Carl Pei believes there is something wrong with the smartphone industry. That’s not to say the phones on sale today are bad. In general, modern mobiles are faster, more sophisticated, and take better photos than previous generations. But as a growing number of tech enthusiasts, Pei has begun to feel that new phones are not as special as the devices that came out five or 10 years ago. So before the launch of Phone 1 on July 12, I sat down with the founder and CEO of Nothing to find out how the mobile startup is trying to bring some innovation, quirkyness and maybe even some fun to the smartphone market. .
Now there is a very logical explanation for why recent phones do not have the same kind of surprise factor. When the iPhone made its debut, it felt like a revelation. “I used to watch all the launches. I was in Sweden, so I stayed up until midnight or 4 in the morning to see what came out,” Pei said. But in recent years, that excitement has waned, with Pei often skipping high notes and relying on condensed summaries to stay informed. And it’s not just Pei who feels that way.
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“When I talk to consumers, they’re also pretty indifferent,” Pei says. “When they were doing focus groups, some consumers said they believe smartphone brands are intentionally withholding features so they have something to launch for the next iteration, which is not true. But if consumers feel that way. , it’s a sign that they’re a little bored. “
Pei’s big issue is stagnation. With major players like LG and HTC coming out of the market or becoming irrelevant, the smartphone industry is dominated by a handful of big corporations like Apple, Samsung and Google. “You have a few big companies and their way of working is more structured and systematic,” Pei said. “They have technology roadmaps from partners like Qualcomm, Sony or Samsung Display, so they know what’s coming. They do a lot of consumer research, get their feedback and look at their competitors and the overall market outlook.”
However, Pei believes that this approach leads to a lot of equality. “So they have this information, they analyze it and then they create a very rational product that will go well on paper because they used all this big data,” Pei said. “But the problem is that everyone uses the same data and everyone uses the same analysis. So if the input is the same and the method is the same, the output is also more or less the same.
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This is something that Pei is trying to change with Nothing’s next phone, the Phone 1. Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, or in this case, the phone, Pei wants to return some originality to the design of mobile technology. . “Maybe we can shrink the brain a bit and increase intuition,” said Pei, who is a mantra that has given rise to some of the Phone 1’s most unique features, such as its design, built-in lighting, and glyph interface.
Pei says the inspiration behind the Phone 1’s design comes from a concept the team describes as “raw technology meets human warmth” or technical warmth for short. “It has this machine-like nature, but it also has quirky, very human elements.” That’s why instead of hiding the inside of the device behind an opaque back, as you see on so many other phones, Nothing uses a clear glass that exposes components like the Phone 1’s wireless charging coil, tubes of heat and more. In many ways, it looks like a modern industrialist is taking the Game Boys and iMacs with clear plastic casing that we had in the 90s and early 2000s.
“I think one thing we’re trying to achieve is bringing people back in time when they felt more optimistic about gadgets,” Pei said. This desire to make technology fun again is actually something that has not been carried out throughout its design process, down to the code name Arceus from Phone 1, which is a reference to the legendary Pokémon of the same name. . (For the record, Pei says his favorite “Mon is Squirtle.”) There are also other quirks, such as the heat tube on the bottom of the phone that looks like an elephant and the red indicator light on the back that lets people know when a video is being made. is being recorded.
See if you can spot the elephant hidden in the design of the phone 1.
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However, even though Pei wants to return the fun to gadgets, Nothing always falls into the basic design principle of the shape tracking feature. Pei said, “We don’t make ornaments. We can design different and unique things, but they always have to be functional. ”The best example of this is the phone 1’s glyph interface, which uses 900 LEDs arranged on the back of the device to create a sophisticated, unlike notification system. of what currently exists.
By allowing owners to assign unique combinations of lights and sounds to different contacts, the idea is that people can see who is calling or texting without looking at the screen. Even Phone 1 ringtones evoke old-school analog synthesizers combined with the noise of a dial-up modem, it’s cool and retro at the same time. In addition, the lights glow when the phone is wireless or reverse wireless charging, while the small LED strip next to the charging port can show how much juice the phone has, once again, without ever seeing the screen .
That said, having great ideas about phone design and making them a reality are very different things. Making phones is difficult and trying to enter the market as a startup is almost impossible. If we look at today’s industry, the only company that has really broken down in the last decade is OnePlus, which was co-founded by Pei and received significant support as part of BBK Electronics ’technology umbrella. Meanwhile, the heap of failed smartphone initiatives is rife with ambitious companies like Essential (whose brand and IP are now owned by Nothing) that sparked equally big ideas but rose to prominence. before making a second-generation device. Or consider more conventional companies like Motorola, which managed to make modular phones nothing more than a novelty with its Z-series devices. And since then, Moto has played largely safely making endless repetitions of its G series line.
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“The reason this industry is so difficult is because it requires end-to-end capacity,” Pei said. “If you want to start a smartphone company, each team has to be at least seven out of 10. And some of them have to be even better if your product stands out in some way.”
“Your supply chain equipment must be fantastic. Your mechanical engineering, your software, your engineering, your industrial design, your sales, your marketing, your customer service,” said Pei.And if we look back at the PH-1, which had an innovative design and a team with a serious pedigree, in the end, a handful of problems like its high price and the poor quality of the camera at launch meant, ultimately, perdition for Essential.
On the other hand, while Pei claims that Nothing has already sold more than 560,000 pairs of its ear 1 heads, there are concerns that the Phone 1 is exaggerated. Some online commenters have even compared the Nothing community forums to a cult based on initial reactions to what remains an unreleased device. But when it comes to exaggeration, Pei feels that there is only one path that leads to success.
“One is the path we are currently taking. We try to create maximum interest for a product at launch. This sets very high expectations for the product. And if so, things are going very well. If it doesn’t, it may run out. “
However, the challenge is that if a company tries to dominate the hype, the product may never come out, regardless of the quality. Pei said: “In this way, we at least have the opportunity to try to offer a great product. The second option is to be a small business without a marketing budget is for no one to know about your device. So even if the product is good “The result is that no one cares. You don’t even have a chance to prove yourself. That’s really our only logical choice.”
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Thus, while the design of the Phone 1 is quite unique and attractive, Pei preaches a pragmatic approach. Instead of making a big swing at the door, Pei seeks to gradually grow Nothing’s business and ecosystem, starting with his first headphones and soon, his first phone.
“We’re a fast tracker. We didn’t invent smartphones. We didn’t invent Android, but we have experience in this market. We see ways we could do better and some gaps in the market.” But Pei knows that Nothing has to be done step by step. “We have to gradually build up to a position of strength. Then, when you’re strong, you can go do something really, really innovative, because you’ll have a business stable enough to take a lot of pictures.”
However, while the success (or failure) of the Phone 1 is yet to be determined, I am grateful that Pei not only challenges the $ 1 billion giants with a new launch of smartphones, but Nothing too. he is trying to shake things up in the process. “I think this device is the beginning of something different, but it’s also a gift for our industry,” Pei said. “We’re not saying this is a revolutionary product that will change the whole industry overnight. But maybe it will plant a germ in people’s minds.” In a sea of similar-looking glass bricks, Pei hopes the Phone 1 will encourage customers to order more creative devices while pushing larger companies to take more risks. “Something will fail. But ultimately the smartphone market will be much more dynamic and we will improve faster as an industry.”
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