Update (August 23, 2022): Nothing has issued an official statement confirming the timeline of the Android 13 rollout for the Nothing Phone 1. A more detailed explanation can be found at the end of the article.
Original article (August 22, 2022): Waiting for the Android 13 update on your Nothing Phone 1? Carl Pei, the founder of Nothing, has shed light on when the high-anticipated update will arrive for the Phone 1, and it doesn’t look good.
Nothing launched the Phone 1 a month ago. The phone received high praises from the customers and tech community for delivering a one-of-a-kind experience at a low price. At the time, the company promised that the Phone 1 would receive three years of Android OS updates. And now that Android 13 is out, a Twitter user asked Carl Pei when Android 13 would launch on the Phone 1, and Carl Pei gave a rather pointless response.
Product is more than just version Numbers
A product is more than just its specs, features, and version numbers
— Carl Pei (@getpeid) August 17, 2022
“A product is more than just its specs, features, and version numbers,” said Carl Pei on Twitter. While the statement in itself is true, it’s certainly not an encouraging message for the Phone 1 owners.
Obviously, the speed at which the company delivers Android updates isn’t everything, but it’s an important factor, especially for phones like the Nothing Phone 1 that are primarily driven by software. Nothing says the Phone 1 provides “the best of Android” with a “perfected” experience. Is Android 13 part of the “best of Android” experience? Nothing doesn’t believe so, at least for now.
On the contrary, Nothing has been pushing a lot of software updates for its Phone 1 lately. While the updates are still based on Android 12, the company has ironed out a lot of bugs that were initially present on the phone and has added new features along.
Still, it would be great if Carl Pei provided an Android 13 release window for the Phone 1 — even a vague release window would work at this point.
Update (August 23, 2022): Nothing, in an official statement to Android Authority, confirmed that Android 13 will be available for Nothing Phone 1 in the first half of 2023. Here’s what they had to say:
“We are always working hard to improve the Phone 1 user experience. To ensure this, operating system updates will be made available for regular download. In regards to Android 13, this will be launching for Phone 1 users in the first half of 2023. Before releasing, we want to fine tune the software upgrade with Nothing’s hardware. We will be sure to keep you updated with further information.”
So there you have it, you might have to wait until possibly the middle of next year to experience the new version of Android on your Nothing Phone 1. This, in particular, is very interesting since Nothing OS doesn’t really differ from stock Android in many ways. We will inform you if Nothing makes any changes to this schedule.
