It’s safe to say that this has been the best year for foldable phones. How so? Almost every major smartphone brand is launching a foldable device this year. We’ve already seen Google enter the market with the Google Fold, and OnePlus is expected to announce the launch of the OnePlus Fold/Open soon. But what about the Nothing Fold?
In a recent interview with IndiaToday, Nothing’s CEO, Carl Pei, has expressly spoken that the company is not interested in launching a folding device. Carl Pei acknowledged that there are already some rumors regarding the existence of the Nothing Fold. But he confirmed that the company does not want to rush to jump onto the folding phone bandwagon.
Carl Pei Talks About Folding Phones and Nothing Fold
According to the CEO of Nothing, foldables are mostly niche products. And he thinks that this niche is not yet ready for a massive evolution. Pei says, “It’s good that some people are building it, but if you look at how the foldable are evolving, they are all the same again.”
Pei even went further and said that consumers would not be able to tell the difference if brands hid the logos from the foldable phones. When Pei was asked about the plans to launch the Nothing Fold, Pei said, “Not anytime soon.” He adds, “I don’t think consumers walk around saying, hey, I wish my phone could fold. I think it’s an innovation that the manufacturers are pushing onto the consumer.”
In other words, Carl Pei has put an end to all the rumors that are revolving around the Nothing Fold. So, if you have seen any while surfing the internet, you now know that all of them are fake, and Nothing is not working on a foldable device at the moment.
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Analysis of Foldable Phones and Carl Pei’s Statements
No matter what you say, Carl Pei is not wrong regarding the logo thing. If you take a closer look at the past releases, all the phones look pretty much the same. Even the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Fold 5 is expected to feature the same design as its predecessor. But of course, flip foldable phones have seen a major upgrade this year.
Compared to last year, this year’s high-end flip foldable phones come with a large external display. This large-sized cover screen allows the users to do more without unfolding their phones. And the upcoming Galaxy Flip 5 is confirmed to bring more app support for the external screen.
However, the interview at IndiaToday was more about regular folding phones. It was about the development of Nothing Fold, not Nothing Flip. So, if the questions were around flip folding devices, Carl Pei’s answers might have differed slightly from what he said in the interview.
In addition, you need to note that the winds change pretty quickly in the tech industry. For example, we saw a rapid shift from 90Hz to 120Hz to 144Hz displays in the past. And when high refresh rate displays were coming out, people used to argue that humans can see higher than 60Hz.
So, even if Nothing does not want to work on Nothing Fold anytime soon, nothing stops it from releasing the device next year or the year after. Also, Nothing expects its latest Phone (2) to perform as well as the Phone (1).
And as the Phone (2) is a more premium device, it would naturally fetch Nothing a lot more than Phone (1) if it sells well. This would give the company the revenue to bring some changes in the foldable space. And I am excited to see more.
