Nothing Phone 3 won't be coming this year. Here's why.

Since Nothing launched the Nothing Phone 1 in 2022 and the Nothing Phone 2 in 2023, it was a bygone conclusion that it would launch a Nothing Phone 3 sometime in 2024. However, Nothing CEO Carl Pei just shot down that expectation, confirming that the Nothing Phone 3 will not land this year at all.

In a video posted to X (formerly Twitter), Pei mostly talks about AI and how he envisions incorporating it into Nothing products. In the text of this post, he confirmed that he wanted to “get the product right,” which is no doubt the primary reason for the Nothing Phone 3 delay.

Of course, we can’t really call it a “delay” because the company never confirmed that it would actually launch a Phone 3 at all, let alone in 2024. It was just the expectation because that’s how the smartphone industry operates. But with Nothing being a small, young company, it can make bold decisions like this, so it’s cool to see it holding off until it can really nail things down.

Digs at AI products, commitment to smartphones, and Nintendo

During the video, Pei makes some not-so-subtle digs at AI-based products that have launched recently, most notably the Humane Ai Pin and the Rabbit R1. Both products have been AI-first and tried to fundamentally change how we engage with services and applications. Both have also been massive failures.

Pei doesn’t mention these products by name but describes how an attempt to force users to abandon apps and go all-in on a new AI-based hardware form factor isn’t going to work. He doubles down on Nothing’s commitment to the smartphone form factor as being the way forward — at least for now. In other words, although he doesn’t come right out and say it, we shouldn’t expect any AI-focused hardware from Nothing that isn’t just a smartphone, like the Nothing Phone 3.

Instead, Pei wants to “build a bridge from today’s app-based user experience to tomorrow’s post-app world.” Ostensibly, that will be the Nothing Phone 3 and the hardware/software features it will include.

Pei also discusses Nintendo for a bit. It’s well known that Nintendo takes a “blue ocean” approach to its business, which means it doesn’t try to compete with anyone and instead just builds the best products it can make for its user base. Nintendo also focuses on making its products fun, engaging, and applicable to all ages. Pei says he wants Nothing to be like Nintendo in this regard.

Personalized AI prototype

Elsewhere in the video, Pei hands things over to Walid Behlock, a Nothing software engineer. He goes over a prototype design of an AI-first home screen, one in which you don’t just have a launcher for apps. Instead, it’s a panel of various widgets that anticipates what you want at that given time. For example, a QR code for checking into a flight appears when the system thinks you would want it.

Walid also demonstrates a prototype of an onboarding process for developing an AI companion on the phone. The AI asks a series of questions about how to make itself more friendly and engaging for Walid, specifically, even going so far as to change its voice to better match Walid’s accent.

Nothing’s ambition here is to improve the AI for the individual, rather than create a one-size-fits-all system.

Unclear when this will all happen

Although Pei makes it clear that the Nothing Phone 3 will have a deep focus on AI and won’t be out in 2024, he doesn’t give much more information than that. It’s possible the Phone 3 will come out in the summer of 2025, which is usually the period when Nothing launches a new flagship. However, since it’s skipping this year, it really could come out at any time in 2025. Stay tuned!