Is the flagship era over? Nothing CEO confirms there’ll be no Phone 4 this year as ‘we want every upgrade to feel significant’

Nothing is in no hurry to launch a new flagship

30 Jan 2026, 13:19 · TechRadar

News By James Rogerson published 30 January 2026

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Nothing's CEO has said there won't be a Phone 4 this year
That's apparently to ensure the next flagship feels like a significant upgrade
There will however be a Nothing Phone 4a

Following on from his refreshingly frank claim that phones – including Nothing’s own devices – will get more expensive this year, the company’s CEO is back with more potentially bad news.

In a video on the company’s YouTube channel, Nothing’s CEO Carl Pei has stated that the company won’t release the Nothing Phone 4 this year – so in other words there won’t be a new flagship model in 2026.

Pei explained that “we’re not just going to churn out a flagship phone every year just for the sake of it,” adding that “we want every upgrade to feel significant.”

That’s a refreshing stance, albeit one that some Nothing fans might be disappointed in. But the yearly upgrade cycle we see across most of the smartphone industry doesn’t always lead to interesting new devices every year – often the upgrades are little more than a marginal spec bump.

So by having less frequent upgrades on a less predictable schedule, Nothing could make the flagships it does release more exciting.

Phone (4a): A New Chapter - YouTube

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Of course, if you wanted to be cynical you could suggest that perhaps the company has run low on ideas – which could be a problem, particularly when it always aims for its products to stand out. And perhaps the rising RAM prices are also a factor, as they could make a Phone 4 prohibitively expensive.

A different approach

But that’s just speculation, and it’s believable that Pei’s explanation is the main reason for no flagship this year. After all, as Pei pointed out “just because the rest of the industry does things a certain way, doesn’t mean we’re going to do it the same way, if it were that case why did we start this company to begin with?”

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