Nothing Phone 2 will reportedly arrive in the US later this year, says CEO Carl Pei.

Nothing Phone 1, the British brand’s first smartphone spearheaded by OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei, was launched in global markets outside the US last July. The successor, Nothing Phone 2, is reported to be officially released in the US this year. Nothing CEO Carl Pei said in an interview that he confirmed that the Nothing Phone 2 will arrive in late 2023 and the company sees the US as a priority market. The upcoming Nothing Phone 2 is expected to be a premium offering over Nothing Phone 1 and software will become the company’s main focus, the report said.

AT interview Along with Inverse, Carl Pei has reportedly confirmed that Nothing’s next smartphone, the Phone 2, will be officially released in the US sometime this year. “We have decided to make the US our No. 1 priority in terms of markets,” Pei said. “When you make a smartphone for the US, you need to work with carriers to certify and adapt some of their features to your OS,” he explained, adding that “before we didn’t have the resources to do this, but now they do.”

“We couldn’t do it earlier because we were only in our second year and our hands were tied building a team while we were building products. Now that we are on a stronger footing, we can take a step forward,” he said.

Pei reportedly stated that the company has grown from 200 people in 2021 to 400 today, and they have more resources to work on carrier certification, quality assurance, marketing, retail logistics, etc. He claims that revenue has grown significantly with $24 million (roughly Rs.). 196 crores) in the first year to $200 million (approximately 1633 crores) in 2022.

Nothing Phone 1 hasn’t been released in the US, but the company recently announced a beta testing program for US buyers that allows them to test the phone in the country. Participation in the program costs $299 (roughly Rs. 24,400) and includes a black version of Nothing Phone 1 with 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal storage. T-Mobile is the only carrier to support 5G on the phone, while AT&T and Verizon users will have limited 4G connectivity.

Nothing currently offers its TWS earbuds in the US, and that country accounts for a third of sales. Pei believes that by not launching our phone in the US, the company is potentially leaving a third of the volume on the table.

Nothing. Phone 2 is positioned as a more premium offering than Phone 1. Pei said the company is investing heavily in Phone 2 software. “When we launched Phone 1, we only had about five engineers on the mobile team, so a lot of the work had to fulfill other companies,” he said. “Now we have about 100 software people on our team, and I’ve brought in a lot of people I’ve worked with before in a past life.” The upcoming model may have a more premium build and a new SoC compared to the Snapdragon 778G+ SoC on Phone 1.

In addition to expanding in the US, the company is also reportedly planning to open more retail stores in other regions. They are also said to be considering opening a US store.

Nothing Phone 1 was unveiled last July with a starting price of Rs. 32,999 for the base 8GB RAM + 128GB storage variant. Nothing later increased the price by Rs. 1000 in August.

Nothing Phone 1 specs include a 120Hz refresh rate display, 50MP dual camera, 16MP selfie sensor, and up to 256GB of internal storage. It has a Snapdragon 778G+ SoC under the hood, paired with up to 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM. It packs a 4,500mAh battery with support for 33W wired charging, 15W Qi wireless charging, and 5W reverse charging.