OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei picks Android creator Andy Rubin’s Essential to put the “giant reset button” in consumer tech

• Nothing’s acquisition of Essential gives it rights to the trademarks and the Essential brand.
• Nothing, a new consumer tech company, is founded by Carl Pei, who is also the co-founder of OnePlus.
• Andy Rubin, the co-founder of Android Inc., founded Essential in 2015.

OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei’s new company Nothing Technologies has reportedly acquired the Essential brand. While Pei had promised a “giant reset button” in consumer tech, when he launched his new venture, Nothing has confirmed that its first product will be a pair of truly wireless earbuds.

Nothing’s acquisition of Essential also gives it the rights to the trademarks, and the Essential brand itself⁠— most known for being founded by Andy Rubin, the co-founder of Android Inc., ⁠— although details about the patents are not known yet.

According to a report by 9to5Google, Nothing’s acquisition of Essential is confirmed by filings at the UK Intellectual Property Office. Essential was founded by Andy Rubin, the co-founder of Android Inc.

Carl Pei left OnePlus in October, 2020, a day before the launch of the OnePlus 8T.


Why is Nothing’s acquisition of Essential important?

Nothing’s founder Carl Pei has experience building a smartphone brand from the ground up, as seen with OnePlus. He co-founded OnePlus along with Pete Lau in 2013. OnePlus had a market share of 29.3% in India in the premium smartphone segment, as of July 2020.

On the other hand, Andy Rubin’s Essential managed to launch only one smartphone – the Essential Phone. It had also promised to launch Home smart hub and smart speaker in 2017, but nothing came of it.

Nothing’s acquisition of Essential could help both the companies launch new smart devices, combining Carl Pei’s experience with Andy Rubin and his team’s technical know-how.

Here’s what we know about Nothing so far

Carl Pei has confirmed that Nothing will launch a pair of truly wireless earbuds. He also revealed that Alphabet’s investment arm Google Ventures has backed a $15 million Series A funding round.

Some other prominent investors in Nothing include Reddit CEO Steve Huffman, Twitch co-founder Kevin Lin, popular YouTuber Casey Neistat, and Kunal Shah, co-founder of CRED.

Beyond that, details about Nothing’s upcoming portfolio of products are not known yet.

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