The goal of the new company was to "remove barriers between people and technology to create a seamless digital future."

[5][6] After Nothing released their first product, the Ear (1), Nothing announced a partnership with Qualcomm, which will allow them to use their Snapdragon chips in their future devices.

[7] Speculation on Nothing's first smartphone began to rise in March 2022 during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, when the company showed its prototype to executives, including Qualcomm.

Nothing also confirmed that another event would take place on 12 July to announce additional information regarding the Phone (1), including pricing and specs.

[13] Nothing has announced partnerships with O2 in the United Kingdom, Deutsche Telekom in Germany, and Flipkart in India to release the phone, with the phone to be released exclusively in the UK on O2 and Germany on Deutsche Telekom.

Although the company has confirmed that Nothing has plans to release a smartphone for the North American market, the Phone (1) will instead be distributed to private investors through a closed beta program.

[19] It has flat sides, similar to the iPhone 12, and an IP53 splash, water, and dust resistance rating.

The Phone (1) is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G+ processor[2][1] and has a 6.5 inch 1080 x 2400 resolution punch hole display screen with a 120 Hz refresh rate.

Nothing OS was tested and found to be near-stock Android, with some tweaks to ensure that the phone would provide "a fast, smooth, and personal experience."

[2][25] Nothing claims that Nothing OS is bloatware free, the only manufacturer modified apps are the Nothing Camera and Nothing voice recorder and a lot of added features.

[27][28] On 23 March 2022 during Nothing's keynote speech on their first smartphone, Nothing announced their Android-based operating system, Nothing OS.

It started to get rolled out to the public as Nothing OS 1.5.2 on 16 February 2023, this update introduces a new weather app, and other features, including improvements to the performance and other Android 13 features, like Android's new QR Code reader, according to The Verge.

"[41][42][43][44][45][46][47] Nothing OS 1.5.3 was released on 14 March 2023, bringing Nothing Ear 2 support, February 2023 patches and more features.

Plus, users can now scan UPI QR codes with the camera app and make payments directly.