Carl Pei, the co-founder of smartphone startup Nothing, is that his artistic software design and ambitious taste for hardware will make you use his new phone less.
In 2020, Pei, 33, along with Paul Yu and Jesper Kouthoofd, introduced Nothing with the aim of creating headphones and smartphones with user designs and reports to stand out in the world of devices, which they saw as a “boring sea of similarity. “””
Its first phone, which runs on the Android operating system, had a transparent case to show off its tech guts, used more durable materials, and featured LED lighting fixtures on the back that lit up when receiving a call or gambling music. of $400, it has won design awards and cult following. For his phone at the moment, simply called Phone (2), Pei built a device that aims to help users and exercise self-control, undermining the addictive elements of their favorite apps.
While corporations like Apple, Alphabet, Samsung and other hardware giants focus on developing phones and growing the $208 billion mobile app industry, Pei is going in the opposite direction. On July 11, London-based Nothing, with factories in India and China, will launch Phone (2). The argument is to simplify your virtual life. ” As a technology company, you want to help the customer be faster at what they are looking to achieve or solve a challenge for them,” says Pei, a Forbes listener under 30 who made the Asia list in 2016 as a co-founder. from phone maker OnePlus. ” It’s about deliberately using a smartphone, turning up the clock a little bit and putting the generation back where it belongs. “
For Pei, that means building a device to remove tempting tricks from a phone. Its operating system, Nothing OS, offers a minimalist, monochrome user experience, stripping apps of their candy-colored brand, incessant alerts, and branded labels. Color is very important for the brand. Consumers are empowered to opt for Instagram’s bright pink or Facebook’s blue, Pei says. he. “
Other phones on the market have a simple back. Nothing’s device has 900 LED lights arranged in geometric patterns that display key information when the device is facing down. LED patterns. Other sections can be filled with light to indicate when a timer is over or when your Uber driver or a takeout dinner is approaching. Say Pei: “You can do more on your phone without having to open apps and fall into loops that get you hooked. “
Some investors are addicted. On June 28, Pei announced that Nothing had closed a $96 million investment circular led by Highland Europe. Former backers also participated, adding Google Ventures, Sweden’s EQT, C Ventures and music stars Swedish House Mafia. The final circular brings Nothing’s total fundraising to $250 million. (While Pei didn’t comment on the company’s valuation, a source familiar with the deal says it’s less than $1 billion. )”Look at the Android ecosystem today. There is very little design sensibility and the product line lacks the enthusiasm and sense. of exclusivity like Apple’s ecosystem,” said Tom Hulme, head of Europe at Google Venture. “Nothing appeals to tech lovers. The company pushes the barriers of operating systems, hardware and attracts the younger generation. “
Nothing is left niche. In 2022, the startup sold 750,000 phones (1) and headphones, generating an annual turnover of $200 million. That same year, Bank of America estimated that Apple valued $205 billion on iPhones alone. With the latest funding circular, Nada plans to expand new phones and hearing aids to expand its narrow line. “We’ve been so focused on engineering and shipping our products that we haven’t been able to invest in long-term generation differentiation,” Pei says. “This circular allows us to do that. “
Pei grew up in Stockholm, the son of two Chinese immigrant doctors who moved from Beijing to Sweden to study Alzheimer’s disease. Passionate about devices, Pei won the first-generation iPod at the age of 11. A few years later, he jailbroke the original iPhone to work with the Swedish telecommunications system. After school, he created online sites covering music, video games, Japanese cartoons, and a fan page for Meizu, a manufacturer of MP3 players, which later helped him break into the hardware scene. In 2008, he enrolled at the Stockholm School of Economics, but never finished his thesis. his head. ” My parents could not perceive this decision. They asked, ‘What am I going to do with my life?'”
Pei began a strict daily regimen of learning to code, shape, and learn to play the guitar. In 2008, Meizu, the former MP3 company that now offers in the smartphone market, provided Pei with a marketing position in its Hong Kong office. He then joined another hardware company, Oppo, where he teamed up with Pete Lau to launch OnePlus, a new phone logo that offered cheap, high-end phones directly to younger consumers. In the Chinese market, OnePlus temporarily saw two-thirds of its sales come from Pei’s overseas division.
Pei left OnePlus on his 30th birthday in 2020 and planned to take a six-month vacation. After ten days in southern Italy, he got bored and soon returned to Stockholm, raising $7 million from the Swedish entrepreneur network to launch Nothing.
Despite a decade of delight in the hardware industry, starting from scratch presented its challenges. The team had to be informed about finances and supply chain control at work. The launch of a pandemic meant a lack of plant capacity and parts. Settle for a makeshift new visitor in the complex and highly competitive device landscape. Pei explains, “We had to work with the only factory that didn’t have other desperate visitors. And there was an explanation as to why they had no other visitors. To sustain production, Pei hosted fifteen engineers at the plant, overseeing the procedure seven days a week.
Their micromanagement has paid off. To date, Nothing has shipped more than 1. 5 million phones and headphones. Its immediate expansion and established market presence have attracted factories to manufacture its new design-focused product line. Pei says, “We’re not looking to be Apple 2023.