Nothing Showcases Its Design Principles; Unveils Concept 1 TWS Earbuds

A grandmother’s tobacco pipe. That’s exactly what Carl Pei wrote when explaining the inspiration behind the design of its first ever product, the Concept 1 true wireless (TWS) earbuds. This then begged these questions: whose grandmother, why is she smoking with a translucent pipe, and why did she buy one in the first place?

Jokes aside, what is shown above is indeed the actual design of the Concept 1 shared by CEO Carl Pei in a blogpost on Nothing’s official website. The earbuds sport a translucent body which enables us to see its interior, including a black tube with the company’s branding printed on its side. Honestly, it looks more like an electrical fuse if you ask us.

Pei elaborated that the transparency represents Nothing’s “commitment to bringing technology closer to people”, and added the brand’s design philosophy is also based on three core principles: Weightless, Effortless, and Timeless. Weightless emphasises on the removal of “superficial” elements while maintaining those that add value to the product, Effortless represents the simplification to the user experience, and Timeless is the company’s goal of achieving designs that will feel fresh and relevant for years to come.

It is far too early to call whether the Concept 1 has actually achieved any of the three principles listed by Pei, especially in terms of user experience. That being said, Nothing has yet to reveal any of its TWS earbuds’ specifications such as the audio drivers, battery life and so on. There’s also the probability that the device is merely what is described by its name – a proof of concept which may not represent the actual product that the company plans to debut later in summer 2021.

Case in point, the Concept 1’s translucent look is more interesting than the typical AirPods design that’s often imitated by various tech companies. Hopefully this same style will also be carried over to Nothing’s potential smartphones, which are expected to be released under the recently acquired Essential brand. As proven by Xiaomi prior to this, phones with transparent rear cases are pretty cool.