Nothing's Carl Pei says future smartphones will only have one app
Nothing CEO Carl Pei sees a future where a smartphone has just one app-the Operating System.
When it comes to the future of smartphones, you need to listen to Carl Pei. Not only did he help build a successful mobile brand with OnePlus, he left the company to do it again with Nothing. Pei spoke with WIRED magazine about the future of smartphones and points out that some of the bigger companies in this space, like Apple, have grown so much that they are too corporate and no longer have the creativity they once had. This gives a smaller, agile company like Nothing a chance to do big things in the industry.
Pei says that Nothing remains creative. Combine this creativity with a leaked memo that Pei wrote to Nothing employees at the beginning of this year and you get an idea of where the company's smartphones are going. In that memo, the CEO wrote that 2025 "will introduce breakthrough innovations in user interface, taking our first step toward an AI-powered platform." Speaking with WIRED, Pei talks about building the "iPod" of AI. He points out that the iPod was created to provide music listeners with a better user experience.
This is how Pei sees AI. He says, "So, our strategy is not to make big claims that AI is going to change the world and revolutionize smartphones. For us, it’s about using it to solve a consumer problem, not to tell a big story. We want the product to be the story." He sees the smartphone being the most important device for AI at this point, even surpassing wearables such as smart glasses.
He sees the smartphone evolving into a device with just one app and that app will be the Operating System (OS). The OS will be optimized for each user and know everything about him/her. Pei says that in the future, you will turn your phone on and it will suggest what you want it to do and then do it automatically.
"Right now, you have to go through a step-by-step process of figuring out for yourself what you want to do, then unlocking your smartphone and going through it step by step. In the future, your phone will suggest what you want to do and then do it automatically for you. So it will be agentic and automated and proactive."
-Carl Pei, CEO, Nothing
Having said that, Pei doesn't see his "OS as lone smartphone app" future coming so quickly. He believes that because people love apps, it might be 7 to 10 years before the industry makes such a huge change. Part of the problem is that Apple and Google still get paid for ringing up paid apps, subscriptions, and in-app accessories even though the legal systems in the EU and U.S. are trying to make some changes to the tech firms' payment processing platforms.
Personally, it's hard to imagine such a big change to the smartphone and app stores taking place even after the next 10 years go by. Even though it seems unlikely, you have to consider the source and Carl Pei is a voice in this industry that we should listen to.
![T-Mobile customers are only now finding that T-Life records their screen [UPDATED]](https://m-cdn.phonearena.com/images/article/170775-wide-two_350/T-Mobile-customers-are-only-now-finding-that-T-Life-records-their-screen-UPDATED.jpg)
![T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T under fire for lack of transparency on surveillance [UPDATED]](https://m-cdn.phonearena.com/images/article/170786-wide-two_350/T-Mobile-Verizon-and-AT-T-under-fire-for-lack-of-transparency-on-surveillance-UPDATED.jpg)
FCC OKs Cingular\'s purchase of AT&T Wireless
Things that are NOT allowed: