Carl Pei recently talked about a product category that Nothing had worked on and rejected. It was a transparent power bank with 65w fast charging support. The reason was that the product didn’t match up to the expectations of the R&D team. This power bank was supposed to come out just after the Nothing Ear (1) and was likely to be called the Nothing Power (1).
Power banks are essentially a different product category and require specific experience in the field, especially for matching the safety requirements.
To Carl, Nothing at the time of Power (1) development was still a small company, a start-up, and didn’t have sufficient resources to continue with the R&D to make Power (1) meet the expectations.
Challenges that the team faced while working on the Nothing Power (1)
Nothing’s design language incorporates a transparent design. The team was just figuring out ways to implement the transparent design aesthetics without sacrificing the build and safety of Nothing products. For instance, the team had to make the glue invisible all while preventing dust from getting in or else it would be visible from outside.
The Power (1) faced some durability issues. The transparent design only allowed a handful of materials for the exterior. But the product being a power bank, was kind of heavy. It didn’t survive the drop tests it had to go through.
“Given the issues with the product, we knew we had to go back to the drawing board and redesign the product from scratch. At that point, it didn’t feel worth it anymore,” said Carl in a video.
Moreover, the Nothing Power (1) was also a compact product designed to support 65 watts of fast charging. However, it suffered from overheating issues. The transparent design only allowed selective materials and design elements underneath the transparent body of the product. Proper heat dissipation is crucial, especially for a product that contains a battery inside.
“A lot of us put a lot of heart into this product – and time, and cost. We learned a lot of lessons along the way” said Carl Pei about the Power (1) that never made it to mass production.