Well, that was unexpected. After months of hype building and teasing, tech startup Nothing has officially unveiled its first ever smartphone, the phone (1). In fact, the reveal came earlier than anticipated, about a month ahead of its official launch.
Nothing CEO Carl Pei, via his latest tweet, explained that the early unveiling of the phone (1) is to preemptively counter any potential leaks that could spoil the surprise. “Leaks are harder to contain nowadays and many of you have been waiting for a long time. So here it is,” he wrote.
Based on the image, the Nothing phone (1) is shown to sport a grey aluminium inner plate, which looks to be covered by transparent material. On its upper left is an oval camera island featuring two lenses and surrounding it is a white strip, which is also present on other parts of the phone. If you’ve been keeping up with everything phone (1) related, you’ll immediately recognise that the white strips are the same patterns shown in the teaser which Nothing showcased during its The Truth keynote in March.
Leaks are harder to contain nowadays and many of you have been waiting for a long time. So here it is. This is phone (1) design.
More to come. Tune in on 12 July. https://t.co/aOqmhLylCI
— Carl Pei (@getpeid) June 15, 2022
And yes, it turns out that our prediction of the phone to feature an electrochromic glass back is inaccurate but hey, we were hoping for something really fresh. As for the phone (1)’s actual design, it clearly wasn’t what most of us were expecting. Instead of showcasing its circuitry and such, we’re greeted with layers of aluminium plates that cover its inner workings. Nevertheless, it does look cool, in an industrial kind of way.
Amusingly, we can’t help but notice that the middle portion of the phone looks like a silhouette of a melon. Presumably a not so subtle jab at Apple’s branding on their iPhones.
While it might not feature a colour shifting glass, the Nothing phone (1) does come with a gimmick. According to The Verge, Pei previously confirmed in an interview that the white strips on its rear case actually light up. These would likely act as alerts for whenever you receive a new message and so on, though it is unknown whether they’ll glow in any other colour aside from white.
The only thing missing right now is the front design of the phone (1), which the company has not placed any emphasis on. Chances are, it might feature a notch or a punch-hole cutout for its front-facing imaging system, though it is still possible for Nothing to still surprise us on this. Whatever the case may be, we’ll only find out more about the company’s first smartphone on 12 July 2022, especially concerning its hardware specifications, pricing, and availability.
(Source: Nothing, via Carl Pei [Twitter])
