Phones
“Can a design-focused hardware challenger disrupt the smartphone duopoly by embedding AI-first software and community ownership into competitively priced devices?”
Founded in 2020 by Carl Pei (co-founder of OnePlus), Nothing positioned itself as a design-focused challenger brand in consumer electronics. Starting with audio products in 2021, it expanded into smartphones in 2022 with Nothing OS, a custom Android skin. By 2025, the company raised $200M at a $1.3B valuation and announced an AI-first hardware roadmap, while spinning off its budget sub-brand CMF by Nothing as a standalone company. The company has limited embedded finance infrastructure visible externally, with its only notable fintech connection being Pinwheel (income/employment data), likely related to device financing or carrier partnerships.