mayaskOver the past few years, Nothing has proven its ability to create compelling smartphones at excellent prices. Today, the company gave us a sneak peek of the Nothing Phone 3, and if it lives up to Nothing’s claims, it could potentially become one of the most intriguing smartphones of the following year.
On X (formerly Twitter), Nothing CEO Carl Pei uploaded a five-minute video discussing the recent AI trend in consumer tech and, more importantly, how Nothing is thinking about AI. In short, the next smartphone from Nothing – the Nothing Phone 3 – might completely revolutionize the way we use and perceive our phones.
One approach Nothing is taking is with the “hub” – its AI-powered interpretation of a smartphone home screen. The top of the hub features quick links/buttons to things like the weather, social media, your calendar, messages, and more. Beneath that are a variety of “dynamic and context-aware” widgets. For instance, it can automatically display a QR code for a boarding pass or concert ticket based on your calendar. Nothing states that it aims for the home screen to move away from simply being a launcher for different apps and services and become a “hub of contextual, relevant information.”
Another significant AI tool Nothing is working on is its own AI voice assistant. Nothing says its AI assistant can transform into a “companion” that is personalized for each user. Nothing further elaborates that the AI assistant could appear on the home screen, lock screen, or even through the future Nothing Phone’s Glyph lights.
Nothing has been developing these AI experiences for only the past two months, so it will be some time before they are ready for prime time. However, Pei confirms at the end of the video that Nothing will start rolling out these AI features with the Nothing Phone 3 in 2025.
It’s uncertain if everything demonstrated here will be exactly as Nothing has described, but it’s clear that Nothing holds it in high regard. In an email sent to Digital Trends, Nothing confirmed, “Phone (3), launching next year, marks a milestone in Nothing’s consumer AI journey, featuring both software and hardware advancements.”
As someone who has been disappointed by grand AI claims in gadgets like the Rabbit R1, I am personally quite excited to see what Nothing is working on. Time and again, it has been proven that dedicated AI gadgets are not the way forward – at least not at the moment. Whether it’s the Rabbit R1 or the Humane AI Pin, that product category clearly isn’t working. AI on smartphones has much more potential, but whether it’s Samsung or Google, many smartphone AI tools have been relegated to tasks like photo editing and language translation. While these things are helpful, they are far from the AI revolution we have been promised.
“There’s been a lot of hype around AI. Some are great, some are confusing. It’s great to see new companies rethinking the user experience and form factors. However, there is no doubt that smartphones will remain the main consumer AI form factor for the foreseeable future. With over 4…” tweeted Carl Pei.
Nothing’s vision sounds much more ambitious, and it may not necessarily materialize as the company envisions. But what it is attempting to do sounds way more interesting than the AI features we have on phones today, and I can’t help but get excited about that.
It’s annoying that we will have to wait until some point in 2025 for the Nothing Phone 3 to see what it all turns out to be like, but I am crossing my fingers that it will be worth the wait.
