Europe deserves its own Apple or Samsung, and while institutions debate digital sovereignty, Nothing has gone from being a startup of headphones with retro-futuristic design to bill more than 1,000 million dollars annually, and all from London. Its CEO, the popular Carl Pei, is not hiding: in a recent interview and through his networks, he has defended that the old continent has the talent and the “momentum” to build ambitious companies.
But unlike other attempts that remain the eternal promise (and never reach the masses) or focus on specialized niches, Nothing has something that others have lacked: capital, narrative and a viable industrial strategy on paper. Of course, with a “but.”
The Nothing Phone (3a) Lite. Image by Iván Linares for Xataka
It’s not just design. The great trap of European brands has always been to try to compete in specifications or price (something impossible) against Chinese machinery. Nothing, in this sense, has taken a third path. First, it was wrapped in a transparent industrial design that was very different from the rest, along with software for Android purists.
Second, it learned from the mistakes of OnePlus (Pei’s previous company) and created CMF, an economic sub-brand that acts as a firewall: it allows it to experiment and attract entry-level users without devaluing its main brand, which can thus continue to aspire to the high segment without betraying its original fans.
Your bet. While other manufacturers pack their Androids with AI functions in increasingly complete suites, Nothing has raised $200 million from Qualcomm and Google to finance what they call the “post-app future.” It might seem like empty marketing: the truth is that they are already testing the “Essential Apps Builder”, an AI tool that allows you to create applications at a prompt, without code.
Their vision is for the operating system to stop being an icon launcher and become a personalized and generative interface, anticipating what Apple or Google could take years to implement for fear of cannibalizing their own application stores.
The courage to stop the machine. Perhaps the proof of its early maturity is its latest strategic decision: not to launch a flagship in 2026. In an industry that has been sick for years and years with novelty and numbers, Nothing has decided to skip a generation so as not to compromise its product in the face of the memory crisis.
It is a risky move, yes, but what better decision if they do not consider it a worthwhile leap: buyers of the latest flagship know that their model will continue to be the most pampered for another year. An unprecedented movement in the world, but one that only a brand with trust in its community can afford. Prioritize brand value over volume and hype? It sounds very populist.
The almost. Although all this leaves Nothing as a very attractive large European manufacturer, it has a physical limit. As is somewhat obvious, manufacturing remains largely dependent on Asia. Pei himself recognizes that replicating the Shenzhen ecosystem in Europe is unfeasible without large-caliber public investment.
Therefore, although Nothing may be a banner for European hardware, its success remains tied to global supply chains. Still, it is the closest we have been in decades to having a consumer electronics giant with a European passport and global ambition. Given what we’ve seen, it’s not bad at all. TRUE?
Cover image | Composition with images by Ricardo Aguilar for Xataka and Pepu Ricca for Xataka Móvil (generated)
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