Nothing is breaking the flagship upgrade cycle. CEO Carl Pei just confirmed the company won't launch a Phone 4 in 2026, leaving last year's Phone 3 as the brand's top-tier device. Instead, the London-based startup is doubling down on its midrange 4A series, promising what Pei calls a "complete evolution" that blurs the line between budget and premium. It's a risky bet in a market where annual flagship refreshes are gospel, but Pei says Nothing won't follow the industry playbook just because everyone else does.
Nothing just threw a wrench into the smartphone release calendar. CEO Carl Pei confirmed in a YouTube video that the Phone 4 won't materialize in 2026, marking a deliberate break from the annual flagship treadmill that dominates the industry. "There's no new flagship this year," Pei told viewers when asked about 2026 phone plans, according to The Verge.
The decision leaves the Phone 3, launched in 2025, as Nothing's top-tier offering for the foreseeable future. It's an unusual strategy in a market where Apple, Samsung, and Google condition consumers to expect new flagships every September, February, and October like clockwork.
"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," Pei explained in the video. "Just because the rest of the industry does things a certain way it doesn't mean we will do the same." The comments echo a growing debate in the tech world about whether annual upgrades still make sense when hardware improvements have become increasingly incremental.
But Nothing isn't going silent on the phone front. The company is releasing the Phone 4A series, a midrange lineup that Pei promises will deliver near-flagship experiences at lower price points. "4A will be a complete evolution over its predecessor across the board, from display, to camera, to overall performance," he said, referencing the Phone 3A series that launched previously.
