Carl Pei’s Nothing will put 100 of its upcoming Phone (1) smartphones up for auction starting June 21st, giving fans a chance to get hold of the phone early. Maybe.
According to a blog post on StockX — which will also host the auction — people will need to bid on the phone. The 100 highest bids will get phones. In about 35 days. Considering Nothing plans to unveil the phone at a July 12th event and rumours point to the phone being available on July 21st, it seems likely those who participate in the auction will get the Phone (1) about as fast as those who don’t.
Further, each phone is serialized (see the below pic for how it looks), so Phone (1) number one will go to the person with the highest bid, number two to the second-highest bid, and so on down the line. If you make a bid and you’re not in the top 100, you won’t be charged. The flip side is that if you are in the top 100, you’ll need to pay whatever you bid.
Auctioned Phone (1)s will feature an engraving | StockX
StockX will open the auction on June 21st at 9am ET and it will run for 48 hours, closing on June 23rd. The auction page isn’t live yet, however. Additionally, the blog post notes that the phone won’t be available to customers in Mexico and South Korea. Presumably, that means people in other countries — like Canada — will be able to get the phone.
Anyway, if you’ve got cash to spare and you really, really want a Nothing Phone (1), this seems like a way to get one. Unfortunately, as mentioned above, you likely won’t get the Phone (1) any faster this way. Moreover, it’s probably not the best idea to bid money to get a phone that no one really knows anything about. So far, we’ve received several teases, a picture of the transparent backplate, and a YouTube video showing how the rear light strips look when illuminated.
None of that is really enough to go on when buying a phone. What are the specs? Does the camera work well? How long will Nothing support it with software updates? We don’t even know the price, beyond a rumour it’ll cost €500 (about $673.67 CAD). If the answers to these questions don’t matter to you, go bid on a serialized Phone (1). Otherwise, join me in waiting for July 12th.
Header image credit: Nothing
Source: StockX Via: Android Police
