You just have to love Carl Pei. Not only does he have the greatest “X” username of all time (@getpeid), but he helped launch not one, but two cell phone companies from scratch, OnePlus and Nothing , and both companies appear to have great success in the near future. very competitive sector. Pei ensures that Nothing is completely transparent by often releasing messages and videos to the public.
Recently, Nothing released a
video about a product he was working on that didn’t make it to market, Nothing Power (1). It was a pocket-sized three-in-one charger that supported 65W wireless charging. It also had internal batteries designed to charge multiple devices at the same time, such as your laptop and phone . It is also a power bank. And as you can see by watching the video, the Nothing Power (1) sports the Nothing design language.
Looking back on the device, Pei said it was supposed to be released after Nothing ear (1), released in August 2021. Pei and his team had high hopes for the Power (1) and said it was truly innovative , or at least Pei thought so at the time. Although the device never shipped, the company learned many lessons from the Power (1).
It seems that one of the reasons Pei didn’t release the product was because all the features it had were already available, even though Nothing bundled them into one device. While this could be considered a type of innovation, the company’s founder said the product would not have lived up to Nothing’s potential. “I think we can do a lot more than that,” Pei said. He added that while the Power (1) could have been a great product in 2021, the company’s ambitions in 2023 are much greater.
Pei says the company gave up on marketing the device when all the different teams working on it reported the difficulties they were having. One issue Pei mentioned is that with such a small charger, to charge it at the speed he wanted, the company had to pay attention to thermals so the device didn’t get too hot. And there was no guarantee that the device was safe and durable. The Power (1) did not pass Nothing’s drop tests.
The cancellation of power (1) was painful, according to Pei, but was “ultimately the right decision.” Since then, the company has released two smartphones, a sequel to the Ear (1) and the Ear (stick).
