According to CEO and founder Carl Pei, nothing is planning to develop its own mobile operating system. The UK startup’s devices are now running Google’s Android operating system, with a custom interface on top. Most smartphones today run Android, while Apple’s iPhone models use iOS, the company’s mobile operating system.
Developers provide access to popular Android and iOS apps through the Play Store and App Store, respectively, while Huawei’s HarmonyOS attempts to give a third option, and Nothing may soon enter the game.
During a discussion with Brian Heater at TechCrunch Disrupt, Pei stated that the company is looking into developing a new operating system to generate extra revenue while also establishing a startup in the mobile sector. “We’re thinking about how we can get around here and possibly create something of our own.” “Some kind of operating system,” he explained.
The co-founder and former CEO of OnePlus also indicated that such an operating system would support artificial intelligence (AI) features, but they would not be the “be-all and end-all”. Both Google and Apple have made significant investments in machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies in their most recent operating system updates.
According to Pei, if Nothing built its own operating system, the company would focus on improving the user experience by using all of the information accessible on devices. He stated that the company could work on the issue even without funding and declined to reply when Heater asked if Nothing intended to raise funds to create its own operating system.
Pei’s startup is not the first to propose developing an operating system to compete with industry leaders Google and Apple. Huawei has replaced Android on certain of its handsets with its own operating system, HarmonyOS, which provides access to popular apps through the Huawei App Gallery.
To compete successfully with Android and iOS, Nothing would need to provide a similar app marketplace and convince developers to make their apps available on that platform. The inability to access popular apps is commonly regarded as one of the reasons mobile operating systems such as Windows Phone or Sailfish OS failed to compete with Android and iOS.
Nothing previously indicated that future software upgrades for its smartphones would be based on Android, including the Nothing OS 3.0 update, which is based on Android 15. If Nothing develops a new mobile operating system, it will most likely be released on a new smartphone that is optimized to function with the company’s software, indicating that it could be some months before we see a new handset with a new operating system.
