Nothing Will Launch A Smartphone Next Year

Given the company was pretty much at the height of its success last year, it was almost shocking that OnePlus would suddenly lose its co-founder out of the blue. Of course, Carl Pei left OnePlus on good terms, at least publicly speaking, to found his own hardware company, amusingly named "Nothing." It was largely expected that Nothing would make its own phone, but that hasn't come to pass just yet. That doesn't mean it won't happen, though, and the Nothing Phone could finally turn into something by 2022.

Although it was speculated that Pei's company would eventually make smartphones, there was really no assurance when it would. There was a lot of mystery surrounding Nothing from the beginning, so it was anyone's guess what its first product would be. Nothing finally put rumors to rest when it unveiled the Ear (1) last July, clearing the road for a new product.

Nothing may have been laying the foundations for that new product in the past months. Earlier this year, it acquired Essential, the similarly oddly-named company from Android creator Andy Rubin. That company's only portfolio was the Essential Phone, which pretty much means that Nothing has everything it needs to make its own phone.

91mobiles now reports on an exclusive confirmation that Nothing will launch its first-ever smartphone sometime in 2022. Unfortunately, no other detail was revealed, but one can expect a minimalist design considering the company's philosophy. Whether that will come with a transparent case like the Nothing Ear (1) is still up to speculation.

The Nothing Phone (1), if that will be its name, could be powered by a Snapdragon chipset since the company recently partnered with Qualcomm. The report also mentions a Nothing Power (1) power bank that could fill in the gap between the earbuds and next year's Nothing phone.