Nothing has just confirmed what was already expected before. The company will not be launching its first ever smartphone, the Phone (1) model, in the US market. Since the device’s announcement, no telecom operators in the US had included the device in its supported list and the brand has officially commented on this matter now.
As per the company’s official statement with PCMag, “While we’d love to bring phone (1) to the entire community around the world, we’re focusing on home markets, including the UK and Europe, where we have strong partnerships with leading local carriers. It takes a lot to launch a smartphone as you know, from ensuring the handset is supported by the country’s cellular technologies to carrier partnerships and local regulation, and as we’re still a young brand we need to be strategic about it.”
For those unaware, Verizon does not allow handsets on its network, if they are not on its supported list. AT&T follows a similar method and only enables VoLTE for select smartphones. So, the Phone (1) from Nothing is practically not supported by its network. Furthermore, without VoLTE support, a smartphone would have to use 3G network to make calls. However, the carrier has shut down its 3G networking earlier this year.
While T-Mobile is still more open in this regard, it doesn’t use all of the same bands as European carriers. So, there will be an issue with coverage. Thus, Nothing has no plans on launching a smartphone in the US, without having at least one of these carriers whitelist its handset.
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