In the last few years, we’ve seen many smartphone manufacturers launch wireless earbuds. Now it seems Nothing might be about to do the reverse.
The hardware company started by One Plus founder Carl Pei is reportedly planning to launch its first smartphone next month. The marker of the Ear (1) transparent earbuds was reportedly seen touting a prototype handset at this week’s Mobile World Congress.
According to TechCrunch sources, Pei showed off the prototype to the chief executive of Qualcomm in one of a number of such meetings taking place in Barcelona over the last few days. Now the site says the plan is to launch the phone over the next month.
And, it appears the transparent design of the Ear (1) earphones (which recently got a black accented edition) will be carried over into the company’s first smartphone. Other than that, the report doesn’t offer any further indication on specs.
The meeting with Qualcomm suggests the flagship phone will be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processors and it would likely run on the Android operating system, especially judging by the flirting between the two companies last month.
This isn’t surprising, of course. Nothing purchased what was left of the Essential smartphone brand founded by Android pioneer Andy Rubin. One always had to assume this was a goal of the new company, who may have done things the smarter way by gaining recognition in the earphones realm before launching a smartphone.
The £100 Ear (1) buds earned an excellent 4.5/5 star review from Trusted Reviews, earning praise for the value for money, good sound quality, comfortable fit and distinctive design. Whether Nothing can parley that into the smartphone realm remains to be seen.
