas anymore and if Nothing is committing itself to building a proper flagship phone, it will need to include proper flagship components.
Can Nothing compete in the rough and tumble world of premium smartphone manufacturing? One only needs to look at the latest model put out by the previous company co-founded by Carl Pei. The highly spec'd OnePlus 13 could very well be the 2025 Android phone of the year.
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