Nothing CEO Says Company Won't Launch New Flagship Smartphone Every Year 'For the Sake of It' (youtube.com) 24
Android smartphone maker Nothing won't release a Phone 4 this year, the company's founder and chief executive said, and that the 2025 Phone 3 will remain the brand's flagship device throughout 2026.
"We're not just going to churn out a new flagship every year for the sake of it, we want every upgrade to feel significant," Carl Pei said in a video. "Just because the rest of the industry does things a certain way it doesn't mean we will do the same."
"We're not just going to churn out a new flagship every year for the sake of it, we want every upgrade to feel significant," Carl Pei said in a video. "Just because the rest of the industry does things a certain way it doesn't mean we will do the same."
How 'bout that? (Score:1, Troll)
Might as well make my own announcement. I will not be going to the moon this year. Possibly to hell, however.
So if I get it right... (Score:5, Funny)
They've got Nothing to show for it.
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Makes sense (Score:3, Informative)
There aren't enough advancements each year to warrant a new model smart phone.
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There aren't enough advancements each year to warrant a new model smart phone.
Internal Memo Translation: Even we can't convince ourselves to put in more features no one asked for. Again.
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Not fcking really. In fact the whole segments kind of gone a bit stale since other than banal AI shit nobody wants , its just slightly upgraded cameras, very marginally better battery lives and a faster CPU that almost makes no different becuase current CPUs are fast enough.
I have an iPhone 12, and have no real inclination to move to a 17, partly because I have zero interest in yet another device being infested with AI shit, and partly because it feels as responsive with the latest IOS as an iPhone 17. I me
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I have such atrocious grammar and spelling when I'm still waking up and squinting into a telephone with my trash 50yo eyes.... Never mind me....
Upgrade every year or an new option every year? (Score:1)
The idea that a phone has to be an 'upgrade' of the previous phone is laugable.
Apple releases an iPhone every year. I buy a iPhone every 3-4 years. I'm glad they release one every year so that when I'm ready I'm getting the latest battery/cpu/gpu/memory tech and not the tech that came out 2 years ago.
I guess his thought is you buy a nothing phone and then every time one comes out you 'upgrade'. That is madness.
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I guess his thought is you buy a nothing phone and then every time one comes out you 'upgrade'. That is madness.
What he says: "we want every upgrade to feel significant"
What you read: "every time one comes out you 'upgrade'."
There is a vast distance between the one thing and the other. Do you not know how to read, or not know what feelings are?
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So I have a 4 year old phone. Will their 2 year old phone feel significant compared to the company that put out a phone this year?
Basically you are on their upgrade train or you are investing in older technology when you buy their phone. That's what not putting out a upgraded model yearly does.
Re: Upgrade every year or an new option every year (Score:2)
So if they don't reduce the price with time and you feel like it's too much, buy something else. It's reasonable of them not to spend their R&D money on minor increments. I typically buy Motorola phones six months or so into their lifecycle and they come at a discount.
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The idea that a phone has to be an 'upgrade' of the previous phone is laugable.
Apple releases an iPhone every year. I buy a iPhone every 3-4 years. I'm glad they release one every year so that when I'm ready I'm getting the latest battery/cpu/gpu/memory tech and not the tech that came out 2 years ago.
I guess his thought is you buy a nothing phone and then every time one comes out you 'upgrade'. That is madness.
Same here. I have my 13 pro Max, and haven't been convinced to go to the 17. Maybe what they come out with next.
People worried about a new phone every year, are adopting a weird attitude. Car models change all the time. And just because a new version of a car model exists doesn't mean that everyone will get a new car every year - only when they need one.
Nothing is a stupid name (Score:3)
It reminds me of the old joke (maybe apocryphal ) that in some circles they would name their servers after components. So you'd get conversations like "Yeah, the hard disk in RAM has gone down, so I'll need to bring up HARDDISK, and switch out NETWORKCARD to maintain continuity of the network for PCI's services."
Or the best wifi password which is "fourwords", :
Guest: "What's the Wi-Fi password?"
You: "fourwords."
Guest: "Okay, what are they?"
You: "No, it's just 'fourwords', one word, all lowercase."
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Deflecting (Score:5, Insightful)
That's because they don't have the ability to, not because they choose not to. They've struggled to launch anything and the prospect of having to keep up with the industry is far beyond their abilities. This is simply an excuse not to keep up.
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It's probably even worse. They put ads in the OS, including lock screen a couple of months ago.
Their audience is enthusiasts. The people who care about this sort of enshittification far more than pretty much any other target group.
So now you have to put out a new phone to stay with the cycle, while your main audience has fresh memory of you having an absolutely epic fuck up. Chances of them buying anything new from Nothing, or recommending it are basically zero. Their company is fucked for a few months, unt
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So true. And as you said, the audience is enthusiasts. They're the folks always looking for the newest piece of tech. If you're not releasing something new every year, they're going to be lured away by a new offering from someone else. You might like your current phone but when someone else has something cool and new, and your phone maker isn't dropping something for at least another year, you're likely to jump ship. Seems a poor plan for them, knowing who their audience is.
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Not doing yearly updates would be fine if your market is the general consumer. The average consumer upgrades every 3-3.5 years. But the Nothing phone is targeted at tech enthusiasts. Their buyers are the type that want the latest and greatest. If you aren't releasing something new every year, someone else's product is gonna catch their eye in that time and lure them away. Seems a stupid move knowing who their audience is.
The company slogan... (Score:2)
Costs catch up to you (Score:2)
You need more people and time to do a launch everyyear, probably when somebody actually figured out the cost of it they backed off. Hardware is hard.
Simpler Explanation - too much NP3 inventory (Score:2)
The Nothing Phone 3 was more than a bit controversial in its design. While all of the previous phones had "Glyphs" (individually addressable LEDs on the back that could be used for specific notifications or just to look cool), the NP3 ditched them in favor of the "Glyph Matrix", a small cluster of LEDs that made a small display. One may justifiably argue that these things were gimmicks, but they were a clear differentiator for the company.
The NP3 was also considerably more expensive than the NP2, and it was