Fresh off the back of Mobile World Congress – that's MWC 2024 for short, which I attended with the T3 tech team to award the best in show – and where Nothing revealed a glimpse of its Phone (2a) mid-level handset – my brain synapses have been firing on all cylinders about everything phones, phones, phones ever since.
That's because the show was the place to see and experience some exciting new tech and ideas: I sampled the Motorola Adaptive Display phone-meets-wearable; I heard whispers about a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 Ultra; and newcomer Tecno was showing off its Phantom V Fold rollable concept. All conceps, all foldables – all arguably glimpses of the future.
And with Nothing so firmly on my mind – given the Nothing Phone (2a) will launch on Tuesday 5 March, not that much if anything will be secret come then – it got me imagining the prospect of a Nothing 'Fold (1)'. The company is quirky, it's got the collective know-how – and given how impressed the OnePlus Open left me only recently, here's why I'd love Nothing to muscle in on the best folding phones (irrelevant of its likelihood).
1. Integrated Glyphs
The standout feature of the Nothing Phone (1), Nothing Phone (2) and Nothing Phone (2a) is they each feature a (different per handset) series of integrated lights to their rear, called Glyph lighting. These illuminate in various ways to tell you various things, which is also customisable, but it's also just a rather fun and different feature compared to the typical best phones on the market.
The extent to which this could be pushed into a Nothing Fold (1) foldable could be – and while I have no doubt complex to engineer – extra dynamic in terms of positioning. Lighting down the spine/hinge, for example, or lighting that would sit around an internal selfie camera to add not only a ringlight-like feature, but internal and external visual communication tool.
2. Design distinction
Further to the Glyph lighting adding a point of distinction, the Nothing phone visual aesthetic is also eye-grabbing for a number of reasons. Principally it's because the rear panels are 'transparent' so you can see beyond the glass frame – but you're not seeing a raw internal within, rather additional design layers that interplay with the structural layout.
In a Nothing Fold (1) foldable I think that would be extra interesting: from the way the spine/hinge could be visible, to the additional real estate for the designers to utilise in that notable language. Many have pointed out that the Phone (2) has an 'elephant' shape to its base, so I'm sure other playful flowing panels could be part of a foldable structure. It'd certainly look like nothing else out there.
3. Persuasive pricing
But perhaps the big thing that Nothing could push that few others are is attractive pricing. I know, I know, it's very expensive to invest in research and development to create a product that's not truly mass market at present. But the more customers who jump on board, the more accepted the format will be – and that's when the tipping point happens. It's perhaps going to take multiple brands and a point of unison for that to happen though.
Sure, it'd be a big gamble, and I'm aware Nothing's CEO, Carl Pei, has already said a folding phone isn't a point of interest until various design problems are 'fixed'. Nothing isn't the biggest brand in the world either, so couldn't take a major hit of taking a loss per product sold, which is why my imaginary pipe dream Fold (1) is likely to never happen.
Either way, I'm just saying: if Nothing gave it the cred and got the kudos it could accelerate market adoption. I'd love to see a would-be 'Fold (1)' – even if only a mock-up design from the company's internal team for the time being...
