Nothing Phone 1: Everything we know so far and what we want to see

In late 2020, we found out Carl Pei was leaving OnePlus, the company he co-founded several years earlier. Eventually, Pei announced his new company: Nothing. The firm with the funny name quickly released a well-received set of true-wireless earbuds called Nothing Ear 1. Now, in 2022, the company is poised to launch its second hardware product: the Nothing Phone 1.

Here’s everything we know so far about the Nothing Phone 1. If you scroll down a bit, you’ll find a few things we hope to see when the phone finally lands.

When will the Nothing Phone 1 release date be?

On March 23, 2022, Nothing posted a video to its YouTube channel. In the video, Pei formally revealed the Nothing Phone 1’s existence. He did not state a specific launch date, however. The only hint we have is that it will likely land in the summer of 2022. That would suggest anywhere from late June into mid-September.

What features and specs will the Nothing Phone 1 have?

As usual for Pei, he hasn’t divulged much information about the Nothing Phone 1. Nothing will very likely dole out little details here and there to keep the hype machine churning all the way up until the phone’s release date.

Until then, though, here’s what we do know.

Design

From the beginning, it was assumed Nothing’s first smartphone would feature the transparent casing of the Nothing Ear 1 earbuds. On May 24, Nothing confirmed this to be true. It did so through a Wallpaper interview with Pei and lead designer Tom Howard.

However, the duo stopped short of actually showing off the phone. Instead, all we got was the design sketch you see above. It gives you an idea of how the company is trying to make the innards of a smartphone look cool from the outside, which is something most other designers don’t need to think about.

Outside of this, though, we don’t know much about the phone’s design. We can assume that it will be mostly made of plastic since making a durable phone with transparent glass seems like it would be really difficult (not to mention expensive). Unfortunately, we’re missing any rumors about dimensions, weight, screen size, buttons, etc.

See also: The best Android phones to spend your money on

Specs and features

We know that the Nothing Phone 1 will feature a Qualcomm-created chipset. However, Qualcomm makes a ton of mobile processors, and it could be any one of them. We don’t know if the Phone 1 will have the mighty new Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 or something weaker, such as the Snapdragon 778G.

Related: All of Qualcomm’s smartphone processors explained

We also know the phone will run on an Android skin known as Nothing OS. We’ve already seen a sneak preview of Nothing OS running on a Samsung phone. The launcher is very basic at the moment, with its only novel feature being the ability to resize icons and folders on the fly. Other than that, it is a bare-bones launcher.

Nothing also confirmed the Nothing Phone 1 will see three Android upgrades and four years of security patches. This almost matches Google’s commitment to Pixel software support (Google offers five years of patches). It is a little behind Samsung’s commitment, though, which is four Android upgrades and five years of patches. Still, it’s good news that Nothing is making a firm commitment from the very beginning.

Unfortunately, that’s about all we know about the phone so far. The amount of RAM, internal storage options, camera hardware, and other details elude us for now.

What will the Nothing Phone 1 price be?

There have been plenty of shaky rumors flying around about the alleged price of the Nothing Phone 1. However, we haven’t given any of them much credence since the sources are vague, weak, or completely unmentioned.

We have already written about how we hope the phone has a low price. For what it’s worth, the unsubstantiated rumors we’ve heard do point to a mid-range price. However, until we know more about the specs and design, it will be impossible to know what Nothing’s plans are.

Nothing Phone 1: What we want to see

Since Pei left OnePlus, the company has changed significantly. Whether or not you think that’s a good thing (here’s what we think), it’s very clear that Pei played a big part in OnePlus’ original success. Therefore, many OnePlus fans have high hopes for Nothing and its first smartphone as they hope Pei brings the original spirit of OnePlus back.

With that in mind, here are three things we hope to see from the Nothing Phone 1.

A price-appropriate camera

We have no idea what Nothing is planning to charge for the Phone 1. As such, we can’t really say we’re hoping for a 100MP+ wide-angle lens and a periscope telephoto sensor since that would make the phone a $1,000+ premium device.

Instead, we’re hoping the phone’s price matches the quality of the camera hardware and the output of that camera. The Galaxy S22, for example, offers a 50MP wide-angle lens paired with ultrawide and telephoto lenses for $799. If the Nothing Phone 1 costs $800 too, it needs to have something as good or better than that.

See also: The best camera phones you can get

Likewise, if the phone costs between $500 and $600, it needs to have a terrific wide-angle lens paired with a similarly good ultrawide lens, like the Google Pixel 6. If Nothing cuts down the quality of those two sensors in order to throw in macro lenses or other gimmicks, it will be very disappointing.

Nothing also needs to deliver a solid camera app. It is very unlikely Nothing’s first smartphone will have the best camera experience of the year, but a reputation for poor camera quality still dogs OnePlus because its initial offerings were so poor. Nothing can’t repeat that mistake, so the Phone 1’s camera needs to be at least decent on launch day.

Terrific case accessories

It’s clear that Nothing is going to lean heavily into its transparent case design aesthetic. After all, the only two novel things about the Nothing Ear 1 were the clear casing and the very competitive price. It isn’t beyond the realm of possibility that Nothing is planning on making the same two elements the highlights of the Nothing Phone 1.

However, true-wireless earbuds don’t need protective cases, while phones do. It would be very silly if Nothing spent all sorts of time and engineering resources making the Phone 1 look awesome with a clear back and then sold cases that muffled that view — or, even worse, blocked it entirely.

Required reading: Our guide to picking the best case for your new phone

We’re hoping Nothing has a whole slew of really cool and thoughtfully designed cases for the Nothing Phone 1 on its launch day. Most people put their phones into cases, and Nothing can’t really change that mindset. And if Nothing doesn’t have some great cases on the way that complement the phone’s design, why bother getting it?

Conversely, Nothing could bring something to the table that makes the phone enticing besides its price and design. This brings us to the next wishlist item…

A special something that isn’t a clear back

The clear casing of the Nothing Ear 1 is super cool. Since I started wearing them, I have been stopped twice by strangers asking how to get a pair because they look so interesting. When you consider they look cool, offer many premium features such as ANC and wireless charging, and only cost $99, it’s an easy sell.

However, a competitive price and a clear back will not sell the Nothing Phone 1. It needs to have something else — something that really makes it irresistible. When Carl Pei helped bring the OnePlus One into existence, he created a smartphone with a unique look, stellar specs for the price, bloat-free software, and a thriving community of fans. It’s possible Pei plans to simply repeat that strategy with the Phone 1 — which we’ve speculated could be the idea.

But that all happened in 2014. The market’s changed a lot since then. Nowadays, to be truly successful, a phone needs to have a killer singular feature or offer such a terrific value that it can’t be ignored. It’s possible Nothing plans to sell the Phone 1 at a loss and offer top-of-the-line specs for a fraction of the price of competitors. It’s also possible it has some sort of secret feature that will set it apart from the crowd of literally dozens of other phones. But, if it doesn’t have either of these things, it will fail.

Your guess is as good as ours as to what the “secret sauce” feature could be. Maybe it’s an incredible camera or a replaceable battery or something we simply haven’t seen before. If it’s just a cool design and some mid-range specs, though, it will be incredibly disappointing.

See also: It’s 2022, phones should be built to last five years or more

That’s everything we want to see from the Nothing Phone 1. What do you hope for most? Be sure to let us know in the comments.