Yesterday, news broke that Carl Pei Nothing’s new business has acquired the Essential smartphone brand. The details were revealed in filings with the UK Intellectual Property Office and state that the transfer of intellectual property was completed on January 6, 2021.
Now, Pei himself has confirmed yesterday’s reports and made it clear that the whole case centers on the patents held by Essential. He further clarified that there was, uh, nothing to share regarding Nothing’s plans with the newly acquired Esenetial patents. Although with the new evidence, it’s more likely that we won’t see anything in the smartphone business sooner or later.
Yes, the rumors are true, we have acquired the Essential trademarks. Today we are all on Nothing and have nothing to share at the moment regarding our projects with Essential.
– Carl Pei (@getpeid) February 17, 2021
Earlier this month, Nothing revealed plans to launch its first wireless headphones this summer. At the time, Pei described his vision of creating an ecosystem of devices that connect to each other and work seamlessly with each other. The newly confirmed takeover of Essential IP is certainly intriguing and could potentially lead to some interesting material down the line.

