Carl Pei appeared calm however his thoughts was racing with ideas about how clients would react to the Nothing flagship retailer, which had simply opened in India. “I sit up for seeing what occurs tomorrow whether or not individuals present up or not, and the way they react to the shop,” Pei mentioned a day earlier than the primary Nothing retailer opened its doorways to the nation’s largest tech hub on Saturday.
Located in Bengaluru’s upscale Indiranagar neighbourhood, Nothing’s first company-owned retailer in India is a guess by the British tech firm that having an outlet will assist speed up gross sales progress on the earth’s most populous nation and its largest market.
Nothing’s flagship retailer in India’s tech capital, Bengaluru, has a retro-futuristic look, very like its merchandise. (Picture credit score: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Specific)
“Numerous our customers are right here in India, and Bengaluru is the place most of them are. So it’s solely pure that we began right here,” Nothing CEO Carl Pei informed indianexpress.com in an interview, explaining why the corporate selected Bengaluru as the situation for its flagship retailer. It is just the second Nothing retailer on the earth, after the corporate’s first brick-and-mortar outlet in London’s Soho district, which opened in 2022.
Spanning two flooring, the shop has a definite look in comparison with typical tech stores. It feels uncooked and earthy, not like Apple Shops, that are extra polished and manicured. Pei mentioned that everybody copied Apple Shops, and the expertise has since turn out to be boring.
“Once we developed our new retailer idea, we brainstormed what the shop wanted to be. We landed on the concept possibly gross sales aren’t a very powerful factor, however whether or not individuals are partaking with the area. I believe that’s extra essential than simply the pure P&L financials of the shop,” Pei mentioned.
Pei mentioned the shop is designed as a bodily illustration of the Nothing model. The decrease ground attracts inspiration from the corporate’s R&D course of and manufacturing facility setup. The shop, the truth is, includes a conveyor belt the place bought merchandise are delivered to clients, mimicking the ultimate stage of producing. He believes this may create a novel and memorable retail expertise, fairly than simply one other typical tech retailer.
Shoppers will in a position to purchase Nothing’s whole product portfolio at its retailer in India, together with CMF units. (Picture credit score: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Specific)
Eyeing a key progress market
The opening of its first retailer in India’s southern tech hub of Bengaluru reveals how Nothing, the tech firm led by OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei, is keen to ramp up its push in a key progress market. Wearing a black T-shirt and blue denim denims, as Pei strikes across the area, it provides a way of how bullish Nothing is on India and why the corporate is increasing its gross sales and manufacturing within the nation.
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Pei calls India Nothing’s largest market, and including a retailer proves that the corporate is beelining, like its rivals, to be a part of the booming progress story the world’s fifth-largest financial system goes by. India’s smartphone market, nevertheless, has lately been dominated by Samsung and Chinese language manufacturers resembling Vivo, with the premium section managed by Apple. Nothing was the fastest-growing OEM in This autumn 2025, posting 32 per cent year-on-year quantity in India, in response to world expertise market analysis agency Counterpoint Analysis.
Nothing’s Bengaluru retailer spans 5032 sq. toes and throughout two flooring within the upmarket Indiranagar. (Picture credit score: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Specific)
Pei spent the final decade constructing OnePlus, which turned out to be successful. Now, because the co-founder and CEO of Nothing, he’s looking for new methods to compete with the likes of Apple and Samsung, however with a differentiated method. Nothing telephones don’t look typical; they function translucent designs impressed by 90s tech, supply a recent tackle Android, and at occasions introduce quirky methods to make use of your telephone, as seen with its present flagship, the Cellphone 3.
Nothing has expanded past smartphones lately with a variety of companion equipment, however its mid-range telephones stay bestsellers in India. The corporate can also be specializing in its sub-brand CMF, which it spun off and positioned for entry-level smartphones, earbuds, and wearables, turning it right into a standalone subsidiary primarily based in India.
Manufacturers will not be constructed in a single day, and Pei is taking a measured, one-step-at-a-time method to increasing in India. Nothing’s India technique, with each a retail and manufacturing push, mirrors how Apple as soon as seen India and commenced executing a fastidiously laid-out plan for the market.
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“We’ve a few shops within the works proper now world wide (New York and Tokyo), and India is likely one of the places we’re engaged on. It simply so occurred that this one was accomplished first. We’re nonetheless negotiating the lease for among the different places,” he mentioned.
Nothing, which is valued over $1.3 billion and the startup goes all on India. (Picture credit score: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Specific)
As India goes by a premiumisation of the market, company-owned bodily shops supply manufacturers a direct option to have interaction with customers—each from a gross sales and a advertising perspective.
“I believe offline is already contributing an excellent portion of our income in India,” Pei mentioned. “However in the long run, all companies will normalize, which means that no matter gives the most effective person expertise will in the end win. I consider the long-term technique for any model here’s a mixture of on-line and offline. Some customers like the choice and comfort of on-line buying. Others need to contact and really feel the machine and luxuriate in instantaneous unboxing as an alternative of ready for deliveries. We simply should observe the construction of the market and ship accordingly.”
Insiders say Nothing’s first retailer in India needs to be seen as an essential branding technique and that it gained’t have a right away impression on gross sales within the nation. Others, nevertheless, level out that it’s an excellent time for Nothing to make the leap and guess on India’s rising smartphone market, which hasn’t plateaued but and nonetheless has the potential to increase.
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Nothing has no plans to launch a flagship smartphone this 12 months. (Picture credit score: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Specific)
No flagship launch this 12 months
Nothing’s huge smartphone launch this 12 months is the Cellphone 4a, which will probably be a part of its mid-range collection, a section that has historically carried out nicely in India. Pei, nevertheless, mentioned the corporate gained’t launch a brand new flagship this 12 months.
“I believe flagships ought to symbolize the most effective or most forward-thinking concepts an organization has. It shouldn’t simply be about utilizing the most recent processor and calling it a flagship,” Pei mentioned. “We should always solely launch a flagship when we’ve got one thing completely different to say.”
Pei agrees that flagships do drive gross sales and are greater than only a branding pull. “I don’t assume you’ll be able to construct a model with a flagship if no person buys it, then it simply turns into like an idea automotive. In that case, you may as nicely simply create a render or an idea picture. Why undergo the difficulty of constructing the precise product?” Pei noticed.
Whereas Nothing has no plans to launch a flagship telephone this 12 months, Pei additionally doesn’t see the necessity to add a foldable machine to the lineup.
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Carl Pei, co-founder and CEO of Nothing on the firm’s flagship retailer in Bengaluru, India. (Picture credit score: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Specific)
“If we take a step again and take a look at the foldables market, it was about 17 million items final 12 months out of a complete of 1 to 1.1 billion smartphone shipments,” Pei mentioned, including that the foldable section is a really small a part of the general smartphone market.
For Pei, the corporate is targeted on the next-generation shopper, which, in response to him, has a median age of 26 globally, and round 24 in India. “In the event you take a look at the customers who purchase foldables, the typical age is round 45, who’re usually enterprise professionals. It’s a really completely different goal shopper from our model. Personally, I simply can’t dwell with a crease,” he mentioned.
‘By 2028, we’d see a breakthrough’
Many agree that Nothing has constructed its model with hipsters in thoughts, sprinkling retro design parts into its merchandise, focusing on aspirational budget-conscious customers. Although the Cellphone 3, its flagship machine, was an try to go premium, it hasn’t been an entire success. Nonetheless, Nothing must develop rapidly and increase its footprint and product line, a strain that’s all the time current for any younger model.
“I believe it’s nice that lots of firms try to innovate on this area, however I consider it’s good to be within the candy spot of getting a sure stage of scale, like we at the moment do. That provides you the sources on the engineering aspect, the provision chain aspect, and the go-to-market aspect to ship one thing high-quality to numerous individuals,” he mentioned.
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Consunmers can get free engraving service on the Nothing retailer. (Picture credit score: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Specific)
“You want the nimbleness of a smaller firm, the place giants can’t transfer as rapidly. I believe the present window of time is ideal. AI is accelerating quickly in shopper tech, and we’re one of many best-positioned firms to be a part of that fast-moving area,” mentioned Pei.
As Pei appears to be like into the long run, he expects to see breakthrough in person expertise in shopper tech. “I believe by 2028 we’d see a breakthrough. It might be a second just like when the world shifted from function telephones to smartphones. When the primary AI-native working system begins to emerge, it would reshuffle the playing cards of the present iOS and Android ecosystem that we see at the moment,” he mentioned.
“I believe that’s incremental,” Pei mentioned, when requested in regards to the distinction between an AI-native working system and the way AI is at the moment being added to smartphones. “It’s about taking a regular, icon-based residence display screen and app-based mannequin and layering intelligence on high of it possibly by a aspect button or on-screen search and options like that. Whereas I believe there must be a basic rethinking of the working system.”