Carl Pei’s Nothing reportedly plans to launch a smartphone by next month

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Nothing, the consumer tech brand led by Carl Pei, is planning to launch its first phone next month, according to a report. Pei is said to have shown off a prototype of the phone to executives from companies at this week's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

The company's first product, a pair of wireless earbuds called the Ear 1 was released a year ago. The new device will have the same design elements as the earbuds, but other details are limited. A source has direct knowledge of the company's plans.

We've got a lot to catch up on Carl

— Android (@Android) February 15, 2022

Pei expects Nothing to expand into more product categories over time. Nothing bought the rights to the Essential brand in January of last year, just a month after Pei said in an interview that the plan was to eventually offer an array of different devices. Nothing had five new products in development, said a company executive in India last November.

Pei is said to have been teasing an announcement of an operating system. On February 15th, the executive posted a cryptic message on his account, only for the brand accounts for both Android and Snapdragon to reply. March is going to be fun according to the official brand account for Nothing.

March is going to be fun.

— Nothing (@nothing) February 28, 2022

The representative from Nothing did not respond to the request for comment.