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After launching Nothing Phone (1) in the UK last year, it seems the brand has plans to launch a sequel in 2023 based on comments from CEO and co-founder Carl Pei.
The Nothing Phone (1) isn’t the best phone on the market right now, but its bold aesthetics and budget-friendly price – with performance that is absolutely value for money – have made it quite a popular handset in the regions where it’s available. It is therefore no surprise that the brand wants to launch a sequel.
In an interview with Other way around, Nothing CEO Carl Pei admitted that his company has big plans for its next ‘more premium’ smartphone: the Phone (2). While Pei is reportedly hesitant to give away too many details, he did reveal the two main areas Nothings wants to focus on with his next smartphone.
The first is software. We don’t know exactly what form the upgrades will take, but we hope the UI will see some refinements. In our review, we found the Android-based Nothing OS to be clean, but it’s not the most stable build of Android out there and lacks easy-to-use features like one-handed mode.
Another big difference is that the phone (2) was designed with an American audience in mind. The Nothing Phone (1) was originally rejected by the US at launch and only recently arrived there via a strange beta program. It appears that this program is being used to help determine what US consumers want from a smartphone, as well as working with carriers to determine the certifications and features their devices need to function properly on US networks.
That said, we don’t expect anything to be different from the phone (1). It seems likely that the phone (2) will continue to use the iconic Glyph interface of the original, and offering a competitive price point that offers users solid value for money is also very likely. But to know exactly how much the phone (2) will cost and what specs it will contain, we’ll probably have to wait for a proper announcement later in the year.
Until then, we’ll have to make do with a few other tech reveals, including the announcements made during Samsung Unpacked 2023 on February 1 (that’s tomorrow at the time of writing). It seems very likely that Unpacked 2023 will be the launch event for the Samsung Galaxy S23 smartphone (and the upgraded Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus and Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra models). If you want to check out the announcements for yourself, follow our guide on how to watch the Samsung Galaxy S23 launch event to see our coverage of all the announced devices.