This is stopping the Nothing Phone (2a) from mass US availability،
Getting the Nothing Phone (2a) – currently one of the Big Kahunas in the budget segment – is not that simple. At least in the United States of America. To purchase the phone (2a) for $349 (12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage), one must sign up for Nothing's developer program via their official website.
But why? Is the Phone 2 not available in the US?
There's a reason for the absence of the Phone (2a), despite the fact that its “premium” sibling, the Nothing Phone (2), is available in the land of the free and the brave.
Android Center to the response from Nothing co-founder Akis Evangelidis, who says it's not yet the “right time to go all-in” in the United States:
We are still only a three-year-old brand, so we need to be strategic in our efforts. Although we need to maintain a certain level of presence in the United States, it is not yet the right time to go all in, given the size of the market.
On the other hand, the Ear 1 and Ear 2 (Nothing's headphones) sell well in the United States. Phones, however, are different, because… of the carriers.
Evangelidis emphasizes that Nothing is in “no rush” and is looking to secure the right partnership with the carrier before making its full-fledged debut in the country:
The unlocked market is quite limited, so there's not much you can do as a standalone brand. We need to find the right partner who understands our strategy and believes in the brand. You can only enter the market once, and we want to make it happen – we're in no rush.
The difference between the presence of Phone (2) and Phone (2a) in the United States is that, in Evangelidis' words, Phone (2) was aimed at early adopters, so it was a simple decision to sell directly via their site. The Phone (2a), on the other hand, is designed as a consumer device – that's where things get complicated and the brand needs a carrier partnership.
Once upon a time, when Evangelidis and Carl Pei were at OnePlus, the Chinese brand teamed up with T-Mobile to launch the OnePlus 6T in the United States. It turned sour because TMobile wanted the phones to be available for at least 12 months after launch, and OnePlus would only sell its devices for six months – this was during the T series refresh…
