Nothing Phone (4) not launching in 2026, confirms CEO Carl Pei

Every year, like clockwork, smartphone companies put on their best show to launch their best devices. That’s how the industry works – or at least it’s always worked that way. But Carl Pei, CEO of Nothing, chooses to break this cycle.

He confirmed that the Phone (4), the expected successor to last year’s Phone (3), will not be released in 2026 and said that the company does not want to fall into the industry habit of releasing a new flagship every year just because it is expected.

“There is no new flagship this year,” Pei said in a recent video on Nothing’s YouTube channel, adding that the Phone (3) will remain the brand’s top-tier product. He explained that the idea was to ship fewer flagships, but make each one feel like a real step forward.

“For the sake of this, we won’t be churning out a new flagship every year, we want every upgrade to be meaningful,” he added.

This does not mean that nothing will remain silent. Phones are still coming, but not at the highest level. The mid-range Phone (4a) series is next in line, and Pei says it will be a meaningful upgrade over the Phone (3a). According to him, the (4a) will see improvements in every area – display, camera and performance – and will feel closer to a flagship than anything else in this segment has offered before. He also pointed to premium materials and experimenting with some “bold” colors that suit the brand well.

The decision to focus on a new flagship comes less than a year after Nothing launched its most ambitious device yet, the Phone (3). Introduced in July 2025, the Phone (3) was positioned as the company’s first “true flagship” by combining high-end internal features with the design-minded style that nothing tried to champion from day one. It features a redesigned Glyph Matrix that uses micro LEDs for fun interactions like alerts, widgets, and mini-games.
Behind the scenes, Nothing is better funded than ever. In September 2025, the five-year-old startup raised $200 million in a Series C round led by Tiger Global, taking its valuation to $1.3 billion. Pei said the money will be spent on making “native artificial intelligence” consumer devices, especially phones, wearables and audio products.