These days, following yesterday's trends is what's deemed "cool." From wired earbuds and iPods to vinyl records and Polaroid cameras, retro technology is experiencing a revival among young people, especially Gen Z. Why is it coming back? Nostalgia plays a major role, especially in a world where everything seems to be changing too fast. According to a Fast Company interview with Joseph Sgambatti, 37, a design journalist in New York City,

"Nostalgia-driven design choices become comforts that help us cope."

Businesses have noticed this trend and begun launching products with vintage designs to appeal to audiences craving nostalgia. A notable company is Nothing, a tech startup that creates quality phones with a retro aesthetic. They announced their first phone, the Nothing Phone 1, in March 2022 and reached six-figure sales within the month.

The phone’s design was its focal point: a glass back with over 900 LED lights exposing the hardware, reflecting the clear design trend from the '90s. The LED lights created unique pulses for notifications/ringtones, served as a camera flash, and visualized the phone's charge level. Beyond design, the Nothing Phone 1 is a mid-range Android phone with decent specs and an astounding price of only $399 at launch.

Image of two Nothing Phones 1’s with their LED lights on and exposed hardware showing.

Led by Carl Pei, who left his previous creation OnePlus, Nothing originally had strong backing and support. Pei raised $7 million for Nothing from private investors including Tony Fadell (principal at Future Shape and inventor of the iPod), Kevin Lin (co-founder of Twitch), and Steve Huffman (CEO of Reddit). His pitch was that the phone industry had become stagnant—every smartphone began to look the same:

"We want to create a more timeless design language by moving away from Apple and creating consistency." — Carl Pei

Image of Carl Pei by a computer setup and cardboard boxes.

On the Nothing Community website, user “Sayan_Dutta” explained why they invested:

"Been a big fan of Carl since the old OnePlus days. I was intrigued by the fact that a top management personnel was descending all the way down and hearing what the masses want and what they have to say. His consumer-driven approach prompted me to invest in Nothing."

Professionally taken photo of a guy advertising the back of the Nothing Phone 3 with its asymmetrical camera positions and glyph matrix.

Due to its dedicated community, Nothing had the resources to create more products. The **Nothing Phone 3** was revealed in July 2025. The original design was completely overhauled: cameras moved to asymmetrical positions, and LEDs were removed and replaced with an editable circular small screen called the glyph matrix.

Users were unhappy with the change, as seen in this comment under a video review by MKBHD, a popular tech reviewer: