Nothing phone (1) preview highlights internal components, unified design

What you need to know

• The Nothing phone (1) will feature a translucent design similar to the Nothing ear (1) earbuds.
• Nothing founder Carl Pei focused on a unified design for the upcoming smartphones and the Nothing ecosystem.
• Sketches show off potential designs for the upcoming phone.

As the world awaits the full unveiling of the Nothing phone (1), founder Carl Pai has taken a moment to tease the upcoming smartphone's design. In an interview with Wallpaper, Pei and Nothing's head of design, Tom Howard, discussed their inspiration for the phone and more of what we can expect this summer.

In a somewhat expected move, the Nothing phone (1) will sport a translucent chassis that the company hopes will help consumers appreciate the internal workings of a smartphone.

"From a design perspective, we really wanted to bring the inside out, and that meant working with the engineers to start from first principles," says Howard. "There are over 400 components in a smartphone, assembled in layers. We wanted to celebrate the 'good ones,' the things we thought were really interesting to emphasise."

(Image credit: Nothing via Wallpaper)

Howard described the engineering process as a "jigsaw puzzle" because the company wants to highlight the components such as the cameras and charging coil, among other elements. To do so, Nothing took inspiration from a 1972 New York Subway map designed by Massimo Vignelli and Bob Noorda.

Of course, Nothing's first product, the Nothing ear (1), was also an inspiration, as the company aims for a cohesive design across its products, according to Pei. "Phone (1) and Ear (1) will clearly be from the same family, and as we fill in the rest of our product portfolio, we will maintain the same philosophy."

This follows Pei's earlier teaser about the upcoming phone, where he highlighted how he wants the Nothing family of products to challenge Apple's ecosystem with one of its own, with phone (1) at the center of it. This includes Nothing OS, which is currently available to preview on some of the best Android phones. However, we will have to wait until this summer to get a complete picture of the OS and the phone.

You can head over to Wallpaper (opens in new tab) to read the full interview.