Carl Pei left OnePlus, the company he co-founded, to create a new entity ironically called “Nothing.” Despite what many believed, Nothing’s first product wasn’t a smartphone, but a transparent earbud that feature active noise cancellation.
Nothing’s earbud is probably a teaser for what’s to come and proof that it’s not afraid to innovate. The launch of its first product and the relatively decent sales (100,000 in the first two months) also helped Nothing raise no less than $50 million from strategic and private investors.
Now Reuters reports that Nothing inked a partnership with US chipmaker Qualcomm to help the new company build its future products. No other details about the collaboration have been revealed at the moment, but we wouldn’t be surprised if Nothing will try to enter the very competitive smartphone market, especially after Carl Pei’s recent statement.
The successful launch of our first product, ear (1), proved that there is room for a new challenger brand to emerge and disrupt today’s sea of sameness.
On a side note, among the UK-based Nothing’s backers, there are some prominent names like Tony Fadell, Apple iPod’s designer, Twitch co-founder Kevin Lin, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman, as well as GV (formerly known as Google Ventures).
