TL;DR
- Nothing CEO, Carl Pei, believes smartphones will have just one app in the future — the OS.
- He imagines apps becoming obsolete in the next decade and being replaced by an agentic operating system that understands context and acts on your behalf.
In a recent interview with Wired, Nothing CEO Carl Pei shared his vision for the future of smartphones. He thinks we’re headed towards a world where apps will become obsolete.
Pei imagines that a few years down the line, smartphones will make do with just one app — the OS. This intelligent system would understand the user’s needs and context, and automatically deliver what they want, eliminating the need to manually navigate multiple apps.
In the future, the entire phone will only have one app, and that will be the OS,” said Pei. “The OS will know its user well and will be optimized for that person.
Pei’s remarks come as Nothing gears up to launch its first “true flagship,” the Nothing Phone 3. The former OnePlus co-founder told Wired that the company grew 150% last year, but it only accounts for 0.1% of the global smartphone market. Still, Nothing has carved out quite a niche for itself by challenging traditional smartphone design and UX, with its focus on transparency, simplicity, and a unique visual identity.
That said, Pei’s ambitions go beyond the aesthetics of the Nothing phones. He imagines a future where smartphones won’t require users to scroll through pages of apps or dig through settings. Instead, phones will understand context, like where you are, what time it is, and what’s on your schedule, and offer timely, automated suggestions or even act on your behalf.
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“The next step after data-driven personalization is automation,” he said. “The system knows you, knows who you are, and knows what you want.”
Of course, Pei’s vision relies heavily on smartphones with integrated AI. He believes the operating system will act as a personal agent to reduce screen time and boost productivity. However, he rightly admits this won’t happen overnight.
“At this point, if we said, We have eliminated apps from smartphones, no one would buy it,” he said.
Instead, he sees a gradual transition, with companies testing, learning, and evolving with user feedback. He estimates it could take seven to ten years to fully realize this shift, noting that consumer attachment to apps won’t disappear quickly.
