The Nothing Phone (3a) Lite hit the scene this week with the promise of being a much more affordable smartphone. It is that, but it’s also haunted by some of the quotes and jokes that Nothing has made over the years, and is really putting a sour tone on what should have been a great year for the growing brand.
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Coming into 2025, Carl Pei-founded Nothing was in a pretty good place. The prior year’s trio of earbuds were well-received by everyone, and the Nothing Phone (2a) series was a hit. The Nothing Phone (3a) series got things started off fairly strong with two solid Android phones that were generally well-liked. Later on, Nothing Phone (3) debuted as the company’s first “flagship” in a couple of years, and was also pretty well received. Audio products like Nothing Headphone (1) and Nothing Ear (3) were a mixed bag, but generally were looked on favorably.
While there were stumbles along the way, Nothing’s 2025 overall went off well, at least based on what we can see from the outside.
But the past couple of weeks have been… let’s say “unpleasant.”
Starting off with the beta release of “Lock Glimpse,” an experience that basically throws lock screen ads on your phone, fans were unhappy that Nothing was even trying something like that. The later reveal that Nothing would make that practice standard on lower-tier smartphones, as well as pre-loading third-party apps on those devices, only made matters worse in the eyes of fans.
The Nothing Phone (3a) Lite has been the culmination of all of this. The budget-focused phone is not bad, but the lock screen “ads” driving users to a sketchy clickbait farm alongside the reveal that there are Facebook services on the device that can’t be uninstalled was… not a great look. The device itself also didn’t make matters much better, seeing as it was a rehash of the CMF Phone 2 Pro, but with a 2MP macro camera on the back in place of that equally-priced phone’s 50MP telephoto. It’s just so ready for fan backlash.
And, not only was there backlash, but everyone was quick to dig up past comments from Nothing on exactly these changes.
Starting with that 2MP camera – something that is universally recognized by fans and users as nothing more than a completely useless marketing gimmick –, Nothing’s Akis Evangelidis tweeted two years ago that “2MP third camera sensors are the biggest scam of the 21st century.” That’s a correct take, though Akis did revist that post, which was quickly picked up on by fans, to clarify that “this was regarding depth sensors” and adding that Phone (3a) Lite’s 2MP macro camera is “fully functional.”
The other core issue with Nothing Phone (3a) Lite is the bloatware. That’s in part because, well, no one likes bloatware, but also because Nothing has repeatedly touted how Nothing OS doesn’t have bloatware.
A 2022 tweet from Nothing’s main Twitter/X account says that “Nothing OS takes out the bloatware,” while Carl Pei was pretty adamantly against bloatware in an earlier tweet, even though that was in response to a joke.
The transparency and big promises from Nothing over the years built up a brand that people genuinely liked, but as the company grows, it’s also clear that some of those quotes are coming back to haunt the company.
It’s understandable why Nothing is making these moves, but that doesn’t make it hurt any less. It’s just a good reminder that, like the infamous video says, enthusiast brands will betray you.
“You can disappoint them once,” Carl Pei said,” next time, they’re not going to come back.”
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