Nothing Technology Limited (stylised as NOTHING) is a British consumer electronics company headquartered in London. It was co-founded in 2020 by Carl Pei (co-founder of OnePlus), alongside Akis Evangelidis, David Sanmartín García, Steven Gao, and Levi Li, among others. The company develops smartphones, audio products, and related software, positioning itself as a design-focused challenger brand.
Nothing released its first product, the Ear (1) wireless earbuds, in July 2021, followed by its debut smartphone, the Phone (1), in 2022. The company has since released successive generations, including the Phone (2), Ear (2), Phone (3), and Ear (3), and in 2026 the Phone (4a) and Phone (4a) Pro. Alongside its flagship devices, the company also introduced CMF by Nothing, a budget-oriented sub-brand that was spun off as a separate company in 2025, and then registered as a standalone Indian company in 2026.
Nothing’s devices run Nothing OS, a closed source, customised version of Android preloaded with Google Mobile Services, and are distributed in markets including Europe, India, and North America. The company has raised venture funding from GV (formerly Google Ventures), EQT Ventures, and Tiger Global, along with high-profile individual investors including Tony Fadell and Casey Neistat. Its products are noted for their transparent hardware designs and the Glyph Interface, a system of LED lighting on the rear of its smartphones.
History Nothing was co-founded by Carl Pei (co-founder of OnePlus), Akis Evangelidis, David Sanmartín García, Steven Gao, and Levi Li, among others. Pei left OnePlus in October 2020 and raised $7 million from investors including Tony Fadell, Kevin Lin, Steve Huffman, and Casey Neistat. The company was officially announced in January 2021, and soon acquired the brand assets of Essential Products. It also partnered with Teenage Engineering, the Stockholm-based electronics company known for its product design.
The company launched its first product, the transparent ear (1) wireless earbuds, in July 2021. It later secured $50 million in funding and announced a partnership with Qualcomm.
In 2022, Nothing raised $70 million in Series B funding, and introduced its first smartphone, the Phone (1), featuring a distinctive LED-based Glyph Interface. The company also opened a physical retail store in London’s Soho district in December.
In 2023, Nothing released the Ear (2) earbuds and previewed smartphones using Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipsets. The company also launched "CMF by Nothing", a sub-brand focused on affordable, design-led products.
In November 2023, Nothing faced backlash over a messaging app that claimed to offer end-to-end encryption but was discovered to store messages in plain text. The app was withdrawn within 24 hours.
Shortly afterward, the company raised $96 million in a Series B1 funding round led by Highland Europe.
By 2024, Nothing had surpassed $1 billion in lifetime sales, doubling annual revenue to over $500 million and selling more than 7 million devices. In India, it became the fastest-growing smartphone brand, with over 577% year-on-year growth. The CMF Phone 1, featuring a MediaTek Dimensity 7300 processor and modular customisation, launched in July 2024.
On March 4 2025, the company introduced the Phone (3a) and Phone (3a) Pro, a pair of mid-range smartphones powered by Snapdragon 7s Gen 3. Alongside the release of the phones came a new software feature known as “Essential Space”, an AI powered tool designed to assist the user with various organisational tasks. This feature was also included on the budget CMF Phone 2 Pro, announced on 28 April 2025, and launched on May 6 2025.
The company revealed the flagship Phone (3) as its successor to the Phone (2), along with over-ear headphones, dubbed Headphone (1), at a launch event on 1 July 2025.“Nothing Phone 3 & Headphone 1 to launch July 2025,” *Casawi*, accessed 3 July 2025.
In September 2025, Nothing announced it would spin-off CMF into a standalone company based in India. Shortly afterwards, Nothing raised US$200 million in a Series C funding round led by Tiger Global, valuing the company at US$1.3 billion.
By May 2026, the company had surpassed US$2 billion in lifetime revenue and employed around 900 people. On 12 May 2026, British singer-songwriter Charli XCX became a global brand ambassador and shareholder of Nothing. Korean singer V became an ambassador for the company in September 2026.
Products Smartphones +List of Nothing devicesDevicesOriginal VersionCurrent VersionNoteReferencesPhone (1)Nothing OS 1.0 (Android 12)Nothing OS 3.2 (Android 15)EOLPhone (2)Nothing OS 2.0 (Android 13)Nothing OS 4.1 (Android 16)Phone (2a)Nothing OS 2.5 (Android 14)Phone (2a) PlusNothing OS 2.6 (Android 14)Phone (3a) / (3a) ProNothing OS 3.0 (Android 15)Phone (3)Nothing OS 3.5 (Android 15)Phone (3a) LiteNothing OS 3.5 (Android 15)Phone (4a) / (4a) ProNothing OS 4.1 (Android 16) +List of CMF devicesDeviceOriginal VersionCurrent VersionReferencesCMF Phone 1Nothing OS 2.6 (Android 14)Nothing OS 4.1 (Android 16)CMF Phone 2 ProNothing OS 3.2 (Android 15)
Phone (1)
On 23 March 2022, Nothing announced its first smartphone named the "Phone (1)".
The phone runs on the Android operating system, and its user interface is named NothingOS. It went on sale on 21 July 2022.
In June 2022, Nothing opened an invite-only pre-order for the "Phone (1)", which reached up to 100,000 registrations on the waiting list. The device, which was unveiled on 12 July in London, features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G+ chipset and transparent design.
Phone (2)
On 11 July 2023, Nothing announced its second smartphone named the "Phone (2)". It was released on 21 July 2023. The software front is covered by Android 13 with NothingOS 2.0 skin on top. The phone comes with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset.
Phone (2a)
Nothing announced its budget smartphone, the "Phone (2a)", on 5 March 2024. It came with the MediaTek Dimensity 7200 Pro chipset running Android 14 and with user interface NothingOS 2.5, a 6.7-inch 120-Hz OLED display, and a 5000 mAh battery.
Phone (2a) surpassed 100,000 units sold in its first day after release.
The Nothing Phone (2a) Plus, released in 2024, is an upgraded version of the standard Phone (2a) with enhanced features aimed at improving performance, display quality, and photography capabilities. Key upgrades include a MediaTek Dimensity 7350 Pro processor for smooth multitasking and better gaming performance, achieving high benchmark scores compared to its predecessors.
Phone (3a) and Phone (3a) Pro
Nothing Phone (3a) and Nothing Phone (3a) Pro were announced on 4 March 2025. Both phones have AMOLED 6.77 inches 120Hz displays, both exist in 128GB and 256GB storage variants, both have the same 5000mAh battery and the same Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 (4 nm) chip. The main difference is in camera type; the Phone (3a) Pro features a periscope telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom, whereas the standard Phone (3a) variant also includes 2x optical zoom but is equipped with a standard telephoto lens.
Phone (3)
On 1 July 2025 Nothing launched the Nothing Phone 3, which has a 6.67-inch AMOLED display, Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 processor, and a triple 50MP rear camera setup including a periscope telephoto lens. It introduces the "Glyph Matrix", a circular dot-matrix LED interface on the back, completely replacing the previous Glyph Interface. The Phone 3 debuted with Nothing OS 3.5 based on Android 15, with a confirmed upgrade path to Android 16 via Nothing OS 4.0 later in the year. It was released globally, including in the U.S. for the first time, with prices starting at ₹79,999 in India and $799 internationally.
Phone (4a) and Phone (4a) Pro
In March 2026, Nothing released the Phone (4a) and (4a) Pro.
Phone (4b) In July 2026, Nothing released the Phone (4b).
Audio products Ear (1)
The Nothing Ear 1, stylised as ear (1), is Nothing's first product. Announced on 27 July 2021, the Ear 1 is a set of wireless earbuds. The earbuds can be connected by Bluetooth and have up to 34 hours of battery life when used with the charging case, and 5.7 hours of battery life with ANC off; with 24 hours with the case used and up to four hours for the earbuds themselves with ANC on. The earbuds went on sale on 17 August 2021, at $99/£99/€99.
A black coloured version was announced on 6 December 2021, and went on sale on 13 December. Nothing also announced on that day that the Ear 1 earbuds were now going carbon neutral.
On 18 October 2022, Nothing's CEO Carl Pei announced on the social media platform X that the Ear 1's price would be increased to $149 starting on the date 26 October 2022 due to an increase in component costs.
Ear (stick)
Ear (stick) is a pair of earbuds Nothing released on 4 November 2022. It is the second part of the Ear family and a lower tier version of Ear (1), and does not include noise cancellation, transparency mode, or wireless charging. Ear (stick) launched at a price of $99.
Ear (2)
In March 2023, Nothing announced the release of their second-generation earbuds, the Nothing Ear (2). These new earphones support the LHDC 5.0 low latency HD audio codec and come equipped with 11.6 mm speakers, similar to its predecessor. The earbuds were launched on 22 March 2023, with reviews mixed.
Ear
On April 18th, 2024, Nothing announced the release of the Nothing Ear, the third in the Ear lineup. The change in naming convention caused confusion, with many users expressing confusion over the jump from Ear (1), to Ear (2), to Ear. The Ear supports LHDC 5.0 and LDAC, and supports Nothing's "Advanced Equaliser", a feature in the Nothing X app to finely customise audio tuning, and create profiles, as well as the "Personal Sound Profile", to tune the audio of the earbuds based on how the user hears.
The Ear has improved noise cancelling, a battery advertised to last 40.5 hours, longer than the Ear (2), and comes in white and black colours.
The Ear was originally priced at $149 on launch.
Ear (a)
On April 18th, 2024, Nothing also announced the Nothing Ear (a), a set of earbuds with a slimmer, longer case than the rest of the main Ear lineup. The Ear (a) comes in yellow, black, or white, and a slightly longer advertised battery life than the Nothing Ear at an advertised 42.5 hours, but does not have wireless charging.
The Ear (a) was originally priced at $99 on launch.
The Ear (a) won a Red Dot award for the design of the earbuds and the case.
Ear (open) On September 24, 2024, Nothing announced the Ear (open), a set of open-ear earbuds for $149. The Ear (open) have an IP54 rating, 14.2mm dynamic driver, and support only AAC and SBC codecs. They support dual Bluetooth connection, as well as Google Fast Pair and Microsoft Swift Pair.
The Ear (open) have an advertised battery life of 30 hours, with no wireless charging, which some reviewers noted as an unexpected drawback.
The Ear (open) won a Red Dot award for the design of the earbuds and the case.
Headphone (1) Nothing announced a new over-ear headphone product at their launch event on 1 July 2025, the same time they announced the Phone (3). The Headphone (1) feature an audio system by KEF and maintain a similar see-through tech appearance as Nothing's other products, while also featuring a hard case and a rounded rectangle earcups, differentiating them from other popular over-ear headphones such as Sony's XM lineup and Apple's AirPods Max. Comparative to the other popular headphones, the Headphone (1) featured physical analog buttons like a roller for controlling volume and buttons and switches for skipping, pausing, and accepting calls.