Nothing, the London-based consumer technology brand, has announced a fundraising round led by Highland Europe — a London-based venture capital firm focusing on high-potential technology companies — with participation from existing and additional investors GV (Google Ventures), EQT Ventures and C Capital, alongside house music supergroup Swedish House Mafia. The company will use these funds to scale its product and technology portfolio.
“In just over two years, we’ve assembled one of the strongest teams in the industry and sold over 1.5 million devices worldwide,” said Carl Pei, Nothing CEO and Co-founder said in a press release. “It’s clear that there’s real demand for an innovative challenger in the consumer tech industry, and with this new round of financing, we’ve never been better positioned to realise our vision to make tech fun again.”
Nothing is gearing up to release its second smartphone — and the fifth in its product portfolio, the Phone (2), at 8.30 pm on July 11. The Phone (2) is the successor to Phone (1), easily one of the best-looking smartphones I've ever used or reviewed. The Phone (1) had a clean, stock Android interface and came with up to 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage. At launch, it was priced around Rs 33,000.
The Phone (2) is expected to be a more premium offering — the smartphone is confirmed to be powered by the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset and have a 4,700 mAh battery — slightly larger than the 4,500 mAh sported by its predecessor. This will also be the first time Nothing will sell a smartphone in the United States. The Phone (2) will run Nothing OS 2.0 out of the box.
Little else is known about the phone at this time, though it's all but assured to include its iconic Glyph Interface, with a few tweaks for the updated phone, and the classic retro-chic dot-matric font and design. Nothing has also announced recently that Swedish House Mafia have composed an exclusive Glyph Sound Pack for the new Glyph Composer feature on the Phone (2). The Glyph Composer feature will also be coming to the Phone (1).
Pricing and other details remain a mystery — for now. However, Nothing co-founder and CEO Carl Pei, in a recent interview with Forbes, said the price will be at a more acceptable level. " ...the latest technology comes at a cost which isn't always justified from a user-benefit standpoint. Choosing Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 ensures that Phone (2) remains accessible while delivering a significantly improved experience compared to Phone (1)," Pei said in the interview with Forbes.
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