It’s not often that the CEO of a phone company volunteers to review a competing product. And even less if it turns out to be quite honest. Despite this, that is exactly what happened with Carl Pei, the founder of Nothing and co-founder of OnePlus.
Pei starred in a video in which he claims to have used the iPhone 14 Pro. And he compares it to the Nothing Phone.
In the video, about 10 minutes long, you can see how Pei is initially surprised by the proposal, but then accepts it, confessing that he was a fan of Apple phones for years . Pei used the iPhone for a week not as his main phone, but as a secondary one, which could explain a review in which he doesn’t delve as deeply into aspects such as sound, memory, or battery. But they do highlight some of his comments.
Regarding the design, for example, he explains that it has not changed much in recent years and that he points out that the Dynamic Notch is an interesting variation but that after a while it does not have a determining weight in how you interact with the device. He also affirms that he can understand that many say that the Nothing Phone is similar in some aspects to the iPhone , but that it is something that bothers him. He actually confesses that he asked his design team if they didn’t think there were similarities. “On the front, on the screen – Pei explains, comparing both mobiles – we see a normal phone like all those that are currently designed. They have nothing to do with the rear. Only in the side frames you can see some similarities”.
Then he focuses on prices. The iPhone costs around €1,100 while the Nothing Phone costs no more than €500. “It is very difficult to compare both models – adds Pei in the video – due to the difference in prices and certain specifications. But if what we are looking for is a good camera, the iPhone 14 Pro is one of the best ”.
As far as materials and construction are concerned, the BOM (Bill of Materials or Bill of Materials) of an iPhone 14 Pro is €500 euros, which means that producing it costs 46% of its sale price (obviously we must add distribution, R&D… we are only talking about materials and assembly). “In comparison, the Nothing Phone (1) costs about €360 – says Pei – and if we add distribution channels, logistics and partner contracts, the profit margin is almost zero. Which is good for us since I think that with this first phone we bought a ticket to the world of smartphones”.
In terms of processing, he assures that the iPhone 14 Pro is very fast and he is not surprised considering the processor, but that it is difficult to find a phone today that does not do more or less what we all expect of it. The difference is the camera.
“I don’t need to know the megapixels of a camera, nor the shutter speed or the aperture – adds Pei –, what I need is to trust the camera. And in that sense I think the iPhone 14 has one of the best camera systems on the market.” If we take into account that the Nothing Phone is an Android device and Apple’s is based on its own operating system, the duel between iOS and Android was obvious. “ I was a fan of iOS for years, ” Pei confesses. He thought it was much better than Android. But now, maybe because I’m getting older, I don’t like iOS 16 that much, it’s very rigid. My favorite was iOS 7. If I had to choose one of the best phones on the market, I would choose the iPhone…but if I wanted something different (laughs) I would go for the Nothing Phone ”.
