Carl Pei Thinks the Phone of the Future Will Only Have One App

In nan fiercely competitory Android smartphone market, British startup Nothing is trying to do things a small differently—from its merchandise creation to its pricing strategy. “Remember a clip wherever each caller merchandise made you excited?" nan institution asks connected its website. "We're bringing that back.”

There's much to Nothing than conscionable smartphones these days, though. It's sewage a range of earbuds for a assortment of budgets and uses, and precocious teased that it's processing its first brace of over-ears—not agelong aft announcing a caller business pinch British hi-fi marque KEF. It has besides developed a statement of products nether nan CMF by Nothing sub-brand, which produces moreover lower-priced products, including a $69 smartwatch. But really does a marque that's keen to beryllium disruptive stay competitory successful an manufacture that's struggling for innovation? We asked its founder, Carl Pei.

WIRED: In March, you released your latest smartphone, nan Nothing Phone (3a). What do you deliberation are Nothing's strengths, compared to what's retired location already?

Carl Pei: First of all, we are nan only startup successful nan industry, truthful we really person a batch of disadvantages. We are 1 of nan smallest teams successful nan industry, truthful we person a vulnerable proviso concatenation and debased rate flow.

However, I deliberation wherever we're stronger is our creativity. We person to be—if we don't person business scale, we request productivity to stay competitory successful this industry.

Another advantage is nan size of nan manufacturers we compete with. When you're very big, you person to target each customers—young, old, and everyone successful between. We, connected nan different hand, tin attraction connected a circumstantial group of users. Like creatives. The caller “Essential Space” characteristic [on Nothing Phone 3a] is aimed astatine them, for example, to thief them shop and shape caller ideas arsenic they emerge.

And past there's besides our software. The smartphone marketplace is becoming very boring. We judge we are nan only ones who tin make it "fun" again.

What does productivity mean to you?

Creativity is not only astir design, fashion, aliases art, but astir solving problems.

Humans person a singular expertise to link different pieces of accusation to lick caller problems. I deliberation package engineers tin beryllium highly creative. Now, successful nan property of AI, quality productivity is moreover much important. In nan agelong term, erstwhile humanity becomes a civilization that expands into space, it's productivity that's going to make america much competitory successful nan universe.

That is why we want to make exertion "fun" again, to thief animate quality creativity. Personally, I was very inspired by Apple erstwhile I was younger—the first iPod, nan first iPhone—that's nan logic I'm successful this industry.

But now nan imaginative companies of nan past person go very large and very corporate, and they're nary longer very creative. They're nary longer inspirational for nan younger generation. So we are trying to bring that back.

We're besides trying to beryllium very transparent and quality successful our business efforts. For example, if you watch our YouTube videos, you'll spot that we effort to present nan Nothing team, for illustration our designers and package developers, truthful that you tin get to cognize them.

This is our measurement of doing things and our measurement of thinking. We dream it will promote much young group to definitive their creativity.

Is your strategy working? How's business?

Looking backmost connected nan past 4 and a half years, I deliberation it is working. We look a batch of problems connected a regular basis, but we cannot past successful this manufacture if we travel nan aforesaid strategies arsenic different companies. We person to beryllium different.

And nan business is increasing rapidly. Last year, we grew astir 150 percent. However, we still only reached astir 0.1% stock of nan world market, truthful location is plentifulness much to do.

How do you scheme to get there? What's nan maturation plan?

I deliberation nan large inclination we are each seeing correct now is AI, and I deliberation everyone is very stressed wondering what benignant of AI functions they should launch. But I deliberation they're looking astatine it wrong.

Before nan preamble of nan iPod, it was communal knowledge successful nan manufacture that an MP3 subordinate pinch a difficult thrust would beryllium nan adjacent large thing. At nan time, companies specified arsenic South Korea's iriver and Singapore's Creative had besides launched MP3 players pinch difficult drives, but iPod became nan marketplace leader because it sewage everything right.

Apple had nan champion creation successful nan iPod, it had nan champion interface pinch nan scroll wheel. It had nan champion integration of hardware and software, pinch iTunes for euphony management, and it had nan champion business model. All of a sudden, you could bargain 1 opus for $1 alternatively of having to bargain nan full album! So it had nan champion wide package.

I deliberation there's a batch of similarities pinch AI today. We each cognize it's nan adjacent large thing, and everyone is trying to fig retired precisely what's important there. But each we want to do is create nan champion merchandise for our users. It is not astir moving quickly to create thing and shoving AI into it to tick a box.

If you look back, nan iPod was not launched arsenic “an MP3 subordinate pinch a difficult disk drive.” The difficult disk thrust was simply a intends to a amended personification experience. AI is conscionable a caller exertion that enables america to create amended products for users. So, our strategy is not to make large claims that AI is going to alteration nan world and revolutionize smartphones. For us, it's astir utilizing it to lick a user problem, not to show a large story. We want nan merchandise to beryllium nan story.

In that respect, Apple coming is very different from nan Apple erstwhile I was younger. Last year, they told a very large communicative astir Apple Intelligence. Now, a twelvemonth later, it's not overmuch much than immoderate generated emojis. So it's made consumers very skeptical.

Do you deliberation much tin beryllium done pinch AI?

I deliberation nan measurement we usage devices will alteration successful nan future. In nan short term, I don't deliberation we will spot caller forms of hardware really taking off. People are trying pinch different things for illustration smart glasses and nan Humane AI Pin, but I don't judge successful these shape factors correct now, because nan marketplace is truthful small. Smart glasses are astir 1 cardinal units per year, and devices for illustration nan AI Pin are astir 5,000 units per year.

A smartphone is for illustration 1 cardinal units per year. It is nan largest and astir divers market. We usage smartphones for everything, and nan cardinal to bully AI is data. I don't deliberation immoderate different instrumentality will beryllium arsenic important for AI arsenic nan smartphone for nan foreseeable future.

And really do you spot smartphone usage evolving successful that time?

It will alteration dramatically. I judge that successful nan future, nan full telephone will only person 1 app—and that will beryllium nan OS. The OS will cognize its personification good and will beryllium optimized for that person.

However, we request to salary adjacent attraction to personification privacy. We request transparency successful really information is handled and clarity astir whether it resides successful nan unreality aliases is stored connected nan device. Users must besides beryllium capable to power who has entree to their data, and of course, they must beryllium capable to delete it.

The adjacent measurement aft data-driven personalization, successful my opinion, is automation. That is, nan strategy knows you, knows who you are, and knows what you want. For example, nan strategy knows your situation, time, place, and schedule, and it suggests what you should do.

Right now, you person to spell done a step-by-step process of figuring retired for yourself what you want to do, past unlocking your smartphone and going done it measurement by step. In nan future, your telephone will propose what you want to do and past do it automatically for you. So it will beryllium agentic and automated and proactive.

The eventual use to nan personification is that they will walk little clip doing boring things and much clip connected what they attraction about. But to get there, we request to return it 1 measurement astatine a time. At this point, if we said, “We person eliminated apps from smartphones,” nary 1 would bargain it.

So we person to vessel a small bit, look astatine nan data, look astatine nan feedback, iterate, and past vessel again. Gradually make suggestions complete and complete again. We could do this quicker, but we request to bring nan personification pinch america connected nan journey.

How agelong do you deliberation it will return to recognize specified a vision?

I would opportunity 7 to 10 years. I deliberation galore group would for illustration to spot it hap sooner, but successful reality I deliberation group emotion utilizing apps, truthful I don't deliberation it will hap that fast.

What benignant of institution will Nothing beryllium by then, and what benignant of products will it offer?

At that point, nan OS will beryllium reasonably mature and connected to each nan important devices. And I deliberation location will beryllium much forms of hardware that are important to users.

The marketplace for smart glasses is very mini astatine this point, but 7 years from now it will beryllium a large category. There mightiness beryllium different merchandise areas that will drawback on, but we are researching which merchandise categories to commencement readying for.

And hopefully, connected an affectional level, we tin besides connection thing to nan world, because nan past fewer years person not been very positive. All nan companies that were erstwhile imaginative are now large corporations, everyone is acrophobic of AI, nan system is bad. There's war. In nan midst of each this, I dream that we tin bring immoderate positivity and inspiration to nan world.