Carl Pei’s Nothing is now looking to launch a smartphone in the United States

Ben Schoon | Dec 5 2022 - 8:36 am PT

The Nothing Phone (1) launched to solid overall reviews, but many were disappointed that Carl Pei’s company opted not to bring the device to the United States. But now, it seems that course is changing.

Speaking to CNBC, ex-OnePlus and Nothing founder Carl Pei confirmed that plans are in motion to bring Nothing Phone to the United States. Pei says that Nothing is in talks with carriers in the US for a “new smartphone,” implying that the Nothing Phone (1) won’t arrive stateside, but its successor might.

Originally, Pei explained that the main roadblock for bringing the Nothing Phone (1) to the US was a lack of carrier partnerships. Our Max Weinbach further explained the situation, adding that brand loyalty and the cost of carrier partnerships would only further complicate matters for the young brand. At the time, Nothing said that it had “big plans” to launch a US phone down the road, and it seems that will hold up.

In this week’s interview, Pei explains that Nothing is “in discussions” with US carriers to launch a future product in the market, saying that there is “a lot of interest” for Nothing products in the US already, citing that around a third of all sales for the Nothing Ear (Stick) earbuds come from the US.

The reason why we didn’t launch in the U.S. is because you need a lot of additional technical support, to support all the carriers and their unique customizations that they need to make on top of Android. Now we are in discussions with some carriers in the U.S. to potentially launch a future product there.

It’s definitely a market where there’s already a lot of interest for our products. And if we launch our smartphones there, I’m sure we could obtain significant growth.

The interview also brings out that Nothing Phone (1) has sold around 500,000 shipments to date.