Smartphones were ‘quite boring’ until we came along, Nothing co-founder says

Smartphones were “quite boring” until UK-based start-up Nothing entered the market, and phone makers are “confused” about how to use AI, the firm’s co-founder has said.

Akis Evangelidis was speaking as Nothing unveiled its latest mid-range phones, the Phone 3(a) Series.

The London-based start-up launched in late 2020, looking to offer an alternative to the likes of Apple, Google and Samsung through striking design and unusual features, including flashing LED light patterns on the rear of its phones to symbolise different types of notifications.

“Back then, four years ago, it was quite boring to be honest. All the devices looked the same. They were just minor iterations; on camera module, more megapixels, all that kind of stuff – there wasn’t much happening. There wasn’t any grander vision,” he told the PA news agency.

“(There was also) a lot of negativity around tech, like with data privacy, social media consumption and there was a negative spiral.

“Whereas, when we were growing up, with the launch of the first iPhone, I still remember interacting with it and feeling super excited. You would stay up late to watch the Apple keynotes and so on… but that kind of sense of sense of magic around tech has gradually disappeared.”

The new Phone (3a) Series has been given a better camera system, as well as an AI-powered tool the firm calls Essential Space, a hub for user text and audio notes, screenshots and other items which act as a “second memory” on the device, able to capture, apply and recall key details from that data as the user needs it.

The handsets will start at £329, and come just a week after Apple unveiled its own mid-range device, the iPhone 16e – although that device starts at £599.

It is Nothing’s first steps into the ultra competitive world of smartphone AI tools – following Samsung, Google and Apple which all introduced features in 2024 – and Mr Evangelidis said the company was approaching the technology with the same alternative attitude that it has approached phone development in general.

“AI is coming into play and we definitely think it will disrupt the overall user experience when it comes to smartphones,” he told PA, adding that he felt many of the biggest firms had been drawn into a “specs race” to introduce similar tools quickly.

“I think there’s been a lot of buzz around AI but I think users are confused. The market is confused in terms of, what’s the end game? We’ve seen camera features and so on but we think that the opportunity is drastically, much bigger than that, yet people don’t see or don’t understand what their opportunities are.

“If you think about it, ever since really the first iPhone was introduced, this kind of app-based user experience hasn’t really changed. But we’re super dependent on smartphones, we do everything on them – watch media, we work, we connect with people.

“But having this very siloed experience actually brings a lot of clutter in terms of how all these things interact.”

In contrast, he said Essential Space would serve as a “second memory” when users choose to place items into that space, and will be able “pull any kind of action or further insights” from screenshots and other items dropped into it, arguing that the jumping between apps and services that many AI-powered phones offer is “too much friction”.

“I think what’s most important is a clear-use case, and is that this (AI) can be leveraged to really improve your smartphone experience,” he said.

“All the information is on your phone, and there is no reason why this shouldn’t be organised for you and presented to you in a very seamless way in terms of actioning those things – I think that’s where AI is going to lead us, redefining the experience.

“The idea is to gradually introduce that into user behaviour and how they interact, and then gradually start merging closer and closer with our overall software experience.”

Nothing has been emboldened by its success so far, Mr Evangelidis said, adding that the company was the “fastest growing smartphone brand across quite a few countries” last year, and said the firm had crossed seven million products sold by the end of 2024, up from two million at the end of 2023.

“As basic as it sounds, we started this company from a user standpoint, thinking from a user standpoint, actually a lot more people are like us, and that it was more about this excitement, and then everything we’ve done when it comes to product features, we keep ourselves in mind,” he said.

“There is no product we haven’t tested or features we don’t understand, or features we do for other reasons than just purely enhancing the user experience.

“I think bigger companies have more to lose, they have a running business and eventually they don’t see the need to change – and you see that all kind of have a similar approach to things, it’s why all the features are quite similar across all of them, they follow each other in a way.

“Whereas I think our strength is just having started from a blank sheet, and having that agility and forcing ourselves to look at things in a different way.”