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. It’s just how the industry works — or at least how it’s always worked. But Nothing CEO Carl Pei is choosing to break that cycle.

He confirmed that the Phone (4) — expected successor to last year's Phone (3) — won’t launch in 2026, saying the company doesn’t want to fall into the industry habit of pushing out a new flagship every year just because it’s expected.

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


“We’re not just going to churn out a new flagship every year for the sake of it, we want every upgrade to feel significant,” he added.

That doesn’t mean Nothing is going quiet. Phones are still coming, just not at the very top end. 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 across the board — display, camera and performance — and will feel closer to a flagship than anything Nothing has previously offered in this segment. He also hinted at premium materials and some “bold” experimentation with colours, which sounds very on-brand.

The decision to sit tight on a new flagship comes less than a year after Nothing launched the Phone (3), its most ambitious device yet. Introduced in July 2025, the Phone (3) was positioned as the company’s first “true flagship”, combining high-end internals with the kind of design-led thinking Nothing has tried to stand for from day one. It features a redesigned Glyph Matrix that uses micro-LEDs for alerts, widgets and playful interactions like mini-games.

Behind the scenes, Nothing is also better funded than ever. In September 2025, the five-year-old startup raised $200 million in a Series C round led by Tiger Global, pushing its valuation to $1.3 billion. The money, Pei has said, will go toward building “AI-native” consumer devices — starting with phones, wearables and audio products.