Nothing’s CEO wants to conquer the mobile market with crazy designs. He has told us his very complex plan to achieve it

Carl Pei is one of the CEO that gives off the most in the technology industry. You saw a cowboy and basic shirt, they warn me that it is shy and, after a few minutes of interview, we end up smiling, commenting that “the vibes” are the future, and remembering the old days of Cyanogenmod out of formalities.

Those who have been in El Cotarro to know Carl from that Old OnePlus who only sold his phones by invitation. With Nothing, the approach is different. A London company with the focus on design and with a clear slogan: “Make Tech Fun Again”.

Looking up

Nothing began with a Phone (1) that attacked the mid -range. He continued with a Phone (2) that took a specifications and, in 2025, attacks the market with a mobile of 799 euros with a high range. I can’t help wanting to know why.

Carl explains that for Nothing, both the Phone (1) like him Phone (2) They were flagships. It sounds like a statement Marketinianbut it is not: “For a company, a flagship is the best mobile you can do.” For the first time, they believe they are at an engineering point in which they can compete with the best in the market, a point where they are finally ready.

Sailing a high range is risky, and throwing it being oriented to a concrete niche, it is even more. Nothing is not in volume, it is not desperate to launch product and points directly to “the most creative users.” All this sounds very good, but it is worth asking if A company can be profitable and sustainable living as “creative users”.

“We are focused on new generations of consumption. We focus on people who are interested in technology, design and creativity. Our consumer is much younger than the average consumer, it is around 26 years.”

Does the strategy work? Yes. Carl tells me that they have folded the volume of business, exceeding one billion dollars in the accumulated sales. He knows that they have been focusing on software for years, but they intend to double software investment to be even more attractive.

They also have an important investment behind, in which investors take a direct role in the decisions made by the company.

“Sometimes it is uncomfortable, because they give their opinion in front of the rest of the members of our table. But I think it is really important to find ways to keep us connected with this base, especially when the company grows. It is difficult to hear uncomfortable truths when you have that type of structure, we always know what people want us.”

The present

With Nothing Phone (3) comes the whopping seven years of security updates and five software. Maybe it’s time for Get out of stopping a mobile per year if mobiles are getting older and more.

Or maybe not.

“On average, people renew phone every three years. So there will always be someone thinking about the following. But we are also seeing a trend of people who want to keep their device for a longer time. That is why we want to give even longer support.”

The phone also lands with an integration of quite discreet.

• Essential Search
• Essential Space
• Minor translation functions

Is enough to compete, taking into account that There are already those who integrate the AI Even in the most basic apps of the system (telephone, keyboard, camera …)?

Carl is clear that Nothing’s approach is cautious, because they see “a lot of hype” in the market. It drops that, even if they have launched these functions, “the Roadmap is long, there will be updates and updates.” But, beyond promising that in the future AI will be more complete, it is not afraid to admit that it agrees.

“This is almost like a hygiene factor, right? We have to take care of that basic part, but that is not what excites us most. What really excites us is how we apply this new technology to redefine the way people use products, especially in the software part. But yes, that basic work is necessary. You have to do it. The market is doing it and I think we can do much more.”

To close the block, I ask Carl for something practically inevitable: How are geopolitical tensions between the United States and China livingand if your supply chain is being affected. The Nothing Phone box (3) shows a clear “Made in China”, so there is nothing to hide.

Here he tells us that most of their products are manufactured in India, and some of them in China. Apart from this, he affirms that they are in the process to start producing in other parts of the world. It does not seem too worried, and the reason is simple.

“Being a startup, we can be quite agile and reagents, whatever happens.”

The future of smartphone

A question that I like to ask the main responsible for Tech companies is how they look in the future. And being, honest, the answers are usually little concrete. It is something completely normal: neither should get wet with compromised statements or, really, it is easy to predict with where today’s technology is going.

But Carl is a Jugónand it is clear that the future of the smartphone goes through a single app capable of controlling everything. That agriculture that we have spent so much speaking throughout 2025. The key is that, When everything is … what will be the reason to decide between one device or another?

It clarifies that it is still distant, and that no one would buy a phone without apps today. The key will be on the path that is to achieve it, a path to combine and melt all software and hardware.

“I think Essential Search is a good example. Normal people use the search to find apps, contacts … we are using a common behavior that we already understand to make it smart Looking more at the software to be even stronger.

If you wonder if Nothing wants to get this with your own modelsthe answer is no. The company is putting in hands of Google (Gemini) as OpenAi (Chatgpt) and the race is fierce, “there is a lot of competition, every month there is an even better model, so we have created an agnostic platform: we can change the last best at any time and always offer the best products.”

It is also clear that, currently, the smartphone remains the most important device for AI.

• “There is no better form of form”
• “Everyone has a phone”
• “We use them for everything”

That the AI ​​ends up being the epicenter of the smartphone sounds great but, What about privacy? It is something that Carl is quite clear.

“It will be very important, especially in the next generation. The most important point is transparency, be transparent on how we collect data, why we collect them, what data we have … give the user the option of selecting what they want to share and what not, but also knowing how to communicate why we are doing certain things.”

While all this process ends (or not) ending, It is worth asking whether the smartphone has touched the roof, or if there is still margin of improvement. Are we in him peak smartphone? Carl Mola’s response, a lot. “I would say” smartphones, chapter 1, “peak.” It is clear that telephony has been going through cycles and stages for years, and that there is one that has already ended. The positive side? “The new chapter is about to start now, and that new chapter will deal with software innovation.”

But, although the software is the protagonist, it will not help the software does not accompany it.

“We are very excited with this, reinforcing our pulse in the software. But that chapter two can only happen if you manage to marry all this with the hardware. Because the phones were always designed in mind that they needed an operating system. We have a lot to do on the side of the software, but there is also hardware to design by their side.”

To close this interview, I ask Carl about a future dominated by AI and software. One of the main reasons to buy a nothing product right now is the design but … What will be the reasons to buy them within five years?

Carl is convinced that, in the future, design and taste will be even more important.

“Let’s take the example of the software. With the programming through AI, you just have to have an idea and … it happens. So what will separate the good software from the good software will not be the person behind that idea, it will be that taste, how the user is well understood.

You can call it tastes … you can call it “vibes.” That is the future.

With that “vibes are the future” and a smile of nerds, I say goodbye to a Carl Pei that seems to be clear not only the direction to which Nothing will move in the coming years, but the entire industry.

Image | Xataka

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