Yesterday, Nothing announced its upcoming Nothing Phone (1) would not launch in the United States.

While it might feel like a betrayal or that Nothing is ignoring millions of tech enthusiasts in the US, it makes sense for them to not launch the Phone (1) here.

Even looking at Nothing at a technical level, the Phone (1) doesn’t offer any meaningful new features or specs to make it worth switching to a consumer.

There is no room at carriers for the Nothing Phone (1) right now: It’s another $500 phone that really doesn’t bring to the table outside of an unusual design.

There are plenty of better phones in that price range on the US market that carriers already sell from much bigger players.

It doesn’t make sense to focus on the minority who are likely more unwilling to buy a device, because they aren’t being forced to by contracts and payment plans. .

This allows great financing deals that keep you on the carrier and device, but also allows for the price of a $1000 phone to be spread into payments of $24 a month for 36 months with $150 down payment, the now standard term for a US carrier financing deal.

With the average sales price of a 5G phone in the US most recently being $815, a $500 phone doesn’t seem to fit the market. .

A $500 financing plan doesn’t make as much sense when the difference between that and $1000 financed is about $10 per month (since $500 phones usually won’t have a down payment).

Meanwhile, spending $500 in cash also doesn’t make sense when the Pixel 6, a well-marketed device with a better camera and processor from a name brand, is $600 and likely discounted outside of carrier subsidization.

Ignoring carriers, if Nothing wanted to sell their device unlocked and offer their own financing to sell the Phone (1) through their website, it would need to find a bank that would be willing to handle the financing.

To reach the US market in a meaningful way, Nothing would need either a unique flagship or a very cheap device on a US carrier.

The Nothing Phone (1) is neither of those and realistically could never make it into carrier stores right now.

If the device doesn’t meet FCC standards, that could mean weeks or months of follow up engineering to make the device work within US standards, which gets costly. .

FCC testing itself isn’t that expensive, but Battery UL and carrier certification is.

Battery UL certification, which tests to make sure the battery meets a nationally-recognized safety standard, is optional but almost necessary in the US and can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

There are also costs that are ongoing after the device launches, which includes paying for carrier certification with each update it tries to push.

These are all investments it doesn’t make sense to make in a market where the phone is destined to fail