Nothing is finally giving people in the US a way to buy their debut smartphone… sort of. After the CEOUS launchLast month, the company officially announced a new US-focused beta program. Customers can pay nothing for $299 and receive in return the black version of the smartphone with 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage for testing. At its launch last year, the phone was only officially sold in European and Asian markets.
This is far from a full US launch – and not just because the devices are being distributed to test Nothing’s Android 13 beta software. The companies website warns that the phone “might not work with all US carriers,” so it sounds like you can’t rely on it for everyday use.
5G is only supported on T-Mobile, while AT&T and Verizon subscribers can only access up to 4G connectivity. Nothing adds that coverage on Verizon will be “very limited”.
That could eventually change, though, given Nothing CEO Carl Pei previously told CNBC that the company is “talking with some airlines in the US to potentially launch a future product there.” He said the reason the company didn’t initially launch the phone in the US was because of the “additional technical support” needed to support the various networks in the country, as well as the “unique customizations that [carriers] must make on top of Android.”
“It’s definitely a market where there’s already a lot of interest in our products,” he said. “And if we launch our smartphones there, I’m sure we can achieve significant growth.”
According to Nothing’s website, the beta program will run until June 30, though devices don’t need to be returned after the beta period ends. The shipment of the device is expected to take five to seven days.
