Can you think of one smartphone brand that’s also a leader in the audio space? The knee-jerk response would probably be Apple for obvious reasons – the company’s acquisition of Beats by Dre helped cement its place in the audio hardware industry (after the iPod’s sunsetting relevance). What other company can you think of? Sony? Well, their Xperia lineup isn’t as impactful as it once was. You COULD say Samsung, given that they acquired Harman, which owns Harman Kardon, JBL, and AKG, but it’s not like Samsung’s taken those brands forward or developed them into something great the way Apple has with the AirPods and AirPods Max.
The only other company firmly entrenched in the smartphone and audio space is probably Nothing, with their series of ‘Ear’ TWS earbuds, but the company has big plans for the future, with the launch of the Headphone (1) on the 1st of July, along with the hinghly anticipated flagship Phone (3).
Designer: LFD Official
It seems only natural for the company to build vertically in an industry it’s currently a part of. The Ear series has a bunch of SKUs, both regular and budget-friendly… and Nothing’s done the same for its phone too. That being said, it’s spent its time analyzing and mastering the supply chain in a way that makes launching a headphone a lot easier now, after 3 years of being in the public eye.
“It’s our first over-the-head headphones,” Carl Pei said yesterday at SXSW in London. “A lot of our users have been asking for it.”
A video on Nothing’s YouTube channel earlier last month saw the internal team discussing the upcoming headphones, stating that they managed to strike a balance between premium-grade sound and a budget-friendly price tag. No concrete details have been mentioned as far as actual features or specs are concerned (there’s no mention of glyph lighting either), so we’re flying absolutely blind into this announcement.
It is, however, a tad bit funny that Nothing didn’t choose to name their product the Nothing Head (1) following the nomenclature from their Ear line. I’m sure the marketing team had their own reservations, but we’re now certain that it’ll be called the Nothing Headphone (1). The headphone will also supposedly be the first product as a collaborative venture between Nothing and British audio company KEF.
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