Carl Pei’s company has already produced several Dream Phones (in concept render form, of course): these were editions dedicated to creators in the tech world like MKBHD and JerryRigEverything, but this time things are different. Nothing has gathered all the comments from enthusiasts — posts, comments, messages, emails and even letters — to create the community’s dream smartphone.
The result is a device with a minimalist look, strongly inspired by the brand’s iconic style and equipped with features that we could define as almost universal.
Nothing creates a new Dream Phone: how the dream smartphone could be, according to the brand’s fans
As hinted at the opening, the Nothing team analyzed a large number of comments in order to extract some essential features for users — or at least for the brand’s enthusiasts. The video is interesting both for the aesthetics of this particular concept, but mainly because it represents a snapshot of what users actually want.
Solve based on the comments, some fundamental aspects for a smartphone emerged:
- dimensions compact: preferably under 6″;
- headphone jack: now present only on budget models;
- memory expandable: the micro SD slot is now absent from the high end;
- full-screen display: no notch or punch-hole anymore, but aside from the camera under the display, Nothing proposes a disappearing/retractable solution;
- niente camera bumb: many users would like to eliminate the rear camera protrusion, even at the cost of increasing the phone’s thickness;
- software without bloatware: a clean operating system with no unnecessary preinstalled apps (in short, science fiction);
- batteria capacity: thanks to silicon-carbon, phone batteries have now reached astonishing capacities.
What do you think of Nothing’s creation? Do you appreciate the aesthetics and the various features of the concept?
Everybody wants it but nobody buys it
Anyway, it’s worth bearing in mind the iPhone Mini effect: social media amplify everything and “many” have loudly called for the launch of a compact iPhone, with dimensions smaller than the standard model of the series. From there came the iPhone 12 and 13 Mini — fantastic on paper, to hold in your hand and keep in your pocket — and yet we’re talking about a double commercial flop.
Both devices accounted for very low percentages of the overall sales of their respective series, to the extent that it led Apple to discontinue production prematurely.
The truth? A noisy minority has managed to tease Cupertino and yet we’re talking about a niche. Between a Mini flagship and a standard one, why choose the smaller when the difference is about a hundred euros/dollars? Those aiming for a compact model will choose the Mini but the reality is that the majority will move toward the more advantageous device — paradoxically the most expensive (but with a larger screen).
However, in Nothing’s concept there are many elements that could work: features like the headphone jack, the micro SD slot, the extra-large batteries and the clean software are clearly plausible. On the other hand, the display under 6″ and the pop-up camera are unrealistic, since experiments have already been done — with not exactly exciting results.
