UK-based company Nothing has launched an Android phone it hopes will re-energise the smartphone market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The distinctive-looking Nothing 1 has a translucent back featuring hundreds of light-emitting diode (LED) lights that function as notifications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nothing raised more than $144m (\u00a3122m) in funding to develop the handset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Backers include iPhone designer Tony Fadell, YouTuber Casey Neistat, and gaming channel Twitch co-founder Kevin Lin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Teething problems
Nothing 1’s creator, China-born Carl Pei, 32, who co-founded phone company OnePlus and is highly regarded in the smartphone industry, told BBC News he wanted to “make tech fun again” – for consumers and investors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The company says it has received more than 200,000 requests for pre-orders of the \u00a3399 phone – about half the price of an average iPhone – manufactured in China and India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The company also has ambitions to create a luxury product and Mr Pei says he hopes to collaborate with electric-car manufacturer Tesla.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nothing has sold more than half a million units of its first product – wireless, noise-cancelling headphones Ear 1, launched in August – despite software teething problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
‘Huge challenge’
But Nothing 1 – despite a fair amount of hype, not least because of the high-profile names behind it – has “a mountain to climb”, according to Ben Wood, from CCS Insight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The smartphone market is frighteningly competitive and is dominated by Apple and Samsung, who have incredible resources,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The rest of the addressable market is a firefight between numerous Chinese manufacturers desperate to grab share, making it even harder for a new entrant to break into the segment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Add in the current macroeconomic situation and cost-of-living pressure, and it means being successful will be a huge challenge.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Globally, smartphones sales were down 17% in May, compared with last year, according to CounterPoint Research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are a number of reasons for this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
people holding on to their devices for longer because of rising living costs
environmental concerns around e-waste
global chip shortage and supply-chain issues
“The big suppliers, they owe their bigger customers a lot of chips, they were really hesitant to bring in a new customer like us, a much smaller company,” Mr Pei said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We had to spend so much time finding different suppliers and pitching to them why the market needs somebody like us.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UK-based company Nothing has launched an Android phone it hopes will re-energise the smartphone market. The distinctive-looking Nothing 1 has a translucent back featuring hundreds of light-emitting diode (LED) lights that function as notifications. Nothing raised more than $144m (\u00a3122m) in funding to develop the handset. Backers include iPhone designer Tony Fadell, YouTuber Casey Neistat, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n