Nothing's New Audio and Phone Teasers Are Making My Wallet Tremble
Nothing is teasing new products again. Most of the time, given Nothing's frequent product cadence, that phenomenon could just be referred to as any day of the week, but this time things feel different. Earlier this week, Nothing announced a partnership with KEF—a well-established hi-fi audio brand—to bring us… something. That something, as it turns out, could very well be an AirPods Max or Sony WH-1000XM6 competitor.
In a YouTube video on Friday, Nothing confirmed that it's expanding its audio lineup outside of wireless earbuds and into over-ear headphones. The company says they're launching 'this summer,' and more info will be available in 'the coming months.' While Nothing didn't give much detail on what to expect from its first-ever over-ear entrant, one thing you can count on—especially if KEF is involved—is that it will almost for sure be the company's most expensive audio product to date.
And that steeper price looks like it might not just be for audio gear. What I'm trying to say is: buckle up, transparent gadget lovers, cause things might be careening toward a big premium pothole.
First off, let's talk about the KEF collab. While we don't have a ton of details, we can make some semi-safe assumptions off the bat. The safest, arguably, is that this will be a hi-fi audio product.
In a statement announcing the partnership, KEF says, 'Our six decades of high-fidelity audio expertise will support Nothing's expansion into new audio categories—bringing acoustic precision to products shaped by Nothing's distinct approach to design and user experience.'
That suggests/confirms that hi-fi is still the name of the game and that this collab will be an 'expansion' of some kind. It's that second part that really gets my gears turning. Though, again, we can't say for sure what the collab will produce, my money is on one of two things: the aforementioned pair of over-ear headphones or, more tantalizingly—a full-on speaker.
And as I mentioned before, if there's one thing that hi-fi audio connotes, it's an even higher price tag. While KEF does make a spectrum of products across different price points, speakers tend to start at dollar amounts that are inching toward $1,000+.
And headphones are a similar story. KEF's Mu7 over-ear headphones cost $400, which isn't unattainable compared to the broad field of premium over-ear competitors, but they're certainly pricier than any audio gear that Nothing has dabbled in to date. Whatever this collaboration produces, you can expect to pay handsomely to own it. And that's just the start.
In a showcase on the Android Show, Nothing CEO Carl Pei teased—you guessed it—another upcoming product in arguably the company's most competitive category: phones.
The Phone 3, which Pei says is coming this summer, will be a step up for Nothing in the phone space and mark its first real flagship-level device. According to Pei, the Phone 3 will have 'premium materials, major performance upgrades, and software that really levels things up.'
As someone who's tested pretty much every Nothing phone to date, I'm excited to see what that means in practice, but also maybe not as excited to see what that means for my wallet. Pei also adds in his teaser that the Phone 3 will cost about £800, which is about $1,060 USD, compared to the company's recently released mid-range $380 Phone (3a) and $460 Phone (3a) Pro.
Am I shocked that Nothing seems to be inching toward the premium sector? Not particularly. Pei's goal from the start was to challenge Apple with eye-catching transparent designs and fast and smooth bespoke software, and to do that, it will have to compete on the iPhone's hallowed ground, which is to say, in the flagship arena.
Whether Nothing has actually summoned the acumen, resources, and clout to do that is another question entirely, but I look forward to seeing its best effort. My wallet on the other hand… TBD.
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