In a sea of identical smartphones, Nothing stands out

I was in a pub in London, catching up with my oldest friends. One friend turned to another: “What is that phone you are holding?” The phone in question: a $799 Nothing Phone 3. In a world of interchangeable black mirrors, this is a phone that stands out, hence the puzzled look and question. From 2007 to today, the smartphone has gone from designer marvel to almost invisible ubiquity. Apple has led the way with 17 generations of its god-like device. Google, Huawei, Samsung, Motorola, and others follow, delivering great cameras, big screens, and strong Android experiences. Devices have come and gone, and big brands like Nokia have fallen along the way. Marketing them, meanwhile, has become an exercise in saying the same thing, slightly louder. Against this mature market, a brand like Nothing shouldn’t really exist. Ask a management consultant in 2020 if there was room for a new smartphone—when leaders were entrenched and challengers were competing on price—and the answer would likely have been no. But Nothing wasn’t born from a market-sizing exercise, and it is making waves. By the end of 2024, it had doubled annual revenue to over $500 million and crossed $1 billion in lifetime sales, selling around 7 million devices. It has raised over $450 million from leading venture capitalists, valuing the company at $1.3 billion. In some markets, it has taken a 2% share—tiny, but a place to start. THE VISION Founded by Carl Pei in London in 2020, the company is built around a clear vision: “As consumer tech companies grow, they often focus on protecting themselves from disruption rather than driving innovation. I felt that if no one tried to challenge that, the category would stay boring forever.” Personal devices tend to succeed when they clearly belong to a defined mode of life—work, play, create, switch off—or when they create a new “mode” people want to step into. Nothing’s mode is pure disruption; it’s less a product strategy, more a cultural stance. Their bold use of colo