According to CEO and founder Carl Pei, no one is considering developing their own mobile operating system. Currently, the phones of the British startup run on Google’s Android operating system with a special interface. Most of today’s smartphones run on Android, while Apple’s iPhone models run on iOS, the company’s mobile operating system. Developers offer access to popular apps for Android and iOS through the Play Store and App Store, respectively, while Huawei’s HarmonyOS is trying to present a third alternative, and Nothing may eventually join the fray.
Nothing, given the development of its own mobile operating system
During a discussion with Brian Heeter at TechCrunch Disrupt, Pei said the company is looking into developing a new operating system to create a new revenue stream for the company while building a startup in the mobile industry. “We are thinking how to maneuver here and maybe create something of our own. Some kind of operating system,” he said.
The co-founder and former CEO of OnePlus also said that such an operating system would include support for artificial intelligence (AI), but it would not be the “be all and end all”. Both Google and Apple have invested heavily in machine learning and artificial intelligence features for their latest operating system updates.
According to Pei, if Nothing were to create its own OS, the company would focus on improving the user experience, using all the information available on the devices to offer a better experience. He said the company could work on the project even without funding, and would not comment on Heater’s question about whether Nothing plans to raise funds to build its own operating system.
Pei’s company is not the first to consider developing an operating system to challenge market leaders Google and Apple. Huawei has replaced Android on some of its devices with its own operating system called HarmonyOS, which offers access to popular apps through the Huawei AppGallery.
To compete successfully with Android and iOS, Nothing would need to offer a similar app marketplace and convince developers to offer their apps on that platform. The lack of access to popular apps is considered one of the reasons why mobile operating systems such as Windows Phone or Sailfish OS have not been able to compete with Android and iOS.
Nothing has previously announced that its future software updates for its smartphones will be based on Android — this includes the Nothing OS 3.0 update, which is based on Android 15. If the company develops a new mobile OS, it will most likely appear on a new smartphone . which is optimized to work with the company’s software, which suggests that it will be a few months until we see a new phone with a new operating system developed by Nothing.