Carl Pei teases Android and Snapdragon-powered Nothing Phone

Carl Pei, the co-founder of OnePlus, left the company to start a new venture named Nothing in 2020. The company introduced the Nothing Ear (1) as its first product, but Pei has been missing from the Android smartphone scene for quite some time. Now, it looks like Nothing may eventually launch its first phone soon.

Nothing hasn't officially confirmed any such development. However, a series of cryptic tweets from Carl Pei and replies from the official handles of Android and Snapdragon have got the rumor mill interested. Pei tweeted, "Back on Android" and "Android 12 is nice!" while also tagging Google SVP Hiroshi Lockheimer in the second tweet.

@Android replied to Pie's tweet saying, "We've got a lot to catch up on Carl ;)" to which @Snapdragon replied with an image depicting a three-way partnership. The string of tweets would seem to suggest that a Nothing smartphone is indeed on the way.

Further credence to this comes from the fact that Nothing had acquired Andy Rubin's defunct Essential company in early 2021. Also, 91Mobiles had previously reported (via Mukul Sharma) that Nothing is likely to launch its first smartphone in early 2022. Before that, the company could introduce a power bank named Nothing Power (1). 

As a company, Nothing believes in a minimalist design philosophy. We've seen that with the Nothing Ear (1) that sported a see-through outer casing, Qi wireless charging, and active noise cancellation. It is very well possible that the first Nothing Phone will also implement such a design. In fact, Carl Pei even appreciated a fan's concept art depicting a transparent Nothing phone.

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