In an interview with IndiaToday (the 28-minute conversation was posted on Twitter), Carl Pei denied rumors about a folding phone right away. Such rumors surfaced in the beginning of May 2023, when users got a tad more excited than needed. The reason for the hype was an appreciation post by Nothing in their official Twitter account. They shared some concept images made by a Discord community member – nice renders of a foldable device titled ‘Fold (1)’.
But why?
Appreciating fan creations is one thing, but reality is that for now, Carl Pei frankly doesn’t believe in foldable phones. The mastermind regards these devices as ‘niche products’ and, furthermore, he doesn’t believe people actually desire folding capabilities that much.Big time entrepreneurs are prone to get counter-intuitive, and it seems that foldable phones are mandatory nowadays. Big players like Google, OnePlus, OPPO, Motorola, Xiaomi and Samsung are all betting on foldables in 2023.
‘It’s good that some people are building it, but if you look at how the foldables are evolving, they are all the same again. If you don’t see the logo anymore, (if) you hide the logo on the foldables, I don’t think a consumer can really tell them apart. I don’t think consumers walk around saying, hey, I wish my phone could fold. I think it’s an innovation that the manufacturers are pushing onto the consumer’, Carl Pei points out.
The interviewer asked Pei directly if Nothing plans to launch a foldable phone, and Pei stated: ‘Not anytime soon’. We will remind you of that statement, Mr. Pei, if suddenly a wild Fold (1) appears out of the blue this year.
