3 days Ago By David Richards
Nothing the British phone brand is going ‘nowhere’ in Australia according to the latest IDC research with the brand that at this stage is exclusively sold at JB Hi Fi, failing to get above 3,000-unit sales in the last quarter. Chinese brand Oppo who had aspirations of being a player in the premium smartphone that is now dominated by Samsung Apple and Motorola, has seen a surge in demand for their cheap value products, with the Chinese brand that is making headway in India and China also struggling in the affordable premium market where Motorola has been gaining share with the Razr and Edge smartphones. Also growing share is Google whose new range of Pixel 9 products are now delivering growth putting pressure on Samsung’s Android devices.
Paris Hilton models Motorola Razr 50 Ultra 5G. The first smartphone from Nothing was announced in March 2022 and released in July 2022. It had a transparent glass back with white LED strips that create light patterns called “glyphs” earlier this year the brand cut a deal with JB Hi Fi with media swamped in press releases but little if any review units of their product offering.
ChannelNews understands that Nothing was expecting better results from the Australian market after investing in social media to drive sales. When OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei departed the company to create the Nothing brand, he worked on the look and feel and unique designs to sell his offering into the market. At one stage the Company was bragging of 700% growth the only problem it was off a very small base compared to the growth of their competitors.
The launch of Nothing in Australia came when the market was experiencing a slowdown. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, the Australia smartphone market declined by 10.1% Year-on-Year (YoY) in 2Q23, shipping 1.
26 million units with this continuing into 2024. The recovery came in June as end-of-financial-year sales lured consumers to attractive deals on smartphones. This is tipped to happen again as smartphone Companies use Black Friday to lure customers to upgrade.
As a brand Nothing has invested heavily in social media and gimmick marketing, but this appears to have not driven growth in Australia with brands such Oppo, Motorola, as well as Samsung with their A Series devices outselling Nothing in the last quarter of 2024. Also struggling to get traction in the Australian market according to the latest IDC data is UK smartphone Company HMD, who are believed to have lost access to the Nokia brand and are now trying to get the market to switch to a low-cost HMD branded smartphone. Google Pixel 9 gaining share, Recently the business launched a pink Barbie smartphone, which got a lot of media attention, what’s not known is if and how it sold through in retail stores.
Recently Nothing management told its London-based employees that they will be expected to return to the office (RTO) five days a week, transitioning from its current hybrid model. Acknowledging the controversial nature of the decision, the company’s CEO, Carl Pei, cited nurturing creativity, the physical nature of product manufacture, and the levels of the company’s ambition as reasons for the return-to-office mandate. Woke policies and work from home demands are believed to have led to the shocking role out of a bug riddled Sonos app that is now hurting sales, it’s not known whether Nothing management were witnessing a lack of creativity from their staff resulting in the back to five days a week in the office.
In Australia average selling price (ASP) increased by 5% YoY in 2Q23 but experienced a 10% QoQ drop, reaching US$755. Smartphones above US$1000 continued to grow as consumer preference for the flagship smartphones remained resilient whereas smartphones in the mid-price segment faced the brunt of the drop in demand. The low-end segment also revived with growth in the prepaid market.
Yash Gupta, Lead Analyst for Mobile Phone Research at IDC Australia said, “Consumers are uncertain about the economic situation, which is causing them to hold onto their wallets tightly. Consumer demand is expected to remain subdued due to the recent cost-of-living pressures, and the ongoing rise in interest rates continues to weigh on domestic demand.” Nothing management have not commented for this story.
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