British company Nothing is planning to launch a new smartphone in the US to directly compete with Apple’s iPhone.
In an interview with CNBC, Nothing CEO Carl Pei said the startup is in “preliminary conversations” with US cellular carriers about launching a new phone in the US, but he refrained. to give more details.
Nothing(1) improves AirPods integration
In July, Nothing launched its Phone 1 in over 40 markets, including France, the UK, Japan and India. At the time, the company said it had no plans to launch the Phone 1 on a large scale in the United States.
The Chinese-Swedish entrepreneur explained:
The reason we didn’t launch the Phone 1 in the US is because you need a lot of extra tech support, to support all the carriers and their unique customizations they have to do on top of Android. We felt that we were not ready before.Now we are in discussions with some carriers in the United States to potentially launch a future product there.
Carl Pei also acknowledged that it won’t be easy for his company to compete with Apple on its home turf. “There’s a challenge with Android where iOS is becoming more and more dominant. They have a very strong lockdown with iMessage, with AirDrop, especially among Gen Z. So that’s a growing concern for me,” he said. he declares.
“At some point, Apple might have 80% of the overall market, which would not leave enough room for Android product makers to keep playing,” Pei added.
Nothing has sold over one million products to date worldwide, with its Ear (1) earbuds selling 600,000 and the Phone (1) reaching 500,000 shipments. According to the interview, Nothing does not want to launch Phone 1 but probably Phone 2 in the USA.
The company expects revenue to increase more than tenfold in 2022 – from around $20 million in 2021 to an estimated $250 million this year. However, the firm is still losing money, which Pei says is partly due to the exchange rate.
We pay a large portion of our COGS [coût des marchandises vendues] in USD, but we make money in Pounds, Euros, Indian Rupees – so everything has devalued against USD. The objective is to be profitable in 2024.
For the record, the Nothing (1) is one of the few models to stand out, in particular thanks to its LED system at the back which allows you to have a certain amount of information without turning on the screen.